My Vision

The future story of the United Methodist movement is not a fact. It is a decision. To claim our participation in the story of God’s redemption for our time and place we will do well to release ourselves to the custody of the Spirit. The Spirit will undoubtedly invite us to review our belief and action in both constructive and critical ways. The Spirit will speak the story of our future through those with hearts turned to prayer. With minds attuned to the wisdom of Scripture. With tradition, reason, and experience. With voices employed in holy dialogue. And with hands at the ready to do the work of love.

The Divine imagination is redemptive. With God, the United Methodist covenant community can move into the future guided by the following values:

UNITY AND INTEGRITY

Jesus’ love transcends heaven and earth, life and death, and every other polarity. The community of United Methodists may not have uniformity of belief and practice but serving under the banner of Christ Jesus grants us unity with integrity.

CONNEXIONALISM AND VITALITY

Integrity is the strength of our connectional nature. It holds together seemingly paradoxical gifts in our theology and praxis for the sake of the fullness of the revelation of God’s created intentions: ancient and new, direct service (Matthew 25) and organizing power (Leviticus 19), inner work (discipleship) and its outer expression (membership), renewal and revival, comfort and challenge, spirit and form, tradition and adaptation, institution and movement, accountability and freedom. Christ stands at the intersection of all these things.

CREATIVITY AND SUSTAINABILITY

When we sharpen our senses and increase our capacity for openness to consider a matter we may not have before; when we

Lift [our] eyes to the hills (Psalm 121:1) and see glimpses of truth that God has for us (Open my Eyes, hymn)

a way is provided. Thoughtful and creative use of patterns, pathways, procedures, and polity will help us to lift as we climb.

Specifically, I envision the United Methodist Church:

• Sharing the good news of God’s redeeming love with all the people of God.
• Offering mercy to those captured by chaos—the least of these. (Matthew 25: 31-46)
• Doing justice with those under the oppression of system-wide trauma from racism, sexualism, ableism, ageism, and colonialism.
• Nurturing seekers and believers from discipleship to apostleship.
• Making room for ALL of God’s beloved to discern their own spiritual gifts and calls to ministry.

Our hopes for the United Methodist Church are not for the sake of the Church but for the sake of the world. We will, by grace, make our way to the alley and the prairie, the far shores and rowdy bars, the dark corners and church altars. This future will take shape messily and in imperfect measure.

But Christ does not wait until we do things right to call us to take action. We are called to go in His name to offer the stuff of heaven to transform the world even when we are yet sinners. In doing so, we each will also be transformed. May it be so.