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November/December 2006 |
From the Bishop
'Local Church' is an oxymoron
I am writing this column while attending the meeting of the United Methodist Council of Bishops in Maputo, Mozambique. Even though our Council meetings include all of the United Methodist bishops around the world, this is the first time that the Council has met outside of the United States and its territories. We met in Puerto Rico once. We are meeting in Africa partly in recognition of the fact that The United Methodist Church is growing rapidly here, and we bishops want to experience and learn more about this part of the world.
This meeting also reminds me of something I heard a few years ago: "Local Church is an oxymoron." An oxymoron is any expression where the two words seem to be in opposition to one another, like "jumbo shrimp" or perhaps even "government intelligence."
Likewise "local church" is an oxymoron in the sense that any church which is totally local is not really a church. The Gospel calls us to be focused beyond ourselves, our own communities, our own congregations and our own self-interests. One cannot be a Christian without sensing this call to stretch beyond oneself and to give our lives for others. Jesus reminds us: "Those who would save their lives will lose them, but those who give their lives for the sake of the Gospel will find them" (Mark 8:35).
A "local church" is always a part of the whole Church, the Catholic (universal) Church, and the global Body of Christ. This is especially true for the people called United Methodists. To join a local United Methodist church is to join the global connection of The United Methodist Church. Sometimes we forget that fact or overlook it, but being in a place like Mozambique certainly reminds me of this global connection.
It is good to gather with United Methodists who speak other languages, who practice the faith in their own indigenous styles, and who stretch my own too-local understandings of what it means to be a follower of Christ. It is good to do that, but it also is uncomfortable in many ways. As I hear about pastors who must walk or ride bicycles to their churches, or about churches which meet under trees because they have no buildings, or about the dramatic growth of the church in the midst of such poverty, I am stretched in my understanding of the church. Especially, I am stretched by their sense of joy and their enthusiasm for sharing the faith, as I remember how often we in Indiana become involved in small, insignificant and joyless disputes.
The saying is correct. Any local church which is only local is not really a church, is it? Any church which focuses only upon its own survival is not really a church, is it? And any church which cannot discover the joy of the Lord is not really a church, is it?
How about your congregation? Are you a part of something larger than yourselves? Something which gives you a joy which is beyond logic and circumstances? Are you a part of the global movement of God's Spirit? Perhaps this season of the year is a good time to pause, reflect upon our part in the whole Church, and to give thanks, even if it stretches us.
See you back in Indiana.
Bishop Michael J. Coyner
Indiana Area of The United Methodist Church"Making a Difference in Indiana … and around the world"
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008