United Methodists Called “Mules”
Posted by Todd Rhoades in Current Events on Feb 28th, 2011 | 8 commentsSpeaking to the annual United Methodist Congress on Evangelism in January 2011, Professor George Hunter of Asbury Seminary offered a searing critique of The United Methodist Church.
“The people called United Methodists cannot recall who they are, if indeed most of our present members ever knew,†Hunter lamented. “They are no longer rooted in scripture or in any recognizable version of Methodism’s theological vision.â€
But wait… there’s more!
“Thousands of our churches are analogous to mules – which are creatures that are so genetically compromised that they are incapable of reproduction… Don’t expect much vitality, much less reproduction. There is not much vitality or reproduction anywhere the gospel is in absentia.â€
WOW. Â And from one of their own seminary professors?
I’m guessing it was a quick speaking engagement for the professor. Â Speaking one minute. Â In his car headed for the interstate the next.
What do you think?
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8 Responses to “ “United Methodists Called “Mules””
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While Hunter is a United Methodist, he teaches at a non-UM seminary. And there will be plenty within the UMC that would say he is not one of their own.
But I have to admire the man for laying out a harsh and partially true critique.
Asbury is not an official UMC seminary…it is fairly conservative; therefore, quite a few grad students become UMC pastors.
I am a “member” of a UMC and have been for 30 years. Both of my home churches are Scripture teaching, talking & walking in Truth. We cannot put all UMC churches in one pot.
Asbury may not be an official UM seminary, but every year it graduates more United Methodist pastors than any official UM seminary — and has done so for many years.
I am working on my MDiv at Duke, and am a candidate for ordination in the UMC. And as a long-time member and lay leader, I just have to say YES, he has hit the nail on the head. I pray we get wise one day soon, before our denomination reaches its end.
Of the 34,000+ UM Churches in the US 15% of them have been defined in a recent study by the denomination as “high vitality”- that is growing, thriving, reproducing. Of course, that means that 85% are either stagnant or declining. For more info check out the Call to Action report:
http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.5792195/k.BDBE/Call_to_Action_Reordering_the_Life_of_the_Church.htm
Fess up. You’re actually quoting Mark Tooley from ultra conservative “American Spectator” funded by uber billionarie Richard Mellon Scaife.
This could read like a Mad Lib. Replace almost any denomination with UMC and it fits quite well.
I had the opportunity to speak to the pastors of the North Indiana Conference some years ago. I asked them to raise their hands if they had led someone to saving faith in Christ in the past year. I then asked them to raise their hands if they were discipling someone who had led someone to saving faith in Jesus Christ in the past year. You might guess that there were very few pastors who raised their hands to either question. I then suggested that if we pastors were not leading people to saving faith in Jesus Christ then we could be sure our parishoners would not being do so. I suggested that pastors and churches who don’t make salvation and discipleship a priority were simply “rearranging chairs on the Titanic.”