Dollar General (Conference)

I love my church, and there are very few things it does that both anger and hurt me. In specific terms, I hate it when my own church hates — when it goes out of its way to judge and revile and hold God’s children in contempt. We affirm their goodness then tell them we don’t want them. This is awful. But in the broad and general sense, nothing angers me more than cheapening our Christian faith, watering it down to make it more palatable and easy to do. I sat through a beautiful worship service at General Conference on Monday night (April 30) then had the whole thing ruined by an infomercial for our “Vital Congregations” emphasis. Each of our conferences committed “goal cards” that redefined “Christian discipleship” as attending church, being in a small group, or giving money to the church. (Some did commit to mission projects/work, but not too many). So, what we have now communicated to the world is that discipleship is not about sacrifice, or supreme commitment, or risk, or even death (forget all that icky cross stuff…), but about going to church when we feel like it. We have taken the Biblical teachings attributed to Jesus, and made them simple and easy and cheap. And ALL of our bishops stepped up to witness to this new, disciple-lite definition.

Now, I have been engaged in this discussion for quite some time, and I realize I am in the minority. I have been told in no uncertain terms by the agency that I formerly worked for that if we make “discipleship” less intimidating, it will attract more young people. I have heard that expecting people to adopt spiritual disciplines and to align one’s life with the teachings of Jesus is unrealistic and might drive people from the church. I had it explained to me that since we cannot expect people to rise to the level of authentic discipleship, we need to lower the standards and description of discipleship to make it more attainable to average United Methodists. My position that discipleship is a lifestyle and relationship to which we should challenge and nurture church attendees has been refuted by church leaders at all levels. But, I haven’t changed my mind.

I understand that our driving goal and vision is size and numbers. I get that. I also realize that a committed Christian life is not for everyone and that if we make authentic discipleship our goal, we will lose a lot of people and attract fewer. I can understand the low expectations and I even understand why people are downgrading discipleship to be open to all. In 1998, I conducted a survey that showed that 71% of United Methodist’s defined discipleship as “believing that Jesus is God’s Son.” All that has happened is that this has now been adopted as the UM standard. It really helps us live with our mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” As long as discipleship is defined in simplistic, non-demanding terms the church doesn’t have to get serious about changing. What we are already doing is good enough.

But what are the long-term implications of cheapening discipleship? In the short run, it may make us more attractive and popular — like a diploma mill granting degrees to anyone who pays the fee. We can achieve our growth goals without raising expectations or developing standards of accountability. All we have to do is change our language, and viola — members become disciples, attendees become disciples, and regular visitors become disciples — the church grows!

Dollar General exists to make cheap products available to everyone. It’s a very profitable business. The question with which we must wrestle is this: Is Dollar General a good model for the church to follow? We have been challenged to be more like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart in the past, why not Dollar General now? Perhaps I am making a mountain out of a molehill, but I honestly believe that discipleship requires a higher level of commitment than just joining a church. My greatest fear is that if we cheapen life in Christ as a disciple, we are in danger of bankrupting the faith.

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42 responses to “Dollar General (Conference)”

Bob Ryder

May 1, 2012

Dan, Excellent comments again. However, I think lowering the bar actually does not attract people to Christianity. It seems this may be one of our (UMC) problems. If we seek to look and feel more like a social club, aside from no longer being the church God intended, we put ourselves in a tier of “competition” where we will never win. There are organizations that exist first to be great social clubs and to attract customers based on the value of and experience of social interaction. I don’t think we can out perform them for “customers” (what the call to action seems to try to do). However, If we set the bar much higher, at holiness. Not for the purpose of judging or being pharisees, but because our creator designed us for this way of living — because we find real purpose, hope, identity, fulfillment when we seek a walk with our creator at the level our creator intended, and that the work of Christ has empowered us to be. Then it’s hard to keep people away. This is something no one else (outside to body of Christ) seeks to offer. When I look at many of the churches that are growing, I see organizations that are calling people up into a story that cannot be lived on our own. That require radical dependence on God’s Holy Spirit and that expect miracles. We need St Paul to say to us Gal 3:1-4.

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David McGlocklin

May 1, 2012

I couldn’t agree with you more. In fact at my current appointment I am finding that the deeper my commitment to my personal discipleship, the farther most everyone else is willing to go. The number one thing I hear from my people is that no one has ever challenged them or required things like daily bible study and prayer as a basic starting point to be in leadership at the church. I established and have lead several small groups which are now functional on their own. This year I launched disciple bible study 1 and that group (some of whom didn’t own a bible when we started) has been able to start without me and when I walk in, they are so deep in study together that they inform me where they are and let me know that they are fine until the break. They get it completely and one couple, in their mid 70’s are leaving on an extended trip and have bought a webcam and mic so they can Skype into the study. (they didn’t even know what Skype was before this class) Our nation seems to be dumbing down, we should be setting a high bar similar to our founders rather than following cultures direction.

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Sharon McCart

May 1, 2012

Dick, thanks for stating this so articulately! My mission as a pastor is not to add members, but to deepen the discipleship of the members already there—deepen it past the commitment to come to church and give a few dollars a week. I find it incomprehensible that the institution believes it can reverse the decline by keeping out large numbers of people “not like us!” All of the people “like us” are already here! I think the mission statement encourages this numbers thinking, and that it’s backwards. I think a better mission statement might be “to transform ourselves into true disciples of Jesus Christ who answer the call to serve the needs of the world.”

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Rev. Frank Bertrand

May 1, 2012

Dan,
I agree with you on the fact that we have been watering down our faith for so long it has become muddied and unrecognizable as the legacy which Jesus handed down to his disciples so many thousands of years ago. Human nature doesn’t change over generations, we still make the same mistakes as Peter and the other disciples.
The early church worship services used to be a time of celebration for what the community accomplished during the week. John Wesley’s holy clubs brought back that idea and it began to make each disciple accountable for at least one other person in the club.
More rules and more committees and more order will not accomplish the task of getting the members of Christ’s body back to the basics of Feeding the Hungry, Clothing the Naked, Comforting the Sorrowful and Visiting the Imprisoned. They will only serve to make us more rigid in our response to each other.
Thanks for being just one more watchful eye on our Spirit Ship adrift.
Rev. Frank Bertrand

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Paul Woolverton

May 1, 2012

Thank you for these thoughts! I think part of the reality is that we have had lower expectations and minimal accountability at best already for years, which has brought us to the point where we are. To now set this as the norm and the guideline feels to me as though we are putting the final nails in the coffin! Either that or more of us are maybe more Episcopalian at heart and maybe we end up finding ourselves in the wrong pew. Wesley had expectations – why can’t we?

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roland rink

May 1, 2012

Greetings from South Africa! These are great…….and deeply troubling thoughts Dan! Perhaps at times like these it’s worth remembering just one thing – the bride of Christ will prevail. No matter what anyone does thinks or says. No matter what anyone does not do, think or say. She will prevail – because Jesus says so.

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Daryn DeZengotita (@daryndez)

May 1, 2012

Is it possible that having a bar at different levels for people based on their own journey toward discipleship is not the same thing as “lowering” it? The young frazzled mother of toddlers who finds the grace to help another mom in need. Maybe that is her mission for that day, that hour. What else do you require of her? In a few years, she will have the time and energy to serve in new and more outwardly recognizable ways that may better suit your rigorous standards. I could think of so many like examples. We are becoming and becoming and becoming. I am grateful for each step forward.

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1. David Livingston
  
  May 1, 2012
  
  I think you’re exactly right, which is why measurement of discipleship is so difficult. We’re trying one size fits all even though we know that doesn’t work.
  
  As a first step I’d like to see all the conferences using the dashboard allow churches to pick one additional measurement that they choose. Maybe it’s the percentage of members that visit a shut-in or the number of times we say “God bless” to a stranger or the number of people invited to worship or to a small group. It could be anything, but something that the congregation can invest themselves in and identify with instead of all these arbitrary measurements handed down from on high.
  
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2. John Meunier
  
  May 1, 2012
  
  You can recognize that some of us are at different points of spiritual maturity and still say the goal of authentic discipleship remains the same. That is why we United Methodists speak of going on to perfection. We are not there yet, but by the grace of God we can get closer tomorrow than we are today.
  
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