Day: July 5, 2016

As a United Methodist Clergy, I struggled greatly with what I want my community to be about.  On the one hand, there are colleagues and friends of mine who think that the Church is about helping people find a way to God and to a better relationship with Jesus.  That’s all well and good, but it just doesn’t seem to appeal to me to try to get them to come to this relationship in the way so many people see the Church’s role.

There’s the other end of the spectrum, one in which the Church is simply the ground for social justice organizing and the fostering of movements.  This is more appealing, but it lacks something and is hard to differentiate from all the social justice organizations that are happening.  Additionally, most faith communities are doing this tremendously poorly, likely because they are trying to accomplish between 3-14 different kinds of social justice and service related things all at once.  It so often feels like little is being accomplished, aside from general education. Read more…