November 7, 2023
By Rev. Dr. Scott N. Field
“I like the old wine best.”
John Wesley, Letter from Dublin, June 20, 1789.
Recently I participated in the Great Lakes Convening Conference of the Global Methodist Church. How to describe the unbridled joy that permeated the gathering? Like children on Christmas morning? Like graduates enthusiastically throwing their mortarboard caps in the air? Like the city-wide parade to celebrate a long-awaited Stanley Cup championship? (Okay, okay…I’m in Chicago. That “Stanley Cup” reference, sadly, is a fading memory.)
The Great Lakes Provisional Annual Conference encompasses four states (Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan). From Copper Harbor, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula to New Albany in southern Indiana, is 765 miles. We are a collection of Methodists, the overwhelming majority of whom had never met one another, many of whom had driven for hours to the outskirts of Peoria, Illinois, for something no one had ever before attended. It was a convention of strangers, right?
Wrong.
It felt like a family reunion: hugs, high-fives, and “hallelujahs” throughout. What struck me was our actual experience: unity! There was not a legislative resolution affirming unity, not a report from a sub-commission on unity, and not going through a checklist of categories to prove to ourselves that, at least by externally observable demographics, we are “united.” No, it was the actual, real, palpable, joyful experience of one heart and mind, a passionate, common devotion to Christ, a deep appreciation of, trust in, and respect for one another, and an overriding commitment to the Jesus Mission before us. Most of us Methodists are simply not used to such an outbreak of joy, let alone unity, at an annual conference meeting. It was dizzyingly disorienting for sure.
How to explain this unexpected gift of unity?
My reflection on the Convening Conference led me to consider again Mr. Wesley’s recommended wine: “I am for as few innovations as possible. I like the old wine best.” This quote comes from a letter John Wesley wrote to his brother Charles in which he comments upon prayer book editing by Dr. Thomas Coke. Though this line of the letter is focused on something very specific, I have come to regard it as a wider insight into John Wesley’s “innovative conservatism.”
(If you want to read the original letter, here you go: John Wesley Letter from Dublin June 20 1789. There is, of course, a long history of Methodist practices related to abstinence from alcohol overall, but that is not the focus of this blog post.)
What is the “glue” that holds us together?
An “organizing principle” is the foundational commitment, belief, goal, or priority around which all of the other elements of an organization or movement are arranged. The “organizing principle” is the glue that holds the organization together. What was John Wesley’s “organizing principle” for Methodism?
On the one hand, he was without doubt a conservative. “I am for as few innovations as possible.” So, what was he wanting to conserve?
After a serious illness, and as several Methodist missionaries were being sent to the American colonies, John Wesley gave focused consideration to preparations for the continuity of the “methodist connection” in the event of his death. What would sustain the Methodist movement after he was gone?
He wrote out a brief plan in his “Address to the Travelling Preachers” (August 4, 1769). In it he described a method to preserve unity among the Methodists. Annually the preachers were to pledge themselves to “preach the old Methodist doctrines, and no other, contained in the Minutes of the Conferences.” What are the “old Methodist doctrines” to which the preachers were to pledge themselves annually? Dr. Thomas Oden has summarized them: “scriptural Christianity, the witness of the Spirit, salvation, faith, regeneration, and sanctification.” (Thomas Oden, John Wesley’s Teachings, Vol 3, p. 236).
That is the “conservative commitment” to the doctrine Wesley expected to be pledged annually by the Methodist preachers: loyalty to preach and live and promote the “old Methodist doctrines.”
But on the other hand, John Wesley was a bold innovator. How to understand his “innovative conservatism”, especially during our season of denominational disaffiliation?
Dr. Winfield Bevins writes:
One of the secrets of the success of Wesley’s movement was his ability to maintain a dynamic synthesis of old and new, tradition and innovation. While he wasn’t against tradition, Wesley was opposed to dead, dry religion, cold ritualism, and the clericalism that discouraged non-ordained people from being involved in the life of the ministry, all of which had become widespread in the Church of England in the eighteenth century.
The Wesleyan synthesis could perhaps best be viewed as a tension between the embrace of tradition and the need for innovation. While Wesley was a traditional high church Anglican priest who honored church tradition, at the same time, he was an apostolic leader who was willing to innovate, willing to bring change to the structure and methods of the church in order to see the gospel shared and lives changed.
(Click here for Dr. Bevins’ excellent article on Wesley’s commitment to both tradition and innovation)
Forty years ago, in their landmark book In Search of Excellence, Peters and Waterman identified eight characteristics of effective organizations. One of those characteristics is “simultaneous loose-tight properties.” It seems like a contradiction, doesn’t it? How can an organization be loose and tight at the same time? The simultaneity they identified is between an abiding commitment to the purpose of the organization (tight) along with great freedom to innovate in how that purpose is fulfilled (loose).
Most organizations over time expand their commitments and use of resources so it is unclear as to what their actual mission or purpose is. The “iron rule of bureaucracy” generally describes the growing priority on institutional/organizational self-preservation that overtakes many organizations and movements.
The Wesleyan Covenant Association is a network of laity and clergy who have a few core commitments and a common mission. In this season of United Methodist disaffiliation, we continue to contend for fair, just, and amicable pathways out of The United Methodist Church for all, including progressives as well as traditionalists. We’re new enough to stay focused on that goal. And, I am grateful to report, the WCA network of regional chapters has been highly effective in informing, assisting, supporting, and advocating for congregations who are leaving the UMC for their preferred future.
Even now we are networking and advocating to support our sisters and brothers in the Central Conferences (Africa, the Philippines, and Europe) who have been denied the opportunity for disaffiliation that, to this point, has been reserved exclusively for churches in the USA.
New Ways to Tell “the Old, Old Story of Jesus and His Love”
Some years back I had a conversation with Lyle Schaller, who was dubbed “The Dean of Church Consultants” by Christianity Today magazine. We discussed the internal conflicts of the United Methodist Church. He said he was disappointed by how conservative the UMC had become. Lyle could see by my expression that I didn’t agree with him. He clarified that he was not talking about theological conservatism, but organizational atrophy.
He observed that when congregations, movements, or denominations forget their primary purpose, they become more and more legalistic. They focus on policies, procedures, institutional power, and self-preservation. The mission gets lost along the way. On the other hand, movements, organizations, congregations, and networks that remain committed to their initial mission are free to innovate, create, and start new things. If there is unity on the primary things, there can be a great diversity of innovation.
What I and nearly 700 others experienced at the Great Lakes Convening Conference was, I think, the unity of a rapidly developing movement that expresses our fundamental desire: to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. Perhaps like John Wesley, we much prefer the old wine of the gospel best. But we’re joyfully excited to find that God is pouring the gospel mission into a new decanter. Hugs, high-fives, and hallelujahs all around, indeed!
PRAYER ALERT:
Pray for the 40+ congregations in the Alabama West Florida Annual Conference (UMC) that are part of an injunction hearing on Wednesday, November 8. The Annual Conference has denied these churches the right to complete their disaffiliation processes. The judge in this case is being asked to intervene so the disaffiliation processes of these congregations can proceed.