FEBRUARY 2007

TRUTH AND LOVE

Around the North Carolina Conference, for a couple of years now, there has been a lot of talk about ordained ministry. During the course of these discussions, the central concept for understanding ministry has changed from "effectiveness" to "excellence." One of the results of this conversation has been the development of a new form for evaluating pastors, which was used last year by Pastor/Staff-Parish Relations Committees across the conference.

This important conversation on the ministry continues. Bishop Gwinn and the District Superintendents are now holding meetings with clergy and laity, in each of the twelve districts across the conference, to discuss excellence in ministry.

According to Bp. Gwinn, Christian excellence is to be understood theologically. Excellence is defined by God/Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, illustrated by the Resurrection, and symbolized by the Cross. Established for all Christians at their baptisms and reinforced for clergy at their ordinations, excellence is not a new standard imposed on laity and clergy. Indeed, excellence involves the traditional practices of studying the Bible, discussing Church doctrine, celebrating the Sacraments, singing, praying, and living a life of love for God and neighbor.

When all is said and done, what is the pastor’s ministry about? This pastor would propose truth and love. Ephesians 4:15 suggests as much: "...speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ...." (RSV, emphasis added)

Most United Methodists today would guess that love is essential to a pastor’s ministry. However, at the same time, truth is too often overlooked. Are American churches dedicated to the proposition that the pastor’s ministry can be conducted apart from the truth? It is a debatable question.

Back in January, Bishop Stanislaw Wielgus, just before being installed as the Archbishop of Warsaw, resigned. Why? Because he admitted that years ago he had collaborated with the former communist government of Poland. In response to this resignation, the bishops of Poland wrote a letter to be read in every Roman Catholic church in their nation. It read, in part: "The Church is not afraid of the truth, even if this is a hard, shameful truth, and approaching this truth is sometimes very painful. We deeply believe that the truth liberates, because Jesus Christ himself is a liberating truth. The Church has been struggling with sin inside herself and in the world, to which it is sent, for 2,000 years. Sin degrades man and distorts the image and similitude of God in him. The Church does not carry this through under her own power. It does it under the power of the One, who as the only One can make us free from evil. Therefore we begin every Eucharist with a confession of our sinfulness: ‘I confess to the almighty God....’ This is not a void liturgical formula, but a deep confrontation with our weakness and faithlessness before the face of the merciful God." (www.firstthings.com)

Truth and love -- not just love, not trust and love, but truth and love -- should color all of a pastor’s ministry. Though not easily accomplished, that would most certainly demonstrate excellence.