LOUISVILLE – Will Willimon, author, professor at Duke Divinity School and former United Methodist bishop, says mainline Protestants have understandably suffered major losses – losses he’s observed firsthand through his four decades of ministry.
Among them, he told a Big Tent lunch gathering Aug. 2, sponsored by the Presbyterian Foundation:
- A loss of our monopoly and a growing negativity about institutions.
- The culture wars over sexuality and more, “which many in the church bought into and chose up sides.”
- “A loss of theological nerve,” which some ascribe to secularism or pluralism.
- “A loss of the content of the faith.” Someone told him that “the line between the Methodist Church and the Rotary (Club) was getting pretty thin. And the Rotary at least meets at a convenient time of the week and serves lunch.”
When the United Methodists meet in General Conference – roughly the equivalent of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – Willimon said that “I get suicidally, deeply depressed.” At one such meeting, after listening to a series of older delegates warn that Methodists should be aware that the world was watching to see what they did, he (while sitting on the platform) texted a young adult friend. Are you watching? Willimon asked.
“Where are you?” his friend responded. “No one gives a rip.”
Despite these losses, which for some mainline Protestants cause anxiety and despair, Willimon said he remains confident that Christians worship a living God – not some sort of dead idol. Among the signs he sees of God still at work:
“I think denominationalism is over,” and that the Holy Spirit is working from the ground up in congregations. Jesus is nonchalant about organizations, “but is relentless about mission. Out. Go. Go.”
Students who come to him, Willimon said, are “telling me the craziest, kinkiest stuff God is telling them to do.” Most older Christians don’t have such bold ideas, he said. “Maybe Christianity is a young person’s religion. God doesn’t seem to tell people over 40 much interesting stuff.”
He said incredibly gifted people seek ordination, many of whom seem to have the skills needed to start new things and reinvent others. He asks candidates: “When was the last time you started something from scratch? Tell us how you did that.” Or “what was your last major failure in the church?” What did you learn, and what would you do differently. “No failure? Nothing ventured.”
Willimon said that “God continues to call just the right people to do the work. Unfortunately, we have difficulty sometimes seeing that they are the ones God has chosen. It’s so easy to choose clones of ourselves.”
