WHERE HAVE ALL THE METHODISTS GONE?

As I was preparing for Christmas, I had the opportunity to spend time in several Christian bookstores shopping for just that perfect gift for friends and family. In doing so, I became aware again of something that had bothered me before but that I had never truly spent time reflecting on. As I perused the books in the store, I noticed that there were no books written by Methodists, or, for that matter, books written from an Arminian or Wesleyan perspective. The majority of the books in all of the bookstores that I visited were written from a reformed perspective or from reformed pastors and theologians.

And that got me to wondering, "Where have all the Methodists gone?" Why is it that the only place you can pick up a book written from a Wesleyan perspective is Cokesbury? Why can't I find these books on the shelf of my local Christian bookstore? Sure, I know that some stores, such as Lifeway, have been created to serve our Baptist brothers and sisters, but not all Christian bookstores are Baptist.

As I pondered this, I realized that it's not just a phenomenon restricted to Christian bookstores. Look at the media. When's the last time you heard a Methodist minister on a national broadcast? When's the last time you went to a Promise Keepers event and heard someone speak into the life of men based on a Wesleyan perspective? Currently, my favorite radio speaker is Alistair Begg (Truth for Life). I was listening to him preach on evangelism and why some people don't feel a burden to evangelize. He stated that some people are afraid to witness because they don't like the language. They don't want people to "choose" Christ, because they might sound Arminian. He made it sound like it was a disease, and I, as a Methodist minister, was left thinking, "Wow! So that's how the rest of the Christian community view us? What's so wrong with Wesleyan theology and what's so right about reformed?"

I listen to a lot of Christian radio. And I have never heard a single national speaker who preached from a Wesleyan perspective. Oh, from time to time you'll hear the local pastor of a Methodist church or hear a local Methodist service on the radio, but there is no one representing the Wesleyan voice on the national level.

Along those same lines, you have to wonder where the voices for Methodism and Wesleyan theology are on the national political and cultural scene. Granted, we have the various boards that come out and speak on behalf of the church from time to time, but where is that charismatic Methodist leader who speaks on Christian issues on behalf of the church as a whole? Where is our Dobson, our Graham, our Bright? Do we not have anything to say?

Historians have pointed out that at the turn of the 19th century, there were more Methodists in America than any other religious persuasion. I read somewhere that 2/3 of the country was Methodist in 1800, and that if the conversion rate at that time would have held up, the entire country would have been Methodist by the mid-19th century. So, where have all the Methodists gone? Were we just a flash in the pan and are we clinging to a dying movement? I read yesterday in Good News Magazine that the Methodist Church in America lost 80,000 members last year alone. Why?

It seems as if we've lost our compass. We've lost our bearing and our direction and our focus. In the short time that I have been involved in the pastorate and in the politics of the Methodist Church, I have noticed that our focus is inward, and not outward. When we talk about the future of the church, we aren't so much worried about the loss of members as we are division resulting from liberal versus conservative stances, especially as evidenced in the homosexual debates that have so consumed us for the last 10 years. Where have all the Methodists gone? Perhaps they've gone out the back door while we have argued amongst ourselves.

I am worried about this church. I have several friends, Godly men who love the Lord and who are serving Him behind the pulpit of a Methodist Church, who are considering leaving this denomination because they have become tired and frustrated. Tired of the fighting. Tired of the paperwork. Frustrated with a lack of response from the leadership of our denomination on issues of evangelism or pressing political or cultural significance.

I pray almost daily that God will revive our church. That He will revive our spirits. That He will revive our desire to come together in unity to see people brought to the cross of Christ. I pray that God will raise up a voice for Methodism, a voice for Wesleyan theology, a voice that will sound out on the national scene. A voice that is not afraid of the denominational politics. A voice that knows what he/she believes and that is not afraid to speak out in the national scene and point people to the way of holiness, to the means of grace, to the life that Wesley promoted with his interpretation of Scripture.

In just 200 years, we have gone from a thriving denomination, a movement of God designed to lead people to holiness and a life set apart for Him, to a denomination that is losing 80,000 people a year. We need Methodist and Wesleyan pastors and theologians to rise up, to speak out, and to LEAD.

I pray that one day I will be able to turn on my radio and hear a Wesleyan preacher share the good news of Jesus Christ. I pray that one day I will be able to walk into a Christian bookstore and see books from a Wesleyan writer next to those of Max Lucado, Rick Warren, David Jeremiah, Alistair Begg, and Charles Stanley. I pray that one day I will turn on my television and see a Methodist leader on Larry King Live or Fox News explaining why we support this particular policy or why this new cultural tendency is not good for society. And, I pray that I will be able to open up the annual evangelism report for the Methodist Church in America and see that, for the first time since 1968, we actually have brought more people to the cross than let out the back door.