I just started reading "Mainline or Methodist?" by Scott Kisker. His main point is that for United Methodism to be a thriving denomination, we need to see ourselves as a movement rather than as an institutional mainline denomination.
When we were at our best, we were a denomination that offered the radical and distinctive message of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. The author claims that our slide into mediocrity began when a Methodist preacher conducted the funeral for Abraham Lincoln. By the time of the Civil War, we had become part of the establishment and ceased to be the revolutionary movement that characterizes healthy and vibrant churches.
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A great early quote in the book is when the author cites a line from the movie, "A River Runs Through It" in which a 1920s Presbyterian Minister refers to Methodists contemptuously as "Baptists who can read."
More thoughts on this book will appear on my blog when I finish reading it.
I look forward to your commentary and reactions to the book.
ReplyDeleteJohn - I've wanted to read this book ever since it came out. Someone mentioned that this book was going to be the focus of this fall's accountable discipleship conferenec in Nashville.
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