What's the Point?

As I was catching up on some reading this week, I read with interest an article in the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, our voice for Georgia Methodism. This article proudly proclaimed that giving was up in the United Methodist Church this year, even though our membership had continued to decline. The point of the article was that more of our members are giving and tithing and more of our churches are meeting their apportionments. But, that begs the question -- What's the Point?

What's the point of our existence as a denomination? Or to bring it more closely home, what's the point of our existence as local bodies of believers? Yes, I think obedience in giving and tithing -- I think obedience to stewardship principles -- are important. They show that we are being good disciples of Christ and that we are trying to be faithful to His calling. But, I think it misses the larger point. We are not called to be a fund raiser. Christ did not die on the cross for tithes and offerings or apportionments. He died on the cross to make possible the forgiveness of sins, the destruction of our sin nature, and the possibility of eternal life with Him. He died on the cross so that we would live transformed lives and have an abundant and full life here on earth by living in Him.

When Christ established His church, He gave us a mission -- to go forth and make disciples, to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey everything that He taught us. The bigger question, then, for the United Methodist Church is not "how are our apportionments?" but, "how are we doing meeting the purposes for which we were called?" We can have 100% of our churches meeting their apportionments, we can have 100% of our members tithing every week, and still be out of God's will.

It's time for us to get back to the basics. Back to the cross. Back to the empty tomb. Back to our original purposes of making disciples and bringing lost souls to the Savior. And until we get our focus back on what is really important, we are going to continue to see membership declines in the Methodist Church.

I would encourage all of you to pray for a revival in our churches and in our denomination. I would encourage you to pray for Christ to touch our hearts and our lives and to revive and renew in us a burning desire to reach others for Him first, before we do anything else.