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Researchers have asked thousands of United Methodists around the world how they view the denomination. Where is God leading the church? How can the denomination do better? The results are compiled in the first phase of the "State of the Church" report. This first-ever report offers insights into the workings of The United Methodist Church, current challenges that it faces and areas for growth. If you would like to read the summary or the full report, please go to http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.2733523/k.258/State_of_the_Church.htm .
I thought I might speak about some of the points made by the research in the next few newsletter articles I write.
Today’s thought is about prayer and worship.
United Methodist clergy (a.k.a. pastors):
† 80 percent say private and public prayer is extremely important.
† 89 percent say regular worship is extremely important.
† 81 percent say lifelong study of the Bible and teachings of the Christian faith is extremely important.
Among laity (anyone who is not licensed or ordained as clergy), the percentages are somewhat lower:
† 76 percent say private and public prayer is extremely important.
† 80 percent say regular worship is extremely important.
† 68 percent say lifelong study of the Bible and teachings of the Christian faith is extremely important.
I must admit these differing percentages intrigue me. Why would our lay people consider worship, prayer, and lifelong study of the Bible as less important than clergy?
I suppose that I as a clergy person “have to” pray more. I certainly have been asked to pray at meals many more times as a clergy person than as I ever did as a layperson! And yes, unlike many people, prayer and bible study are actually part of my job description. However, I don’t “need” prayer, Bible study, or worship more than another person. I believe, because we are all sinners, we all need prayer, study, and worship equally. A clergy person is not more pious, is not closer to God, and is not better than someone who is a layperson. A clergy person has just been called to serve the church in a different way: to order the church, to serve the church and the world, to proclaim the Word, and to perform the sacraments. As it is written in the UMC Book of Discipline, “The [early] church set apart other persons to care for the physical needs of others, reflecting the concerns for the people of the world…These functions, though set apart, were never separate from the ministry of the whole people of God.” (302 Book of Discipline 2004).
So, while Pastor Bill and I certainly pray for you and work hard on behalf of the wonderful people of Salem UMC, we (to borrow a phrase from baseball) are not the church’s designated pray-ers, worship-ers, or Bible study-ers. How do you feel about prayer, worship, and lifelong study of the Bible? Are you spending time in prayer for yourself and your fellow human beings? Are you in prayer for all the ministries of this church, especially as we grow with this new building?
Do read the Bible daily? Do you pray to God, listening for what God has to say to you and lifting up the need of your life and of others? Do you attend worship every week? Do you gird yourself with things of God so that you can live in the world without the world becoming your master?
I invite you to prayerfully consider joining or even starting a Bible study. I invite you to be in conversation about the Bible in your Sunday School class or around your dinner table. I invite you to be in prayer daily for your pastors and the ministries of this church. I invite you to attend worship every week even when a cup of coffee and the Sunday paper or just sleeping late sounds really appealing. As members of the United Methodist Church and the Body of Christ, we have all promised to uphold the church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service!
Invitationally yours,
Pastor Mary Frances
1 comment:
Hi Mary -- I just popped in and was reading your thoughts on the United Methodist surveys. It's interesting that, of three areas where the clergy and the laity differed in their opinion of the importance of different aspects of faith, lifelong study of the teaching of Christ and Bible study seemed to show the biggest difference. I could think of a few reasons why this might be -- some people, I suppose, feel that if they pray and go to church services, that's really all that is required or expected of them but hopefully not too many people fall into the "do the least I can" camp. I wonder if some people got the message somewhere along the line that as non-clergy, it isn't really their place to be lifelong STUDENTS of their faith in an academic sense -- that this role should be reserved for pastors. I also wonder if some people see prayer and participation in the church as more important than studying the Bible and its teachings -- in other words, they don't feel that the intellectual component of their spiritual life is as important as some of the other aspects of it? Or they see the intellectual component as important, but only to the extent that they should listen to the ideas of clergy and other "experts" but they don't see it as something they need to undertake themselves, just as many of us value medical knowledge to the extent that we trust our doctor and think it's important to heed his or her advice, but don't feel like we need to really understand the disease process to get better? Just a few rambling thoughts this evening -- it's good to be reading about the work you're doing. I hope you and yours are well!
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