Following the last Inter Church Council meeting, Ken Tindell approached me with an interesting idea. Ken commented to me that many people in our communities would never pull into the parking lot of our church, but may be able to access our message another way. Here's Ken's idea:
2/21/10
Greetings to my Bethel family
I’m convinced that the Bethel Methodist message is the best presentation of the Gospel available today. Unfortunately, a God centered message is not very popular in a world that has been immersed in man centered theology for two or three generations. We have a passion to get our message to a world that desperately needs it. That passion has born lots of conversation about changing our name. I have prayerfully considered alternatives to no avail. Our roots are entwined in the teachings of Arminius, the Wesleys and Adam Clark. The Bethel churches are each uniquely different in personality and urban setting, which is why we all do business differently. I propose that instead of changing our name, each church should have the option of removing the denomination name, replacing it with their web address. People who would never be motivated to enter our churches may very well take the time to browse our websites. Our message has the power to move hungry hearts. Please consider this idea and may God enlighten and empower us to do His will.
Ken Tindell
Bethel Methodist church of Robinson
Ken,
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to agree with you after the last Interchurch Council meeting. Although our message is the same, we're in different communities and settings where different people respond to various words and phrases in different ways. Without a doubt, the Discipline is silent on how an autonomous church is named and presented to its local community. I'm not sure I would remove an existing denominational phrase on a sign, but we should all be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in such matters.
In the Hill Country we have our web address on our sign. It has already worked several times. One current member of our church said when I first met her,"Oh, I've heard you preach before on the internet". some people are more likely to check us out on the website. We should keep our current name and it should be on the sign. However, when possible we should have the byline "an independent Methodist denomination" and/or a web address. I remain open to suggestions and better ideas.Thank you for your prayers and ideas motivated by the love of the Truth!
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