The Preacher's Call for the 21st Century

I was invited to present the opening address to the Grahamstown District Local Preachers Association 2009 Convention. Here is my address.

(PS: Hawk-eye'd readers will notice that this emblem is from the 2007 Central District LPA Convention in Pimville. I'm looking for an image of the LPA emblem - can anyone help?)

WHERE DO PREACHERS COME FROM, AND WHERE ARE THEY GOING?
21 FEBRUARY 2009
OPENING ADDRESS – LPA CONVENTION, BETHEL / DESPATCH

New Testament: Romans 10: 1 – 17

When I was about six years old, I came home from school one day and asked my mother that question that puts the fear of God into any parent: “Mom, where do I come from?”

Those of you who are parents know what I am talking about!

So my Mom sat me down, and tried to explain the whole “birds and the bees” bit, illustrating the whole story about sperms and eggs without going into too much detail about just how the little sperms were introduced to the little eggs! Come on, folks – I was six! There had to be some age restriction on this movie! Anyway, once my mother had finished, I was more confused than ever. When she asked me why I was confused, this was my response: “Because Maria who sits next to me in class comes from Portugal!”

This morning, as we open our Convention with its theme, “The Preacher’s Calling For The 21st Century”, there are two questions that we need to consider: Where do preachers come from? And – more importantly – where are we going?

So firstly, where did we come from? It all started with the early revival movement in eighteenth-century England, which later became the Methodist Church. Our founder, John Wesley, was an Anglican priest, and it was as an Anglican priest that he died. He never wanted to start a breakaway church, and because of this Wesley encouraged those who attended his revivalist meetings to continue to attend their parish churches. However, because they also attended Methodist preaching services, which were held elsewhere, and met in classes, or cells, or wards – call them what you will – it soon became necessary to build "preaching houses" where the Methodist meetings could be held.

These began to function as alternative churches, often depending on the attitude of the local Anglican clergy, even before the formal break with the Anglican Church as a result of Wesley's ordination of ministers to serve in the United States in 1784 following the American War of Independence. Before the split, Wesley only had a handful of fellow Anglican priests who shared his view of the need to take the gospel to the people where they were, as accredited preachers. Because they were only a few, they travelled around Britain like Wesley himself – quite similar to the way Court judges did in those days. Because these judges who travelled around the country to different courts were known as “Circuit Justices”, the name stuck with the travelling preachers as well. This is where we get the concept of a Circuit, which was used to describe a group of churches that was overseen by a single minister. Many Circuits still operate like this today.

As the Methodist movement grew, and because of the limited number of ordained ministers he could call on, Wesley appointed Local Preachers who were not ordained but whom he examined, and whom he felt he could trust to lead worship and preach, although they did not administer sacraments. This led to a pattern developing whereby ordained ministers would spend a short period of around five to seven years in a Circuit. The Circuit minister had pastoral oversight and administered sacraments, but the majority of services were led, and sermons preached, by Local Preachers.

In those days Local Preachers would regularly spend a whole day with a local Society, leading one or more services and doing pastoral visits. The distances were vast, and many travelled on foot. Talk about commitment!

There are of course other denominations that make use of lay people in the leading of worship, but none have developed the office of Local Preachers to the extent that we as Methodists have. The Anglican Church, for example, as well as the Roman Catholic Church, makes use of what they call “lay readers”, but their participation in worship is normally limited to reading the Scriptures and perhaps one or two of the set prayers. Many churches, including our own, also have worship leaders and even worship teams, but this is largely limited to music ministry. In Charismatic and Pentecostal churches, it is usually only the senior pastor who preaches the message. On rare occasions one of the other pastors might preach, but seldom if ever a lay person.

This puts you in a very privileged position as a Methodist Local Preacher! But no privilege comes without responsibility.

Why did John Wesley create the office of Local Preacher? It might have been for very practical reasons, but I believe that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit when he did so. The Wesleyan belief in the “priesthood of all believers” finds its expression through you. And we should not be surprised at this if we believe that God raises up people from amongst us to lead worship and preach. God acts for the benefit of the Church and for the fulfilment of God’s mission. The Church needs Local Preachers in order to hear the Gospel spoken from the context of the world. It needs to hear the expression of Christian faith tested and deepened in the home, on the farm, and in the workplace – in good times and bad. This is the way that Local Preachers complement the ministry of presbyters – that’s us with the Tupperware – in the worship and preaching life of the Church.

In the Methodist Church of Great Britain, they estimate that about 60 – 70% of all Methodist worship services on Sundays are conducted by Local Preachers. I wonder what the figure would be in South Africa. It might even be more.

One thing is for sure – we manage to reach far more people with the Gospel using our battalions of Local Preachers than many other churches that use ministers alone. Two years ago I went to a rural Circuit in the far North West province, called Atamelang. This particular Circuit covers an area about the size of the entire Nelson Mandela Metropole – that’s Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, and Despatch put together! The settlements are about 40 – 50 kilometres apart. In this entire area there is one Anglican Church, two Zionist churches, and 32 Methodist Churches! Their ministerial staff consists of one ordained minister, who is the Superintendent, and two Phase One probationers. Who do you think does the bulk of the ministry? Local Preachers – that’s who!

Go into any rural Circuit around the country, and you’ll see the same thing. Pull out the Local Preachers, and you are pulling the Gospel out of hundreds if not thousands of communities around the Connexion.

This is an awesome calling – and an awesome responsibility.

So let me remind you what it means to preach. In Mark 16: 15 we read that Jesus instructed His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Good News to all creation. But there are three parts to preaching:

• Firstly, we preach by mouth, being witnesses to Jesus Christ according to Acts 1: 8 in Jerusalem, all Judaea, Samaria, Despatch, Uitenhage, Port Elizabeth, in our churches, in homes, in our workplaces, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. None of us have any problem in sharing the Gospel from our pulpits. But what about outside the Church? Have you told someone about Jesus in your workplace? Or in your home?

• Secondly, we preach by our lifestyles. “By this shall all people know that you are My disciples: if you have love, one for another”. St Francis of Assisi said that “we must preach the Gospel at all times – and if necessary, use words as well”. According to the National Lottery website, tonight’s Lotto jackpot is expected to be around R6 million. Will you be in the queue for your ticket? Are some of you hoping that today’s sessions finish before the bottle store closes? Did any of us give a taxi driver a “middle finger salute” this week? Are these things consistent with being preachers of the Gospel?

• Thirdly, we preach by our actions. James 1: 22 tells us to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. An unknown author wrote this poem: “I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. The eye is a better pupil, more willing than the ear; Fine counsel is confusing, but example is always clear, And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds, For to see a good put in action is what everybody needs.”

We are here in this room today because we believe that we have a calling to preach. But do we truly understand that calling? Rev Dr Ross Olivier, president of the new Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary in Pietermaritzburg, reminds us that for John Wesley, “doctrine, spirit, and discipline were all located within a burning passion, deep, faithful, unbounded passion for the authentic Christ. Not the cheap emotional brand of hysteria or dislocated cheap versions of ‘pie in the sky when I die’ that masquerade as the Gospel. Wesley’s passion led him onto the road of hardship, deprivation, sacrifice, and suffering. His passion caused him, in his own words, to obey not an ordinary call, but also an extraordinary call.”

What is this call? To what are we called as Local Preachers in the 21st century? I want to read further from Ross Olivier’s chapter in this book, “Rediscovering Wesley for Africa”. You should get this book. In fact, all of us should be reading regularly. How can we grow – how can we enrich our preaching – if we don’t read? John Wesley went so far as to say that “a preacher who does not read, shall not preach”. If we applied that today, some of us would never get planned! Maybe we should make this one of the questions at our Local Preachers’ Quarterly Meetings: “Has every Preacher read at least one spiritual book, other than the Bible, in this past quarter?”

Let’s have a look at this call, quoting from Ross Olivier.

• First, it was a call to proclaim Christ in all His offices: The Christ of Bethlehem, the Christ of Galilee, the Christ of Calvary, the Christ of Jerusalem. A call to declare the incarnation of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus, the atonement of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus. Not a Jesus confined to the church, nor even a Christ for Christians, but the cosmic Christ; a Christ who declared that God so loved the world.

• Second, it was a call to declare the fullness of saving grace: Christ before us, Christ for us, Christ in us and Christ through us.

• Third, it was a call to proclaim and manifest holiness. We are reminded that for Wesley all holiness had to be measured in terms of social consequences. There is no such thing as private religion. In Wesley’s own words, ‘Christianity is a social religion, and to make it into a solitary one is to destroy it.’ It is no wonder that on the occasion of the first sermon that he preached, he selected this text: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.’

• Fourth, it was a call to simple living and just lifestyles. This is why Methodists built chapels and not cathedrals. I wonder what Mr Wesley would make of the fact that the Methodist Church of Southern Africa has a property portfolio of three billion Rand, especially when we compare that to what we spend on mission. Mr Wesley would probably also have something to say about our lavish funerals and weddings, especially when our so-called “culture” imposes this burden on those who cannot afford the expense that goes with it. Not to mention the amounts of money that we spend on Conventions, while our Circuit assessments go unpaid and our ministers don’t receive their stipends! God measures our faithfulness, not the fittings we build or possess. What are we actually trying to prove?

• Fifth, it was a call to ministry alongside the poor. Wesley’s theology was formed among the poor and the marginalised. This call ultimately defined ministry for Wesley. It shaped his preaching and determined the priorities for the Methodist movement. It’s time we got back those priorities. For the church is no longer the Church of Christ when it fails to be the church of the poor, for the poor, with the poor. We neglect our calling if we stop going “not only to those who need us, but to those who need us the most.” John Wesley wrote in his journal in January 1875: At this season we usually distributed coals and bread among the poor of the society. But I now considered they wanted clothes as well as food. So on this and the four following days I walked through the town and begged two hundred pounds, in order to clothe them that needed it most. But it was hard work, as most of the streets were filled with melting snow, which often laid ankle-deep; so that my feet were steeped in snow-water nearly from morning till evening. I held it out pretty well till Saturday evening; but I was laid up with a violent fever, which increased every hour, till, at six in the morning, Dr. Whitehead called on me.” When Wesley made this entry in his journal, he was 81 years old!

Are we being true to this calling?

Are we proclaiming Christ? Do we declare the fullness of saving grace? Do we not only proclaim holiness, but also live holiness? Are our lifestyles a reflection of the Gospel, and do we seek justice? And are we following Jesus’ example by ministering to the poor and marginalised, and not just pandering to those who have money and influence?

If being a Local Preacher in the 21st century means that we are prepared to do these things, then we can say that we are called by God to be preachers. But if being a Local Preacher is only going to be about position within the Church, wearing a uniform, and attending conventions, then this is all a waste of time. Let’s rather pack up, go home, and watch the cricket, than waste God’s time pretending to be preachers of the Gospel.

It’s my call. And it’s your call. What would Jesus Christ want that call to be?

Amen.

Moreri / Umshumayeli / Local Preacher

On the 19th of October I was privileged to be part of a Service of Recognition for Local Preachers coming onto Full Plan.

To those not familiar with the Methodist procedures, a Local Preacher's journey starts (of course) with an expression of a "call to preach", followed by the granting by the Circuit Superintendent of a "Note to Preach", which is valid for a quarter. During this time, the candidate takes part in one or more services together with a minister or experienced Local Preacher, who will report on the candidate and recommend whether they should proceed to the next stage, which is "On Trial". The "On Trial" phase lasts for a minimum of two years, during which time a number of trial services are to be conducted. At the same time, the candidate must comply with the Church's academic requirements.

In my particular case I took a bit of a "short-cut" route in that my call to full-time ministry came (in a sense) before any awareness on my part of any call to preach. However, the route for potential ministry candidates is via the Local Preacher route, except that once the candidate has completed one year "On Trial", complied with the academic requirements for candidature as a minister, and is recommended as a candidate minister by the District Synod, remission from the second year "On Trial" may be granted at the discretion of the Circuit Local Preacher's Quarterly Meeting.

So this is how I have come to being received "on Full Plan" (i.e. as a fully-accredited Local Preacher), despite having already received the EMMU letter accepting me as a Phase One probationer.

The service itself was a marathon affair, lasting just on four hours. Us whiteys still need to develop the stamina for such services! (Our style is more like: in - hymn sandwich with prayers and the "other bits" - sermon - closing hymn - out. 50 minutes, done!) That's not to say that the service was not a moving experience - on the contrary, it was extremely moving, with much singing and praising (in true African style), prayer, and various addresses.

When it came to the commissioning itself, it was quite incredible.

Those with long memories (or the patience to trawl back through the archives of this blog) will recall that during my trial service at Zola, I was asked what my status as a Local Preacher was. Since I was still on trial, I was asked to use the lectern, as it is the custom only for Local Preachers on full plan and ministers to preach from the pulpit. If you are a non-traditionalist, then pulpit, lectern, microphone stand, no mike at all - makes no difference at the end of the day, but hey, when in rome, do as the Romans do. But on the day of the commissioning service, each preacher is led by the hand into the pulpit, prayed for - and then asked to give a brief address to the congregation.

Now talk about the need to be ready "in season and out", for I had absolutely no idea that I would be asked to do this! Thankfully I was the last of the preachers to be led up, so I had time to ask God to give me the appropriate words for the occasion. The last thing that I wanted was to sound like I was giving an Oscar acceptance speech!

But all I could think about was the time I was about to leave primary school to go up to high school. Forest High in the south of Johannesburg does not have the best of reputations of late, particularly since that tragic stabbing a while back, but even back in 1981 it was a rough place. And since that's where I was going, my primary school principal felt there was no future for me, and told me so in no uncertain terms: "Jones - I don't expect you to amount to much!"

Lord! What relevance does THAT have to addressing a congregation at a Local Preachers' Commissioning service? As these thoughts were tumbling through my head, I was nervously flipping through my Xhosa hymnbook - and then it hit me right between the eyes: Indumiso C - Psalm 100. For it was the same primary school principal who asked me to stand up in fromt of the whole school assembly, at the tender age of 9, and read out Psalm 100. It was the first time I had ever read Scripture aloud in public.

When Rev Kgomotso Mtimkulu, our Circuit Local Preachers Association President, led me into the pulpit, I felt a shaft of light bore straight through my soul. I related how my primary school principal told me how I would amount to nothing, and he was right. For without Jesus in my life, I AM nothing. But that reading of Psalm 100 sowed a seed into my heart: "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord is God. It is He that hast made us, not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name, for the Lord is good!" (I've probably left out some verses and jumbled others, but I've deliberately written it down as I remembered it from 30 years ago, rather than to copy it from one of my Bibles.)

Once I had shared this story, I asked the congregation to indulge me while I read the Psalm to them. But this time, it was not Psalm 100, but Indumiso C, to honour the predominantly Xhosa-speaking congregation that had come to support us new Local Preachers.

Here are a few pics from this truly amazing and moving service...

Local Preachers from all around the South Rand Circuit. This is not a fist fight about to break out, but rather the preamble to a "group hug" of note!


Freedom Park congregants enters the sanctuary. Freedom Park is a preaching place in an informal settlement next to Eldorado Park, and falls under the pastoral oversight of St Andrews. I've conducted a number of services there, and have become very fond of these dear souls.


The "line-up". (Does my head REALLY shine THAT much?)


Three of the "Freedom Park 5" in action. The way they put everything into their worship is truly inspiring. (As an aside, can you imagine inviting a group of whiteys to a service: "We're going to worship God today. Bring towels." Erm...)


Me in the pulpit, reading "Indumiso C". I have absolutely no idea what was going through Pumla's mind (back, in white), but Cloupas (right) seemed to be impressed with my Xhosa...

In the poo again...

Have you ever had one of those moments when you THINK you are doing the right thing, only to find yourself so deeply in the proverbial brown stuff that you pray for someone to toss you a rope to get out?

Today was one such moment for me at our Circuit Local Preachers' Quarterly Meeting.

Anyone who is a Local Preacher will know that the Laws and Disciplines of the Methodist Church of southern Africa sets out a number of prescribed orders of business to be conducted at every such meeting, and one of those items is to enquire as to whether there are any Local Preachers on trial to be received onto full plan.

One thing I am fast finding out is that when you are a candidate for the ministry, things tend to work a little differently from the norm, and the requirements to be fulfilled to become a fully-accredited Local Preacher are no exception. For instance, the "normal" period for a Local Preacher to be on trial is two years. However, L & D provides that in the case of candidates for the ministry, they can apply for remission of the second year of probation. The proviso is that such application can only be made once the candidate has been recommended by their District Synod as a probationer minister. In addition, such remission is not automatic, and is granted at the discretion of the Circuit Local Preachers' Quarterly Meeting.

In my case, I have been on trial for 19 months, which is 5 months short of the required period to be on trial. However, Synod has accepted me as a candidate. Accordingly, I submitted a request to our Circuit Local Preachers' Quarterly Meeting asking that I be considered for acceptance as a Local Preacher on full plan. Now one might ask why I have bothered to make such a request since, after all, I will be a probationer minister in just over four months time.

The reason why this is important to me is that when I was first called by God to candidate for the ministry, I felt that I needed to be serious about the MCSA's declaration to be a "one and undivided Church" and took the decision (highly unusual for white Local Preachers) to join the uniformed Local Preachers' Association in our Circuit. As far as I have been led to believe, I am the first (and so far, still the only) white preacher in our Circuit to join the Association.

Membership of the Association has opened me up to a richness of other cultures that I would never have encountered had I done the historical "whitey thing" and remained outside the Association. It has opened doors for me to conduct services in black congregations, and - most importantly - being accepted by such congregations. I have even started doing the Sesotho and Xhosa liturgy in such services (despite some horrid pronunciation), and it is one of my aims to be able to speak a black language by the end of Phase One (even if only at a conversational level).

Having been provisionally stationed in an Eastern Cape township for 2009, the need to learn a black language has become even more important, and I will probably never have a better opportunity in my life again to learn to speak Xhosa.

So what does this have to do with being recognised as a Local Preacher on full plan? The issue is that while being a full member of the Local Preachers' Association probably means very little (if anything) to white congregations, it is of considerable importance to black congregations, and given my posting for 2009, I need to build as many bridges as possible in order to be accepted by the congregations there (and so be in a position to minister to them).

Also, it is probably unlikely that I will ever be stationed in my current Circuit as a minister, and therefore, silly as this may sound to some, being "robed" by South Rand Circuit will forever be a link between me and the Circuit from which I candidated. If I were to see out the full 24 months, this would take me into January which means that a Circuit who (initially) won't know me from a bar of soap will be asked to accept me as a member of the Association.

When I made the request to the Circuit Local Preachers' Quarterly Meeting, there was no issue about the meeting accepting me onto full plan. However, the fact that I "breached protocol" was a HUGE issue. Firstly, it was not my minister that made the request - it was me personally. However, my minister was not present at the meeting as he is currently on leave, and we had discussed the matter beforehand. When that objection was raised, one of our Society Stewards (who is a Local Preacher on full plan, but not a member of the Association) then stood up and, indicating that she was acting on behalf of the Society and instruction from our minister, moved for my acceptance onto full plan. This elicited further debate.

Recognising that I had breached protocol (despite no objection in this regard from the minister chairing the meeting), I apologised firstly to the meeting for having breached protocol, and secondly to my Society Steward for being unaware that our minister had instructed her to speak at the meeting on his behalf. Having explained that my motivation for making the request was firstly, in recognition that L & D confers a discretion on the meeting as to whether to accept me on full plan or not, and secondly, because the date for the recognition service falls before the next meeting, I assumed that the acceptance of my apology would put matters to rest.

Unfortunately, the debate raged ahead (in Xhosa and Sesotho this time), so I wasn't 100% up to speed with what the new issues were. However, the interpreter then indicated that actually, as an on-trial Local Preacher, I actually had no right even to address meetings at all, let alone make any requests.

I was dumbstruck, not to mention extremely hurt, and in that instant I had even considered leaving a meeting that had embraced me for 19 months yet suddenly left me feeling totally unwelcome. There were also a number of issues. Firstly, the "on-trials should be seen and not heard" position appears nowhere in L & D. Secondly, if on-trials are expected to keep their mouths shut in meetings, then surely they should turn up, answer the prescribed questions, and then leave, since there is surely no point in being part of a meeting to which one is not permitted to contribute. Finally, if such a practice or protocol did exist, surely it is the responsibility of the full members to inform the new on-trials of such protocol?

I understand now what it must have been like for Jesus when He was castigated by the Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath.

If you have stayed with me throughout this post, you are probably thinking that I am making a mountain out of a molehill, and having got this all off my chest now, I'm inclined to agree. At this stage, despite the meeting having accepted that I be received onto full plan, whereas I was looking forward to the robing service in October with eager anticipation, after today's meeting my feelings are somewhat mixed.

Somewhere during the process I undoubtedly screwed up, and I would dearly love to set things right. If there are any "wise heads" out there who understand the dynamics of uniformed organisations within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, I'm all ears for some sound counsel.

Finding a balance between grace and law...

This past Saturday was our Circuit Local Preachers' Quarterly Meeting, and this particular meeting became quite a marathon affair, with temperatures becoming quite elevated at one point.

The reason for all the heated debate is an underlying problem of discipline we have with a number of our local preachers with regard to their non-attendance at meetings. In an attempt to combat this problem, we agreed as a body that any local preacher who is absent from a Local Preachers' QM, and does not submit a wriiten apology in advance (excepting for emergencies), will not be planned for services during the forthcoming quarter.

"Fair enough", you might reply - except when some Societies enforce the discipline, and others don't.

However, in the midst of all the debate, a proposal was put forward whereby preachers with genuine reasons could apply for dispensation from attending Local Preachers' QM's, provided that they answer the four questions relating to their spirituality and moral conduct, upholding of Methodist doctrine, competence to do the work, and adherence to the Church's discipline, at the local Society.

However, our Laws and Discipline provide that "all preachers shall be examined, and are required to answer the questions, at the Circuit Local Preachers' Meeting every quarter". And the problem is that there does not appear to be any provision for dispensation.

But then again, as one of our ministers pointed out, nor is provision made to grant dispensation to ministers from attending the annual Synod. However, it has become accepted practice for the District Bishop to exercise grace in granting dispensation (e.g. where a supernumerary / retired minister has reached advanced age, or where a minister has health or other problems preventing attendance).

The proviso to this dispensation being granted is that the minister concerned answers the prescribed questions contained in Laws and Discipline, in the affirmative. In this manner, to use Church terminology, "all righteousness is then fulfilled".

I must confess that I am one who tends to harp on discipline. After all, how can we as Local Preachers be people to whom congregations look up to as an example, if we cannot even keep our own rules and disciplines. But there surely must be room for grace as well?

For instance, there is one particular Local Preacher in our Circuit who is a shining example of what a Local Preacher should be. His life and conduct is an exemplary display of what it means to be "in Christ". He keeps his preaching appointments diligently and faithfully. When not conducting services, he is faithful in attending worship. He is active in the local Church, and supports it financially.

His problem? He works on Saturdays, and therefore is not in a position to attend meetings. Should he be penalised because his employment results in him not being able to adhere to Laws and Discipline to the letter?

I believe that we should follow the example of our Bishop, and attempt to find a balance that will both maintain discipline yet also show grace towards otherwise diligent and competent preachers who cannot comply 100% with Laws and Discipline because they are unable to attend meetings. As long as the prescribed questions are answered each quarter in an appropriate forum (such as a Local Preachers' or Leaders' Meeting at Society level), surely the spirit (if not the absolute letter) of Laws and Discipline shall have been complied with?

Perhaps we need to submit a resolution through our district Synods to get Laws and Discipline changed to officially allow us to exercise grace in this manner?