I am just a lay person with a passion for a lay movement in evangelism (getting ordinary people to tell people about Jesus and start small discipleship and support groups) Nothing big or fancy in my vision, but over the last 20 years I have discovered something I should have understood prior. Institutions by nature (and I believe by definition) resist change (in all fairness, I might say they resist chaos and try to bring stability to the process). Movements bring change and chaos, especially lay led ones. The conferences, the boards, the book of discipline, the "order", the legislation, the enforcement (or lack thereof of the legislation) are all attempts to reign in chaos and bring order (inertia) ... As I understand it, the Wesleyan "movement" was mostly lay led (I read that the U.S. church was started by two lay preachers) ... there was enough structure to provide a quarterly pastoral visit, communion, baptisms, weddings, and receive and offering to support the "institutional mechanism that provided that "structure". I am not naive (a person or action showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment) and realize that even house churches have structure (when do we meet, where do we meet, what do we do, how do we do it, who does what, etc) but i have also seen the desire for stability throw a wet blanket on a vision, passion or a movement and rather than be frustrated, I have analyzed it a I believe that it comes down to the concept of bringing stability and reigning in chaos. Some of this is needed but I believe the UMC has become "unbalanced" toward the stability end of the spectrum. One plus I see in a lay movement is since we laity "out number" the institution by a large percentage, that if we go about telling people about Jesus and meeting with them to help them grow, I am not sure I really care if the institution supports the movement, ignores the movement or actively works against the movement. I believe it can not only survive but thrive if we can just catch the vision and approach it with a holy passion that comes from the One who told us to be about "His" business. Maybe I am naive but I am willing to risk to work toward that vision. At this point we don't have much to lose other than being ridiculed. won't you join me?
I am just a lay person with a passion for a lay movement in evangelism (getting ordinary people to tell people about Jesus and start small discipleship and support groups) Nothing big or fancy in my vision, but over the last 20 years I have discovered something I should have understood prior. Institutions by nature (and I believe by definition) resist change (in all fairness, I might say they resist chaos and try to bring stability to the process). Movements bring change and chaos, especially lay led ones. The conferences, the boards, the book of discipline, the "order", the legislation, the enforcement (or lack thereof of the legislation) are all attempts to reign in chaos and bring order (inertia) ... As I understand it, the Wesleyan "movement" was mostly lay led (I read that the U.S. church was started by two lay preachers) ... there was enough structure to provide a quarterly pastoral visit, communion, baptisms, weddings, and receive and offering to support the "institutional mechanism that provided that "structure". I am not naive (a person or action showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment) and realize that even house churches have structure (when do we meet, where do we meet, what do we do, how do we do it, who does what, etc) but i have also seen the desire for stability throw a wet blanket on a vision, passion or a movement and rather than be frustrated, I have analyzed it a I believe that it comes down to the concept of bringing stability and reigning in chaos. Some of this is needed but I believe the UMC has become "unbalanced" toward the stability end of the spectrum. One plus I see in a lay movement is since we laity "out number" the institution by a large percentage, that if we go about telling people about Jesus and meeting with them to help them grow, I am not sure I really care if the institution supports the movement, ignores the movement or actively works against the movement. I believe it can not only survive but thrive if we can just catch the vision and approach it with a holy passion that comes from the One who told us to be about "His" business. Maybe I am naive but I am willing to risk to work toward that vision. At this point we don't have much to lose other than being ridiculed. won't you join me?