Fork in the Road: Another Post about Free Methodism

I published this on the Free Methodist Soul Searching blog which can be viewed at http://www.fmcna.typepad.com/soul_searching/

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The Free Methodist Church is in the middle of an identity crisis. All of us who follow the church closely know this. Once a sect on the margins of society, we have become a primarily middle-class, mainstream evangelical denomination with little to offer America that is distinctive from the other church down the street.

As a new pastor working in the inner city, I am beginning to understand the importance of co-operating with other churches in accomplishing God’s mission. And this leads me to ask the very important question: What makes the Free Methodist Church different than any other church? What do we have to offer that is unique as part of the body of Christ?

In my opinion, two options lie before us. First, we can return to our roots by once again becoming a sect which devotes itself to ministry among the poor. We can, like the early Free Methodists, choose to live lives of radical simplicity and generosity, shunning the upward mobility of American culture and standing prophetically against the increasing materialism of our age. We can do this both in families and as churches. As churches, we can decide to relocate our buildings out of the suburbs and into the inner cities of America. We can stop spending God’s precious money on padding for our pews and indoor basketball courts. (If I sound radical here, please read B. T. Roberts and I think you’ll find him much more abrasive). We can channel our funds into food pantries, community centers, homeless shelters, and soup kitchens. And as families, we could reject the middle-class American way of life with its brand name clothes, new cars, and suburban houses. All of this sacrifice is, of course, so that we could live in solidarity with the poor and provide more for their needs. As a community, we could decide to “live simply so that others might simply live.” But this option would require a deliberate shift from our focus on reaching middle to upper class America. We would make this shift not because we are convinced that middle class America needs no church -- for they certainly do -- but because this need is being met by many denominations and OUR place in the body of Christ is to minister to the marginalizes of society.

The other major option I would propose is this: we continue to target not the poor, but middle class America. However, if we choose this option, I believe we ought to overcome the denominational boundaries which separate us from other Christians. We ought to merge with the Wesleyans, Nazarenes, and other holiness denominations. As it is now, we are simply duplicating what they are doing, but oftentimes not doing it nearly as well. It would be better to extend to them our hand of fellowship and stop trying to fill the exact same niche in American evangelicalism. If this means the end of Free Methodist identity, then so be it. In my opinion, we lost our identity long ago.

The status quo will not suffice. We must choose to either become distinctive again or to merge with others who are doing the exact same things we are doing and bring unity back into the body of Christ. Personally, I prefer the first option because I think it is more “Free Methodist,” but I would be happy to see us move in either direction. We simply cannot continue with business as usual or we will miss out on what God is doing in our part of the world.