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UMC is an institution and a movement

Published: 7/28/2008

In a moving speech to the Council of Bishops when she was council president, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie suggested that the United Methodist Church needed to become a movement once again. Her suggestion was widely acclaimed among those who heard it. We bishops long to lead a dynamic, nimble, mission-focused movement serving the cause of Christ.

My own study of Methodism’s beginnings in England in the 1700s feeds that same sentiment within me. Part of me longs for the “good old days,” when John and Charles Wesley, along with their closest associates, were inventing the characteristic ministries of the Wesleyan movement—class meetings, field preaching, constant communion, love feasts, hymns like “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” Christian conference, schools, books and newspapers. Meth-odism in the 1760s was growing rapidly by inviting the poor and working classes to know Christ and form new communities of faith.

When I first started studying United Methodist history, I was at-tracted to the 1700s and not so interested in the institutionalization of the 1800s.

It was in the 1800s that Methodism grew its institutional framework. We established many new conferences. General Conference became delegated with restrictive rules. We established hundreds of colleges. This trend continued into the 20th century with the establishment of even more churches, schools and hospitals. By 1960, Methodism was a powerful institution with loyal members, strong bishops and a clear sense of purpose.

A similar story can be told on a smaller scale for the Evangelical Association and the United Brethren in Christ. Colleges, seminaries, camps and other institutional expressions fueled their mission of making disciples and transforming the world.

Then came the 1960s and the baby boomers. We believed that institutions were bad, that no one older than 30 could be trusted and that our ancestors had left us with a terrible legacy. We wanted fresh, innovative ideas and movements. We neglected our institutions and looked for something different.

Now that I am older than 30 and have had more time to think about such matters, I am convinced that Christ needs an institutionalized movement or a moving institution.

Institutions can be defined as patterns of relationship among people including common mission and mutual accountability with the gathering of resources to accomplish the organization’s purposes. Seen in this light, every new movement inevitably becomes institutionalized as it faces challenges, develops solutions and then makes those solutions routine through repetition or rules. Christianity could not have survived the apostles unless it became an institution—hence the apostles appointed bishops, elders and deacons to carry on the work.

Yet, we must acknowledge that when the church gets bogged down in its institutional nature, it sometimes loses sight of its mission.

Clarity of purpose and focused attention on how best to achieve it are necessary to a moving institution. Nimbleness of action is necessary to an institutionalized movement.

I hope United Methodism is both a movement and an institution.
 

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