My friend, Dave Beckett, who happens to be my Superintendent in the Alaska United Methodist Conference, has written a wonderful letter over at his blog, "Dave's Dibble." It's a confession that, in the name of doctrinal purity, we have failed to show love to this world of ours and have failed to listen to the unchurched in our midst.
It begins this way:
We got it wrong. For quite some time now the Church has made crucial mistakes. We have assumed that Church as we have known it will continue without the major changes you have wanted to see. We have focused more on doctrinal purity than the needs of the poor. We have tried to start new churches based on our vision rather than your needs. We have convinced ourselves that we have been loving you but more often than not you have not received our actions as genuine love. We have held fast to worship practices that keep us entrenched and unable to conceive of the changes necessary to reach your heart with the glory of God. We have caused division in the Church and the world with our beliefs about who is living in sin. We have insisted that you accept certain forms of prayer and non-essential beliefs before we accept you into the Church.
I hope you'll read the whole thing over here.
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