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GONE OUTREACHING
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator and Christ Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith.
I greet you on behalf of the West Ohio Conference Center staff, the district superintendents and the pastors and laity of nearly 1,200 congregations in the West Ohio Conference.
In August, the West Ohio Conference hosted a Rethink Church training event that brought together over 500 pastors and laity to explore what it means to rethink church. It was an event that generated great enthusiasm and is already bearing Kingdom fruit as churches are moving from focusing exclusively on the Sunday morning gathering to focusing on being the Church in the world all week long. They are rethinking church and inviting those outside the faith community to rethink their opinions about church.
The Rethink Church campaign was launched by United Methodist Communications in the spring of 2009 to provide renewed energy to our denomination’s commitment to “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors,” and to undergird the four areas of missional focus embraced by the 2008 General Conference:
• Developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world,
• Creating new places for new people by starting new churches and revitalizing existing congregations,
• Engaging in ministry with the poor, and
• Combating the killer diseases of poverty by improving health globally.
Jesus was constantly encouraging the Pharisees and scribes to rethink “church,” often with intense bluntness. Luke’s gospel records the following rebuke by Jesus: “I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you bet, but manage to find loopholes for getting around basic matters of justice and God’s love.” (Luke 11:42, The Message) Jesus is screaming, “Rethink church.” And, with every parable Jesus invited his own followers to hear and see a new way of being the “church.” “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. And you will be blessed…” (Luke 14:13-14a) Jesus is articulating a new vision of righteousness. Rethink church!
A couple of weeks ago I met a young woman from Kansas who was part of a VIM team working at the Tree of Life Mission on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south central South Dakota. She and her team members wore Rethink Church T-shirts. Inscribed on the back was the following statement:
“The Church Has Left The Building: Gone Outreaching!”
The mission of the West Ohio Conference is to make and equip disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. There is no way to fulfill this mission without rethinking church on a regular basis. I rejoice that hundreds of United Methodist congregations in West Ohio Conference are in the process of leaving the building. I invite you to join them. It is time to hang up the “Gone Outreaching” sign!
