Do we really need program for learning Christian manners?

An article on Page 11 in the Sept. 22 Witness should be a walkup call to every Methodist leader and member—ordained, retired or laity. The headline read: “4 more churches earn welcoming status.”
Did any red flags wave frantically in your minds upon reading that, or did you just casually turn to page 12 without anything registering? Must a Methodist church obtain a “Welcoming Certificate” to attract the unchurched?
Questions arise. If such certification is not renewed annually, does that mean the plaque issued must be surrendered, only to be earned again? And is it to be assumed that a measure of trust is lacking in this procedure when a district superintendent is required to affix his or her signature to a checklist “to confirm the information reported”?
What has happened to the heart of the Methodist church, when a workshop in what amounts to just plain Christian manners, must be conducted and then certified? Am I missing something here?
In my view this welcoming effort is beyond absurd and is yet another testimony on how our church has lost touch with people in general, those who are a part of our “Great Commission” assignment.
This Welcoming Congregations program appears to be yet another desperate attempt to stem the outflow of membership. Another Band-Aid is being applied when surgery is required.
The problem lies in places where there is as yet no groundswell to undertake serious study. It is my contention that the Methodist church is weak in too many pulpits, which spew little more than homiletic pabulum. The “feel good” messages have shoved the evangelistic message of the gospel and John Wesley off the front page.
Our denomination is still locked into a century-old European liberal theology that we bought into. That theology still maintains a chokehold on too many of our churches and seminaries.
Nondenominational churches that adhere to the gospel message have no need to earn welcoming certificates. The message itself and programs-of-need become the magnets for those who hunger for spiritual nourishment. Little wonder that they are growing phenomenally.
A scriptural reference speaks to the folly of treating church visitors in other than a heartfelt and sincere manner, something that a certificate, workshop or plaque can’t accomplish. I paraphrase from 2 Corin-thians 3:1b-4-6:
“Is it necessary for us to display welcoming certificates and plaques to be accepted by others? Shouldn’t we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ be our own welcoming certificate written on our hearts, known and read by everyone? We show that we are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on wooden plaques but on tablets of human hearts. For this it is God who gives us our competence, something a workshop cannot accomplish. Certificates and plaques have no feeling; it is the Spirit that gives life.”
What formula do we need other than following holy scripture to know that we can always be confident we are doing God’s will?
A deceased friend of mine who was a Methodist pastor visited some of our sister churches in Africa several years ago. He was amazed at overflow crowds, people hanging from windows, risking their lives by walking miles just to hear, for too short a time, the gospel message spoken with love and conviction.
There are desperate people in this country, too. They don’t need gimmicks to reach their hearts and minds. Such attempts are not only a waste of time and resources but are also insulting.
These needy people simply need the Bible message, straight and to the point, with an application to contemporary life. What does it take for us to realize that?