What are bishops doing
about our membership decline?

The attrition of United Methodist membership continues. Something major will be required to reverse this trend.
As is often the case, the obvious can stare one right in the face, but because of what may require a radical solution, will the required level of courage prevail to deal with this harsh reality?
Based on past behavior of the episcopacy, selective ignorance will once again make its appearance, a modus operandi laypeople are all too familiar with.
What is happening to American public school education is also occurring in mainline churches. Look at the inroads home schooling, charter schools, private and religious schools are making into student enrollment. Juxtapose that with the phenomenal growth in nondenominational churches throughout the country.
People are leaving churches for the same reason parents are pulling their children out of public schools: Their needs are not being met.
I challenge any bishop to go to one of these nondenominational churches to ask how many people there are disgruntled or disillusioned former United Methodists. I contend the power structure of our denomination fears learning why we have lost more than 2.5 million members over the last three decades.
I believe the primary reason for this alarming loss is the weakness found in too many Methodist pulpits.
When I was a young father with young children, my desire was to find a church where Christ was revealed as scripture intended. I was confirmed in The Methodist Church in 1943. During the years that followed, the number of preachers who spoke and lived the gospel message as Christ intended was rare.
As a retired Methodist minister, these are my concerns:
> How many chairs of evangelism are there in United Methodist seminaries?
> How seriously do bishops take the Great Commission given by Christ?
> How many bishops are concerned with the substance of the Christian message spoken from our pulpits? Do they go to hear sermons for themselves, or do they expect their district superintendents to make that a top priority?
> How many district superintendents and pastors believe in the physical resurrection and virgin birth of Jesus Christ?
> What are the spiritual characteristics of a church that claims to be led by the Holy Spirit in everything it undertakes?
> What’s the ratio of elderly to young in our congregations?
The Rodney King philosophy—“Can’t we all just get along?”—seems endemic in our denomination.
Where are the leaders who refuse to surrender Christian absolutes to the myriad of pressure groups the Christian Church has always had to contend with? The ordination of homosexuals and the conducting of marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples are outlawed in the Book of Discipline. More importantly, this behavior is roundly condemned by Holy Scripture.
The present Methodist establishment continues to pursue its form of affirmative action in forming important decision-making bodies under the cloak of “fairness.” The church should take a lesson from the selection of David as king over his older brothers (1 Samuel 16). God’s way is still best: Pick the best qualified person for the task.
Today’s Methodist Church is not, I’m convinced, the church of its founder, John Wesley. The pervasiveness of liberal theology and its influences are readily prevalent in too many congregations.
The sad part of that truth is not only that nothing will be done about the many people who have opted out of the UMC but also that those entrusted by scripture to oversee the church will likely give no serious thought to the issue. Protecting one’s turf seems to be the order of the day.