I recently read an interesting article on how the church is moving towards significant change. The author used the recent United Methodist Church vote on LGBTQ issues as a backdrop to his thoughts. Last week the UMC voted 461-384 to adopt the proposed "Traditional Plan" going forward. This plan would forbid ordaining homosexual persons to the ministry and also ban same-sex marriages by UMC clergy. Ministers and churches that violate these bans could be removed from the denomination.
A number of churches are already discussing whether or not they will remain in the UMC over this issue. A lot of people are angry and hurt by the decision. Although a number of older UMC clergy and members supported a more tolerant policy, many of the ones advocating for different policies were younger. A Pew Research Center study found that 54 percent of American Christians say homosexuality should be accepted. Much of this is driven by younger Christians' acceptance of homosexuality, although this study also found the number of Boomer Christians who approved of homosexuality was also increasing. When one considers the size of the UMC and realizes that this measure passed by only 54 votes it's not too difficult to see that in another ten years this vote may be overturned.
The author asked a lot of good questions about what even having this discussion says about the future of the church. Will traditional perspectives on church and religion be replaced by new ways of thinking?
A number of people have been speaking about how the church seems to go through a major shift about every 500 years. About 500 years ago the church experienced the Great Reformation which brought about significant changes in the church. Roughly 500 years before that the church divided between the East and West, and roughly 500 years before that the church came out of the Dark Ages. Are we about to see another seismic shift in the church? If so, what will the church look like when this occurs? Although it is impossible for anyone to know specifically the author, and many others, speculates on what some of those changes might look like.
Some of those changes may be very appealing and may bring new life into the church. However, one possible change concerns me a great deal. We may well see the church move away from biblical truth in order to place a greater emphasis on relationships. Justice issues will become more important than truth and biblical teaching. Our current culture is saturated with people wanting to make everyone feel good about themselves. No one is allowed to judge another person's choices. Even asking about someone's choices is seen by some as bullying and threatening. This mindset seems to be rapidly creeping into the church, and if it's allowed to exist it will destroy any chance the church has of being salt and light to this world.
Please do not misunderstand me. I am not opposed to the church working for justice issues. I just don't understand why some people think it has to be either/or. A church can stand for biblical doctrine and still be engaged in justice issues. A church can be evangelistic in the traditional sense and still meet the social and justice needs of its community.
I've written much about truth in this blog lately because I'm concerned that too many churches and their leaders are willing to sacrifice biblical truth on the altar of political correctness. Once we deny the truths found in Scripture we have nothing to offer our society. If that is the change that is coming to the church it will become just another social club in the community. Ichabod will be written across its doors because the glory of God will have departed.
No comments:
Post a Comment