A CATECHISM IN COMMUNITY FOR THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH A THESIS-PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY REV. ANDREA L. HARVEY MAY 2011 Copyright © 2011 Andrea L. Harvey. All Rights Reserved To my Mom, who showed me how to live as a follower of Jesus. CONTENTS Abstract Chapter 1: Problem and Setting Chapter 2: Theological Framework 20 Chapter 3: Literature Review 40 Chapter 4: Project Design 53 Chapter 5: Outcomes 56 Appendix A: A Catechism in Community for the United Methodist Church 60 Appendix B: Survey for Youth and Young Adults 94 Appendix C: Survey sent to all Bishops in the U.S. 116 Bibliography 141 Vita 149 iv ABSTRACT The United Methodist Church has been experiencing a significant decline in membership in the United States and Europe in the 21* century. 4 Catechesis in Community outlines a method to assist local churches that are struggling to find their place in post-modern society. Youth and church administrators were surveyed concerning their personal beliefs, perception of the Church’s inclusion of young people, spiritual formation and Christian education within the Church. A brief survey of Christianity and the roots of Methodism remind the Church of today where they came from and John Wesley’s admonition to ‘make Christians’. CHAPTER | PROBLEM AND SETTING This thesis project is the result of my experiences as a lifelong in United Methodist. I was baptized as an infant and grew up in a family that was very active in our local church. Mom was the Sunday School Superintendent for most of my childhood, and had a very deep abiding faith. My Dad was a trustee and regular worker at church suppers, but he had no real faith at that point in his life; he was active on the periphery with committees and activities, but never attended church services. The rest of the family attended worship regularly and socialized with other members of our congregation. I followed the typical Methodist path in that I became a member of my church as a sixth grader. I continued to participate in church and related activities throughout my teenage years. | began teaching Sunday School when I entered High School, as there was no class for youth in that age group and my mother was determined to keep me involved. I became the Sunday School Superintendent and Youth Group Leader by the time I was twenty-one years old. The Sunday School and Youth Ministry programs were deemed successful by all, as the number of children involved grew each year, and programs flourished within both ministries; but after a few years, I began to feel that something was missing. There were over a hundred children and youth participating in weekly classes and programs. The Pastor, parents and congregation were all thrilled with the musicals, cookie bakes and parties, but I kept feeling that insidious nagging feeling in the back of my mind saying that something was missing. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew that things were not as perfect as they seemed. There had been some major changes in my personal life by this point. My mother and sister had both died of cancer, and my niece had been forbidden to see my Dad and I, as we were no longer considered ‘family’ by her father. My belief in God had undergone a transformation as well. Even though I attended church and had held vital leadership positions, no one had ever asked me if I believed in God or if I had committed my life to Him. If they had, hopefully, they would have never allowed me positions of such influence, as I did not consider God to be anything more than a myth until I was in my mid-twenties. I met God face to face while my mother was comatose in the hospital two days before she died. The problem was I had no idea that it was God until a few years later, as I had no one to help me understand once my mother died. I actually had a member of my congregation ask: “what are you doing here” when I showed up for a Maundy Thursday church service the evening my mother died. This is not to say that there were not devoted Christians in my congregation nor my nuclear family. But now, as I near fifty, I can look back with some clarity and acknowledge that no one ever challenged me to grow in faith at my church. I was loved and part of a community, but my spiritual life was completely neglected. There were a few people who tried to guide me, but I was able to ignore them and was never really shepherded in the faith. I am sure, had it not been for my mother and her modeling such a Godly life, I would have fallen away from the church completely after her death. When I finally accepted Christ as my personal Savior and allowed God the opportunity to work in my life, I resolved that my calling in life was to help prepare others so they would o t never have to face such obstacles without God’s presence and a saving faith in Christ. I finally determined that’s what was missing in all of the years of Sunday School and church; the Church was not teaching youth about God’s personal loving presence, guidance and peace; nor were we preparing families to teach their children how to live a life in ministry. Nowhere in any of the programs, games, activities, events or even worship were we showing children and youth that God is present in their lives and that worship was more than the one hour a week they spent in the church building. We were not teaching anyone to look for God’s presence in their daily lives, to expect miracles or to understand that everything we have is thanks to God. They were not learning that everything they do every minute of every day is a reflection of God’s very presence in their lives. We were not only failing the children and youth in our church, we were also failing the families. There were no educational programs to help families teach their children the importance of God in their lives. In my mind, the educational programs in the church, for both youth and adults, were (and still are) not really teaching anything of substance. In their book, Dr. Gary Parrett and J. I. Packer discuss the importance of a solid catechesis in the church. They ask the question, “is your [the] church’s ministry one of grounding and growing God’s people in the Gospel and it’s implications for doctrine, devotions, duty and delight? This catechetical modei will ‘develop’ a foundation for faith development throughout our life.” ' The United Methodist Church did [does] not have a deliberate, developed catechetical model. Instead of meaningful teaching, we were and still are filling the void with programs and activities bereft of any real significance. The only thing we were doing correctly was creating a safe, loving ‘|. Land Gary A. Parrett Packer, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010). 314. community for the families and neighborhood. That’s where this project begins, nearly twenty-five years ago as I embarked ona journey to find the answer to that persistent nagging voice telling me that something was missing. I now believe that ‘something’ is a holistic catechesis, which will guide children and youth as they grow in their faith and sustain adults as part of God’s community of faith. This teaching/training program will be built layer by layer building upon a strong Biblical foundation. It cannot be done in an hour Sunday mornings, at weekly pizza party gatherings or even yearly mission trips. While all of those things certainly supplement the teaching and training of children, the primary form of teaching must be in the home with the family, while remaining part of a community of believers. Just as important in this holistic catechetical model is the continuing education of adults. As United Methodists, we will do well to remember the process of sanctification, or Christian perfection, begins when we are justified, that is to say, made right with God. But it doesn’t end there. The process of perfection lasts a lifetime, cleansing away all sin with God’s gradual work on the soul. In other words, we don’t stop learning and growing when we graduate from high school or college. “Spiritual formation”, according to Dallas Willard: in the Christian tradition is a process of increasingly being possessed and permeated by such character traits as we walk in the easy yolk of discipleship with Jesus our teacher. From the inward character of the deeds of love then naturally but supernaturally and transparently flow. Of course there will always be room for improvement, so we need not worry that we will become perfect at least for a few weeks or months. Our aim is to be pervasively possessed by Jesus through constant companionship with him. Like our brother Paul, ‘This one things I do:...I press on toward the goal!...That I may know Christ!’ (Philippians 3:13-14, 8)” Living asa disciple is a lifetime commitment!” * Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship (New Y ork: HarperOne, 2006). 391-407; 3562. The seriousness of this commitment was not lost on John Wesley. He and his brother Charles were so frustrated with the complacency and seeming deadness of the Anglican Church, they started a holiness club. John was so methodical with his study that people dubbed him a ‘methodist’ as an insult. In his book Repenting of Religion, Gregory Boyd states “The New Testament is not about ethical behavior, it is about a radical new way of living”®. That radical way of living is exactly what John Wesley embodied as he and his brother Charles “launched a movement of renewal (known as the Methodist or Evangelical revival) that breathed new life into their beloved Church of England”. This lifestyle is what must be conveyed to every member of the United Methodist Church in order to staunch the dramatic loss of members; especially it’s younger members. What must be understood is that this radical way of living is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, not just an hour on Sunday morning. Church just doesn’t seem to be working today, especially for youth and young adults. Church isn’t attracting young people. We are no longer living in a society where everyone goes to church on Sunday morning ‘because it’s the thing to do’. And equally as important, even if they do attend church, youth don’t just believe what adults tell them. Youth today want to experience everything for themselves. And while experiencing God doesn’t sound like a problem, how can we get children and youth to experience God in one hour a week? Think about it, we are forcing them to sit quietly and reverently in a sanctuary that smells like the air hasn’t been changed since 1902, listen to music composed before their parents were born and endure a lecture about a Biblical passage 3 Gregory Boyd, Repenting of Religion: Turning from Judgement to the Love of God (Grand Rapids, MT: Baker Books, 2007), 82. * Paul Wesley Chilcote, Recapturing the Wesley's Vision (Downer's Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2004), 15.