I’m no Fox News, but I do attempt to be fair and balanced. This past week I struck a chord with a significant number of people with my Igniting Misery and Taking It All Too Seriously posts. One subtext of both posts is that some of our decision-makers in the denomination are out of touch with the larger culture and are not aligned with the importance of our mission. It would be irresponsible of me to only offer a negative view of our leadership. In the past three days, I have received email communication from some of my episcopal friends, district superintendents, annual conference leaders, agency staff, and even two international leaders — one from Africa and one from Puerto Rico. While I honor their wishes not to publically enter the conversation, I do want to anonymously lift some of their comments that give me great hope and encouragement for the future of our church. I present them in no particular order:
Take heart. There are many <in leadership in The UMC> who agree with you. As you know, working with the national church, there are certain things we can’t say. It isn’t about our personal opinion, but about being an advocate for Methodist programs and projects. It doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with them, but we need to be politically sensitive. Just know that many of us applaud what you are attempting to do.
Hold our feet to the fire. It is very important that we hear from people outside the church. We end up spending most of our time with church people, and sometimes lose perspective.
Don’t for one minute think that <we> don’t take our faith seriously. We give our lives to the work of the church, and we take very seriously the sacred trust and stewardship of the church in our care.
You are saying many of the things I have felt for years, but it isn’t always acceptable for <those in my position> to take one side over another.
A dissident voice is important. Don’t apologize for telling the truth. You are talking to people that we haven’t talked to before… if we aren’t open to criticism, we’re not a very strong church.
What you say is what we are also dealing with. Our people do not know the Bible as they should. Our people depend too much on the pastor. Our people are wanting to be cared for more than caring for others. We all need to be encouraged to do better.
I might not like what you are saying, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect your right to say it. You obviously represent a large number of people who feel the same way you do?
When did you get so smart? You weren’t that smart when we worked together.
You are quickly becoming a core resource for people who are thinking deeply about the future of the church.
I hope we take some time to rethink the ReThink campaign. We need more theologians and critical thinkers and fewer marketing pros working on our future.
I don’t disagree with what you are saying, I do wish you would soften the criticism a bit and offer more positive feedback on the good work being done. We need more encouragement and less condemnation. Many good people work very hard to put together the materials you so freely criticize.
When you put the many different ideas together, there is a really cohesive vision for our church. You are laying the groundwork for a systematic approach to a church-wide process of disciple-making. It would be very good to pull the parts together to present a position paper on our church aligned around our mission.
I have virtually no time to read all the things that come in the mail, cross my desk, or that flood my inbox. The one thing I find that I am reading almost every day is your blog. You force me to think about this church I am leading.
Just so you know, <we> think about, wrestle with, and are really concerned about many things you write on your blog. It would be nice if you let people know that their denominational leaders do care about discipleship and the transformation of the world. We might not do it the way that you and other people think we should. But we do a good job. You are a valuable resource, but so are we.
And this I feel is a nice summary of many comments I have received (from Leona Worley)
You have called the question on how serious we are about discipleship, our mission and core process, our sense of identity and purpose, our vision for the church in the near and distant future, our styles and models of leadership, our ability to change, and our commitment to excellence.
There are many great people who love God and this church of ours and they are sharing their gifts, vision, passion, expertise, and dedication to making The United Methodist Church the very best it can be. It is never my intention to offend anyone. I want us all working together — discussing, debating, disagreeing and dreaming — to honor and glorify God in everything we do. I am privileged and grateful to be a part of a community of believers with such amazing potential.
FaithQuest Revisited 
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