The EMC I see
By now my coming retirement is old news, but maybe not to everyone. In any case, it is nearly upon me—this is my last editorial. You will continue to see my imprint for one or two more issues but then it will fade. Before I go, I want to share what I think I’m seeing in the EMC.
It is nearly twenty years since I began working at the EMC office in a part-time administrative assistant role. At the time I loved the EMC the way one loves their family—it was the conference I was raised in, as was my family going all the way back. But as often happens with those from the inside, I took it largely for granted but didn’t necessarily think very highly of it. I didn’t think we were all that impressive.
In particular, while commitment to missions was big, our ability to engage culture was, in my opinion, not big. Much of our focus seemed to be our own history or distinctives, the history of our missions, or a story about trusting God in suffering. While these are good things, I longed for us to contribute to Christian thinking more widely. We always seemed to me to be just on the edge, and even a little outside of the Christian whole.
That’s not precisely true or fair but it isn’t entirely false either.
Maybe I speak prematurely, but as I’ve interacted with EMC leaders and at EMC/church events lately, I sense a new or renewed energy for theological depth in EMC. Even more encouraging is that it is paired with a desire to speak to culture thoughtfully, with grace and with honesty, while resisting the polarization around us. I hope it is also, going forward, paired with a commitment to EMC and I’m encouraged there as well. There are more EMC students at our Bible college this year than have been there for quite some time. (For those who didn’t know, Steinbach Bible College is our EMC-supported college.) Both pastors and non-pastors are studying at a post-graduate level.
“Maybe I speak prematurely, but as I’ve interacted with EMC leaders and at EMC/church events lately, I sense a new or renewed energy for theological depth in EMC.”
In the past few years, I have also seen congregations handle conflict with a grace I haven’t always seen in the past.
That means that, though we live in a time of considerable turmoil, EMC is wonderfully grounded in Christ and in our faith, which means we are well-placed to minister to our communities. That’s a good time to leave.
My prayer for us is that we have a deep and abounding trust in God that will hold regardless of the conditions around us.
