Why It Matters

Mr. Wesley and I are talking about strangely warmed hearts

(picture taken by Scott Marchant in June 2017)

Despite being an elder in good standing in the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church, I have been serving as the Minister of Pastoral Care at First Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, NC for nearly seven years.  This fact never fails to raise a few eyebrows among some of my United Methodist colleagues and friends as well as among some Presbyterians.  I frequently have to answer such questions as: "Are you becoming a Presbyterian pastor now?" and "Is that a real appointment?" and "How does that even work?"  If you are interested, the answers to those three questions are (1) No, (2) Yes, and (3) under ¶344 1.d and  ¶345 of the Book of Discipline, I am appointed by the bishop and with the consent of the Board of Ordained Ministry to extension ministry with another denomination.  I am annually evaluated by the senior pastor who then reports to the bishop, I have to write up various reports for the church where my charge conference membership is, and I have to promise to attend Annual Conference.  No hardship -- I always go to Annual Conference!

It may seem overly technical and even boring to those whose lives are not as intricately bound up as mine is with such matters, and it can certainly get confusing, but I gladly submit to the process, not because I'm a masochist but because this is part of my identity as a pastor in this particular branch of the Christian family.  The Book of Discipline constitutes the doctrine and law of the United Methodist Church, setting out our polity and process for governance of the Church, and its roots go back well over 200 years to John Wesley himself.  Every four years, General Conference meets, and in the process of what Wesley somewhat optimistically called "holy conferencing," changes are made to the BOD to reflect shifts in understanding and practice.  It's an unwieldy system with lots of moving parts, and it is beyond the scope of this blog to go into much detail, but suffice it to say that it's rather like making sausage -- you'd probably prefer not to see how they actually do it.

Why am I even bringing this up, anyway?  Does it really matter?  After all, United Methodists and Presbyterians are both Christian denominations, and we have a lot in common, so what's the big deal?  Well, it matters because theology matters.  We do indeed have a lot in common as churches that worship the Triune God and hold Christ to be the fullness of God dwelling with us, but how we work all that out is often quite different. 

It's not just that we organize our church governance very differently, although that is part of it, and it's not just that Calvinists and Arminians have been involved in some pretty big arguments over matters like predestination and free will.  It matters to me because the Wesleys emphasized grace:  prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying in a way that not only makes logical sense to me but also resonates within my heart.  It matters because United Methodism became my theological home when I found that the Baptist tradition in which I had been raised had never been a good fit.  Rather like slipping on a soft shoe that conforms to your foot, it was with great relief that I acknowledged something that at least a few people saw long before I did, that I was indeed Wesleyan in my heart.

Working here at First Prez and loving these sisters and brothers as I do has done at least two things for my ministry.  It has reminded me of the reasons I became United Methodist in the first place, helping me to appreciate why we do what we do the way we do, and it has reminded me that Christ sets a table that is far larger than just my immediate family.  The Church is a mystical Body that includes a diversity of understandings and practices, and that is as it should be.  I suspect we will all be quite surprised in the fullness of time to see just how expansive that table is, and I look forward to the life to come when we gather for the heavenly banquet with our Host and see that in the end, it really is all about Love.