words from wick

There was a moment during Leadership Summit (previously called “Annual Conference”), which is similar to “District Assembly” for you Nazarenes out there, when one of our Missions spokespeople came forward. He began to share about our activities in various places.

Many of us know that the roots of Free Methodism, and the heart of Holiness Churches in General, usually involves a great deal of ministry to the poor and disenfranchised. The widow. The orphan. Those without a voice. We believe the gospel gives that emphasis, and we see it embodied in Jesus Christ.

For a long time, “those without a voice”, etc. referred to inner cities. The poor. The ones who lived on the streets. The homeless. The hungry. These remain still, as the “least of these” we find a call to solidarity with. But as the world has become more and more connected, with information and travel itself becoming more and more available worldwide, we see that the best parts of some other countries – are still worse than our darkest hidden inner cities.

It is with that in mind, that I was very encouraged by what our missions guy was saying about our denomination. Denominations world-wide generally are all involved in overseas mission work. Most of these have rations of 1 to 2, or 1 to 3…sometimes 1 to 4. That means for every “one” person here in the US, there are 2 or 3 or 4 members overseas.

The ratio for members in the Free Methodist Church is 1 to 10. Now, I realize this is no guarantee we’re in these “least of these” areas overseas. But it does feel good to be a part of a denomination that recognizes where large amounts of effort should go towards caring for the sick, the broken, those without a voice, etc…

Okay, so if you read my blog every other day or so, you’ve probably grown weary of my patting myself on the back for ordination. I’m done for now.

It happened only as a small part of a larger coming together of the Gateway Conference of the Free Methodist Church. We celebrated the work that has been done towards the Kingdom, and mourned people/things that we have let go of over the past year. It was also a time to encourage and inspire God’s calling to another year of serving together in our various capacities.

There were many things throughout the conference that were inspiring. Three things specifically I plan on sharing with you over the next few days: 1 to 10, Supernatural, and Questions. I suppose you’ll have to return to hear more.

But overall it was a great time, and reminder of the work God has been doing, and has called us to join Him in towards His Kingdom. There was a great reminder from Bishop Kendall, which he has also blogged about lately. We realize especially in recent years, Christianity is so much more than simply “salvation” or even the focus on “saving souls”, etc. But it is definitely NOTHING LESS. A very disappointing number of churches solely within our own denomination reported NO new followers of Christ over the past year. As churches with a Wesleyan heritage, but even greater – as churches with a heritage of following CHRIST, this is unexcused.

Especially with a greater understanding of salvation as being beyond simply “asking Jesus into my heart, and signing a paper that I did it”, one would think it would be easier to find people stumbling over, and being attracted to, the love and transforming life found in following Christ. Perhaps, and hopefully, it is attributable largely to a language (labeling) problem, and too many “hip” pastors not wanting to conform to some sort of “number reporting” system.

But let’s get past our reservations, and recognize that being able to say “____ people stumbled over, and began moving towards Christ through the work God is doing here” is probably a good thing. Even if our number is a bit off in one direction or another. (cause it won’t be a problem of whether we had 1, 2, or 0…..it will be a problem of whether we had 10, 13, or 100, right?) 🙂

And so it has begun anew…

To all who have been a part of this journey, are a current part, or will be involved down the road….thanks. 🙂 To our family and close friends. To those who have influenced me in ministry (all probably should have “Rev.” or “Dr.” or some other title in front of them): Cal Kring, Don Weston, Stephen Campbell, Harold Demott, Dan Boone, Kevin Donoho, Dale Wine, George Wolff, Timothy Carter, Michael Jackson, Greg Groves, Roy Abbott, and no doubt countless others who are now offended I didn’t mention you.