Connecting the past and the future

    The East Michigan Conference has a training institute for those considering entering pastoral ministry. As there has recently been a change in the director, I have had the privilege of reviewing the content and brainstorming ways to expand the offerings.

    In looking over both what East Michigan offers as well as what is required by our denomination, I saw a gaping hole. The poor. Where do we teach our pastors in training about the Free Methodist’s heart for the poor and disenfranchised?

    Our church’s historical commitment to the poor kept me in the Free Methodist church as a college student in the 90’s. Doing research in the library, I read through one of BT Roberts’ books. I knew that one meaning of our “Free” was free pews to avoid the practice of the rich getting the closer seats or any seats at all. (Whatever happened to everyone wanting the seats in the front?) I read that we dressed simply so that the poor felt comfortable among us. I read that even our church buildings were kept simple for the same reason. I read that BT Roberts charged us with continuing to live what we believed. As a graduate of an inner city high school and the leader of an outreach to troubled teens, my heart was strangely warmed.

    Now in 2008, I read that pastors in training needed Wesleyan Theology, Inductive Bible Study, Leadership, and Church Administration. Frankly, other than maybe a different kind of theology class, I didn’t see much different on a list than perhaps an Episcopal priest or a Southern Baptist probably would get. Don’t get me wrong, most people would tell you that I’m ecumenical and I don’t desire to draw lines of division. However, the downside of focusing on those “core issues” is that we can lose some of the very things that make us unique.
    Identification with the poor is just one issue. What about women in ministry? There are still churches in my conference who refuse to have a woman even fill their pulpit for a Sunday. What about freedom of the Holy Spirit? Do our churches allow and expect the Spirit to move in their services and consequently in their lives? Or are we planned and programmed so much that we wouldn’t recognize the Spirit if he stood up and yelled our names during a Sunday morning sermon?

    Perhaps in order to find the soul of the Free Methodist church it starts with our pastors. If our pastors don’t know and have not been taught to preach and practice the peculiarities of Free Methodism, we surely can’t expect the broader church to do it. I’m not sure that on overview Free Methodist Doctrine and Polity course at the beginning of their education track will truly ignite their passion for living the uniquely Free Methodist method of following Jesus. We have the opportunity to train up the leaders among us who will begin leading others. The process of ordination has undergone several changes over the last few years. Maybe it still needs to be changed.

Joanna DeWolf

Comments

[WICK]

I'm 2 years into being a Free Methodist Youth Pastor. At the beginning of my "CMC" status, I took History and Polity over in Indianapolis. Having taken the same class in the Nazarene world, I was ready for a long nap. I was wrong.
I'd definitely recommend it to anyone beginning, or wanting a refresher in our rich heritage....not only theologically, but as it pertains to caring for the poor, orphaned, oppressed, widowed; living simply; and women in ministry.

I agree, any ministry preparation that does not include these things, is no preparation.

[Kathy Callahan-Howell]

Joanna,

How sad that FM churches in Michigan won't allow women to preach. I'm not sure how we allow these churches to call themselves Free Methodist yet openly violate our doctrines and policies.

As for the poor, I am excited that here in the Ohio Conference the leadership has declared that this year we will all focus on identifying with people in poverty! May the state never be the same.

Kathy Callahan-Howell

[Vaughn W. Thurston-Cox]

I read these posts, and they excite me. Could this represent a rebirth of a passion for holiness?

The question is how we make this a reality? How does this become a priority for our leaders and express itself in the Discipline?

[Rick Reynolds]

In the Pacific NW Conference, we support these institutions: Seattle Pacific University, Warm Beach Camp, Warm Beach Senior Retirement Community. All of these are serving middle and upper middle class people. Even the links from this web site are directed to FM educational institutions, which frankly were too expensive for my kid to attend (and, as he said, too many white people there).

It would be amazing to see a shift of focus toward marginalized people;

Ho! Everyone that is thirsty, come to the water, and you that have no money, come, buy & eat!

[Daniel Carver]

Rick,

You may be surprised to know that Warm Beach Camp has built up a Campership Endowment Fund, called Kids 2 Camp, that provides thousands of dollars of financial assistance for kids to attend a Warm Beach Camp program. You can be sure that Kids 2 Camp reaches across socio-economic and racial boundaries to bring anyone who wants to go to camp to a place where they can encounter the transforming love of Jesus. Warm Beach Camp partners with many churches and Christian organizations in Western Washington to reach out to kids who need a week at camp. The results are transformational.

Check out this story for one example of a at-risk youth who's life was changed because strategic partnership with Tacoma Youth for Christ, made possible by the Kids 2 Camp fund.

http://www.tacomayfc.org/city-lifeone-teens-impossible-transformation/

You can also watch a video about Kids 2 Camp on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0nqjN-MszA

[shearwater]

Our Hillsdale. Mi., FM sponsored, along with a Methodist Church in Fort Wayne, In., an American Indian outreach ministry to South Dakota, the installation of modern windows in Habitat for Humanity homes of the Lakota Indian tribe. One of our members, retired from a window manufacturer, organized this through his contacts in the industry. The windows were donated by the manufacturer. I believe that over 300 windows were trucked over 1200 miles and a team of youth and adults spent about two weeks installing them. Many of the homes had substandard insulation and needed caulking and weatherization. We have built a bond with the native Americans that may grow over the future. Other outreaches have been to the hurricane Katrina victims. With the current economic crisis we are attempting to meet needs of the unemployed in our community as well.