“I have submitted to be more vile.”
This is what methodism’s founder, John Wesley, wrote in his journal in 1739. It was a decision made thoughtfully and intentionally by one of the most educated persons of his time, having graduated from Oxford University. It was a decision made thoughtfully, intentionally, and faithfully by a pastor, the son of a pastor. The decision was to step beyond the walls of his Anglican church building to preach. This simply was not done nor condoned. It was radical, heretical, and “vile.”
Yet for Wesley it was an essential step that those who could not attend a church on Sundays might hear the saving grace of God for themselves. I wonder if we are in such a different place all these years later. Could it be that we have become too building-centric in our thinking about “church”? Could it be that, while we think of meeting people where they are with the grace of God through Jesus Christ out in the world, we unconsciously think that the endgame is for them to be in our building with us?
Wesley came to the conclusion that persons who had to work in the fields or in the coal mines or as indentured servants simply did not have that luxury. So, he decided that he and his brother Charles would take the good news to them – where they were – and a Protestant revival began in England and spread to the American colonies and across our continent in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Circuit-riding pastors like Thomas Coke, Francis Asbury, and Freeborn Garrettson rode their horses taking the gospel to the people where they lived, before a church building was ever constructed.
I think there are lessons for us more than 200 years later. Our “frontier” is our neighborhood where new people move in, at the local pubs where people gather for drinks and discussions, and in the homes of people who cannot get out due to health reasons or who live great distances – even states away from FUMC Plano. I am convinced that it is to these places that we submit to be more “vile.” Our Futurist Team continues to learn and dream out loud of what our changing world and mission field will look like five and ten years from now and what we must do now to meet people where they are and not where we wish they were. As you think of the ways and places that we might consider taking the gospel, let us know. You can send your ideas to the church (office@fumcplano.org).
In the meantime, we will be celebrating Father’s Day with the always popular John Wesley Ramblers from the Wesley Foundation at Texas A&M and the reception of a new father and his baptized family into our church family at the 9 a.m. service. It’s going to be a great day. Blessings to all our fathers and especially our heavenly one!
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
