Comments on: Missional Methodism & Rigorous Discipleship

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:10:15 +0000

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I appreciate the points you’re bringing up. Things have been crazy this week, so sorry for not interacting more!

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:41:14 +0000

I think one of our problems is a merge of receiving salvation with joining the church. God’s grace is given freely to all, and so none of our limits or restrictions or rules apply to it. But membership in the church and being saved aren’t identical things. One is God’s act and can’t be limited, the other is participation in the body of Christ and its work here in the world and by definition has some requirements and limits.

It seems like we’ve gotten to the point that we’ve said that everyone who wants to join our particular incarnation of the body of Christ is not only welcome, they can all be the appendix and just hang there uselessly.

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:59:30 +0000

Matt, I can understand your struggle between the apparent “success” of strict standards and the need to proclaim the grace of God for all. But the issue I keep coming back to is, in the process of proclaiming grace for all, we have lost our identity.

It is hard to proclaim the full message of the grace of God without encountering standards set by God. The grace measured out in the Old Testament was balanced with standards of lifestyle. The grace of the New Testament, while available to all, appears to be limited by the exclusive channel through Christ.

The standards that the early church put in place were practical issues for a church that was already being “tainted” by false teachings. They had to insure a future for themselves as a whole.

Now we are struggling with identity issues. What does the church stand for? Are all churches the same? Do all religions lead to the same end? These are all relevant questions that asks us to understand our identity, and even set standards for who is counted among our number.

By: Kevin Watson

Kevin Watson — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:37:34 +0000

Matt – Amazon had already sucked me into being interested in this book by recommending it based on my purchase history. (I don’t know whether to love or hate that feature!) After reading your reaction to it, I am definitely going to pick up a copy. I agree with his focus on Methodism. I think a very good case can be made historically for linking Methodism’s decline (spiritually and numerically) with the decline of the class meeting. (The class meeting for me is a place holder for an insistence that Christians come together not just for one hour a week to worship, but also come together to open their lives up to each other and talk about how they are living or not living out the faith that they proclaim.)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I hope to hear more from you on this book.