Attendance growing at Anglican Cathedrals

Let's face it, recent news from the Church of England has not all been good. Assertive atheism is urging people to abandon Christianity altogether. Church attendance remains low, as does the number of young clergy. Die-hard traditionalists are being wooed away by Roman Catholicism as the Church of England moves toward allowing women bishops.

But there is some good news: attendance at the 43 Cathedrals, and Westminster Abbey (site of the recent and much-watched royal wedding), has been growing - between 7 and 10% according to a report released by the Church of England earlier this month. That's right, in what is supposed to be an increasingly secular Europe some very traditional Christian communities are actually growing.

It might be worth asking, what they are doing right, to be reaching more people. Certianly, the cathedrals are known for beautiful and lofty liturgy, glorious (often gothic) architecture, and sublime music as well thoughtful teaching & lectures, and varied community ministries.

Presbyterian vote: "highwater mark" for pro-gay Protestants?

This was posted at the ChristianCentury site:

Gay and lesbian advocates celebrated a landmark victory on Tuesday (May 10) when the Presbyterian Church (USA) entered the expanding ranks of Christian denominations that allow openly gay, partnered clergy. The winds of change, they said, are at their backs.

"Presbyterians join a growing Protestant movement of Lutherans, Episcopalians and United Church of Christ members who have eliminated official barriers to leadership by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons," a coalition of pro-gay Presbyterians said in a statement.

The momentum of the gay clergy movement, however, may soon grind to a halt.

"There is not another denomination I see on the horizon right now that is on the cusp of this," said Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan research and consulting firm...

...even as gay and lesbian Christians celebrated, some acknowledged that steep challenges lie ahead in other denominations, particularly the country's largest four: the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those four denominations, whose leaders show few signs of accepting gay clergy or relationships, together count nearly 100 million members. By contrast, the four largest denominations that allow gay clergy together count less than 11 million members. The Presbyterian Church (USA), for example, has about 2.1 million members...

..."The data would not suggest that United Methodist clergy are on the cusp of supporting gay and lesbian ordination," Jones said. Moreover, the UMC, which has about 12 million members worldwide, is growing most rapidly in Africa, where Christians tend to hold conservative views on theology and sexuality, noted Alan Wisdom, vice president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, a Washington-based conservative think tank...

Read it all here.

It would seem that all the major US churches that were likely to move in the direction of accepting homosexual behavior, have now already done so. I wonder if there will follow a 'realignment' in which members move between churches that do and do not accept this behavior (based upon their own beliefs or preferences). I heard of a strong lay leader leaving one of our own local (relatively conservative) Presbyterian churches over this issue just last week. Of course, the Lutherans and Anglicans have seen entirely new church structures created in this country for those moderates and conservatives who did not want to follow the denominational leaders in accepting homosexual behavior.

On Church Commercials

Have you seen this commercial from the Roman Catholic Church? The first things we can say is that it is well-done; visually, a very sumptuous ad. It is also takes a straightfoward "This is what Catholics believe" or "This is why it is good to be Catholic" approach. Lifted high are the Roman Church's history of culture-forming, service and social justice, and rich spiritual heritage. The Church's faith in Scripture and Tradition, the guidance of the Popes understood as successors to St. Peter and continuous prayer for the whole world are clearly highlighted as well. Clearly, a Catholic commercial that was designed around the question: 'How can we best present the major positive characteristics of Roman Catholicism in a television ad?

Will it "work"? Will it succeed in drawing people to reconsider the Catholic Church? Probaby for some it will. Will others think it is a bit triumphalistic ("only we are the fullness of the Christian faith") or even idealized to the point of being a bit silly (at the Catholic school I attended, I'm pretty sure the priest was never in the science lab giving instructions to students)? Yes, probably for some. Some may find it a bit light on Jesus and salvation, though that can be said about the commercials of other Christian denominations.

Lets consider a very different church commercial now.

The United Methodist Church has also poured millions of dollars into several TV commercials to be aired on major network and cable channels. The slogan itself, "Open hearts...etc," and much of the content of the ads (as I understand it) were put together by studying the perceptions and the desires of non-churched people. In other words, individuals who very likely do not know or love the Lord Jesus were asked "what should a church be like" and we designed our adds to suite their answers to that question. I suppose this is the "I become all things to all men, in order to win some" approach.

So what can seekers learn from this ad? United Methodism is not judgemental, and as a people our only common beliefs are belief in God and one another (and, in being non-judgemental and diverse/inclusive). If you are searching for something to believe in, says the voice-over, our hearts and minds and doors are open. The question is, why you would search with us since (judging by the ad) we don't seem to believe particularly much (at least, that we generally agree about). At least the Catholic commercial mentioned Jesus and Scripture in pointing towards a specifically Christian content.

Given the methodology behind the UM ads, we really shouldn't expect too much in the way of Christian content. Certainly, these ads do not point us toward anything that is unique to Wesleyan Christianity (whereas the Roman Catholic ad was clearly Roman in content). And this lack of Wesleyan or even Christian content is one of the reasons I believe that much of our advertising money has been sadly wasted. Those in our communications agencies disagree, pointing out that opinion polls show a clear up-tick in the "positive perception" of United Methodism among non-churched Americans. And perhaps the same will not be said for the Catholic Church's commercials. Yet we are still waiting to see if any significant number of these "positive percievers" actually come into our communities and find their lives transformed by the power of the Risen Christ.

I believe that the United Methodist commercials fail the church and potential 'seekers' in another significant way: if seekers actually were to respond to the ad and come into our church doors on a Sunday morning, what they are likely to find is very different from what was advertised. They will find, as the congregation reads from what is declared to be "The word of the Lord" and as the Apostle's Creed is recited that we actually believe in a good deal more than just "God and one another" (and "questioning"). As various sins (whether of the personal immorality type in our conservative churches or the social injustice type in our liberal churches) are warned against in sermons or Sunday School lessons they will discover that even Methodists are not completely non-judgemental, nor do they actually aspire to be so.

As most of our seekers look out upon a predominantly white (or in some cases, a predominantly black) congregation they will discover that perhaps diversity isn't quite as ubiquitous in the real church as in the hypothetical church of the TV commercial. And if our seekers hang around long enough they will discover that, sadly, we too often do not believe in one another either.

In other words, unlike the Catholic Church's commercial, ours is mis-leading (perhaps even dishonest). It does not present our Church as it is, but as some involved in the making of the ads would like it to be.

I, for one, would love to see an ad for our church that highlights our rich history, our belief in a disciplined pursuit of holiness, our lovely liturgy and hymnody, our emphasis on holding piety and service together, and our true diversity of style and "spiritual personalities," and our consistent charitable work through the years. I would love to see an ad for our church that actually highlights something about the Methodist Christian's faith and practice, presented in a winsome and attractive way.

Perhaps somewhere in our conversations about how to re-structure the United Methodist Church we might consider a re-orientation of our whole communications division (at least with regards to the ad campaigns, if we are to continue funding them at all).

On Hell

"...your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he does not hear." (Is. 59:2, ESV)

As you have surely heard by now (maybe on this blog), Rob Bell has done it again. Perhaps more so with the video promo for his new book, Love Wins, than with the book itself, he has opened a great debate (much of it online) on the nature of salvation, universalism, the work of Christ, and Hell. So the cover of TIME Magazine can ponder "What if there is no Hell?"

It should be noted that Bell does not claim there is no hell, and while some Universalists believe that there is no hell, others believe that hell is a reality for many, only a temporary one on the way to that final salvation that (Universalists believe) ultimately awaits everyone because of God's victory in Christ. Here is a link to thoughts from N.T. Wright on the subject of Universalism.

The belief in hell in Wesleyan theology is clearly attested in Wesley's sermon "Of Hell" and is the natural consequence in our belief in the freedom (by God's grace) to accept or reject God's salvation (a freedom which is logically necessary for a real relationship of love to exist). United Methodist belief in "endless condemnation" is attested in our Confession of Faith (see article xii), though that phrase may legitimately be 'unpacked' in a variety of ways. Check out the recent article from the United Methodist New Service: "Hellfire, brimstone, and John Wesley."

My own belief on the reality of Hell is perhaps best articulated in this quote by C. S. Lewis from The Problem of Pain:

"There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this [Hell], if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, especially, of our Lord's own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason. If a game is played, it must be possible to lose it. If the happiness of a creature lies in self-surrender, no one can make that surrender but himself (though many can help him to make it) and he may refuse. I would pay any price to be able to say truthfully 'All will be saved.' But my reason retorts 'Without their will, or with it?' If I say 'Without their will' I at once perceive a contradiction; how can the supreme voluntary act of self-surrender be involuntary? If I say 'With their will,' my reason replies 'How if they will not give in?'"

- C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, chp. 8, "Hell"

I believe that this approach is congruent with what the Bible actually teaches, particularly as it has been understood by ancient catholic Church, and by the Wesleyan tradition. This is why I do not accept Christian Universalism. Note: I ran across the above Lewis quote recently while thumbing through The C. S. Lewis Bible at a bookstore.

One of the questions that Bell raises (and Lewis himself suggested it in his fictional works) is whether those who have died and who "dwell in outer darkness" in hell can even still repent and be saved. Thus, at least for some, Hell would be a reality, but a transitional one. Biblically speaking, there seems little evidence for this, however it may depend on how one reads 1 Peter 3:18-20, and similarly suggestive verses, along with how we understand the phrase "Christ descended to the dead/hell" in the Apostles' Creed. The United Methodist website recently featured an article on that question: Did Jesus descend to Hell or the Dead?

That Christ did descend "into Hades/Sheol" is clear from Acts 2:27, which must somehow be coherent with his going "to Paradise" (Luke 23:42; 'Paradise' probably should be understood as that part of the underworld/Sheol where the rightous wait for resurrection, rather than as "heaven").

As to the distinct, but related, question of whether those who did not know about Christ or who were faithful adherents of other faiths can finally be saved, I am a bit more agnostic than I once was. We can say clearly from Scripture that there is no way into eternal life besides that which is opened up by the work of Christ (John 14:6). We can say clearly those who trust and give themselves to Christ in self-surrender will be saved (Rom. 10:9-13) and those who explicitly reject him have no part in his eternal kingdom because, by the nature of things, they refuse it when they refuse to have him as King and Lord. But what of those who simply lived their lives as faithful Buddhists or Hindus? Will they all finally be in Hell? Or what of those Pagans who lived and died long before Christ was concieved in the Virgin's womb?

Many Bible-believing Christians, from some Early Church Fathers to contemporary Evangelicals, who have rejected Universalism as unbiblical have nevertheless held the hope of what is sometimes called "inclusivism." Inclusivism holds that that the Eternal Logos/Word, who became incarnate as Jesus Christ (Jn. 1) is also revealed throughout Creation (Psalm 19; Rom. 1-2) and is therefore, albeit in an incomplete way, revealed to individuals in non-Christian faiths. And insofar as those individuals conform their lives to their glimpses of him who is the Living Word there is the possibility that they can be saved. Not saved because of their 'religiousness' in a non-Christian faith or their good works, but by giving themselves in faith over to the Word who (though they didn't know or acknowledge it) also became incarnate as Jesus. In this way God's mercy is truly "over all his works" (Ps. 145:9), and not only those who heard the preaching of the missionaries. I hope that this view is correct, though I can make a Scriptural case against it as well as for it.

The inclusivist view also has supporters here and there from throughout the history of the Church. My fellow Methodist blogger Craig Adams recently highlighted quotes from theologians supporting this view from Early Fathers, to John Wesley, to contemporary Evangelicals. Check it out here.

Rowan Williams: A busy man

The Archbishop of Canterbury has certainly been a busy man lately, officiating a much-anticipated royal wedding not quite a full week after Easter Sunday and the end of Lent and Holy Week.

Many of you likely watched the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, leading the royal couple in their wedding vows last Friday. The majestic service of Holy Matrimony was adapted from the English Book of Common Prayer of 1662 (very similar to Service of Christian Marriage II in The United Methodist Book of Worship), and offered us all a fine example of classic high-church Anglicanism. With all the much-publicized troubles that the Anglican Communion has had in recent years, it is nice to see a high profile display of Anglicanism doing what it does best: rich and stately liturgy, thoughtful teaching, and glorious choral music. Wesleyan Christians no doubt were gratified to hear Charles Wesley's great hymn "Love Divine all loves Excelling" resounding through the lofty Westminster Abbey just after the blessing.


In a British culture where both faith and marriage have been in decline in recent decades (and no doubt, the decline in marriage is related to the decline in Christian belief), one can only hope and pray that this inescapably visible Christian wedding ceremony may cause many British people to think through the meaning of their lives and relationships before the claims of the Christian faith in a serious way, while also being stirred in heart by the beautiful gifts Christian faith and spirituality have given the world. As I've said before, atheists do not build such buildings or compose such music simply to express their lack of belief in the God of Love. Certainly, Archbishop Williams, in a recent interview said that he hopes this very public marriage will strengthen the ideal and the desire for marriage among the British.

Video 1: The actual marriage rite alone

Video 2: The Full Ceremony



Perhaps somewhat less widely televised were the Holy Week lectures which the Archbishop has made a habit of giving during Holy Week, focusing on such themes as the Creed and the Life of Christ in St. Mark's Gospel in recent years. This year his lectures focused on Christian truth in C.S. Lewis' Narnia stories. Dr Williams explained his goal: “The Narnia books of C.S. Lewis continue to intrigue and inspire many, and the recent very successful films have shown that they still have wide appeal. Lewis certainly intended them to be vehicles of Christian teaching. But in an age less familiar with Christian images and ideas than his, how can we best draw out these themes?”

The Lecture titles are "Not a time Lion," "I only tell you your own story" and "Bigger inside than outside." Click here for links to transcripts and audio.