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May 1, 2016

The Church Begins – Acts 2

Change the world. That’s what we are to be about. Changing the world. Did you know that? We’re not here to be about “me and my Jesus”…..we’re here to worship this Jesus….be strengthened together in God’s word but then we are to go out and change the world.

Today is about the church. The role and witness of the church. Not just this particular church. Not this particular group of churches we call the United Methodist Church. It’s about the church of Jesus Christ and how things got started as we know them today. This is about a movement that would, indeed, change the known world…..and it still does, praise God.

Let’s see the kickoff point of that in Acts chapter 2.

The Holy Spirit was now at work in the lives of those followers of Jesus Christ. Now no matter where you go in the world today, you can find some kind of church to worship in. The question is – especially in Western countries – will you find any people in those church buildings? And you might ask, How did the church get its start and what’s happened? What is the church supposed to do?

Jesus sent an incredible gift in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit – God the Spirit – who existed with God the Father and God the Son from the very beginning – God the Spirit is poured out on all people gathered in that moment in time on what’s called the Day of Pentecost…… 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead….thus PENTE.

That event empowered Jesus followers and ignited an evangelism explosion. It, the outpoured gift of the Holy Spirit in that moment, was a birthday. It marked the birth of the church…..not the United Methodist Church…. or any particular denomination – no, the world-wide church of Jesus Christ, of which we are just a part these days.

So what is the church? Some do think it is a particular denomination, like United Methodist, or Baptist, or Presbyterian, or Catholic, or Lutheran….you name it. Some think it’s a building. Like when they say they’re going to church like you might have said this morning….”We’regoing to church” and they meant they were going to the place at the corner of S. 7th and Jefferson Ave. They think of the building first. Then on the other hand some think it’s just “something we do” in order to be seen by others. They act as if the church is a social club for the so-called “good people” and, unfortunately that drives a lot of people away from our doors as others may think they’re not “good enough” to come to this building. Yea, there are those who think this is a place to go to be seen by others. The church, friends must be much, much more than any of that.

The church is literally the union of Jesus with all those who have decided to follow Jesus. The church can sometimes best be expressed by expressing its mission. The mission of the church is to share the Good News of salvation with all people. Matthew 28: 19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teachingthem to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with youalways, to the very end of the age.” That’s the great commission – the great mission of the church given to each of us by Jesus himself.

The church is a gathering of disciples who then go. Those who gather first, then go outside the building every week to make other disciples, baptize them, bring them into the faith, and teach others about Jesus and the need to obey God in all things. That’s the worldwide church’s mission statement. Go, make, baptize, teach. Like on the front of our bulletin each week…..we say, our statement is, “to win new converts to Jesus Christ, unite them with other believers and instruct all in the church to apply God’s Word in every area of life. That’s clearly an adaptation of Matthew 28.

Everything else is really about how an individual body of believers seek to carry that out. But without a mission…….it’s all over. Without the mission it’s just a building – just a club, and maybe trying to be an exclusive one at that.

Now this wasn’t so clear at first. Since God had developed a special relationship with the Hebrew people, many thought salvation was for them only. Or at least only for them at first. But in our reading this morning, here is the moment when God stepped in and blew the doors wide open, making both the gospel and the church available to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ. The mission begins.

Once Jesus’ followers got that straight……and once we continue to get that straight, the church began and will continue to grow…..actually increasing by the thousands each day. Back in the day it was out of control growth and not even opposition or persecution could stop it. In fact, those things only fueled the fire of the Holy Spirit growing the church daily as it says in verse 41: Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day--about 3,000 in all.

So the question begs itself today is…..why do we see so many church buildings empty? How many empty or at least dying churches did you pass coming here this morning. And why is that the case? There are probably many reasons, folks….but the key one I believe is that the church – the people - have lost sight of the original mission of the church. Go, make, baptize, obey, teach.

Have many lost the mission? Have they lost the message? Have we? I’m afraid for a long time maybe that was the case. Oh, we might have been about the mission to a degree. Offering the social justice part…..but I think most importantly we lost the message….the Good News….the need for repentance, obedience to the word, faith.

Now we’ve lost the mission…..and with that we’ve lost the message. We’ve lost the message of the good news. We’ve watered down the scripture, we’ve become the social club, we’ve lost the mission. When we’re focused on the mission and the message….well, as we do that we seek to share the good news with the world as Brother John Wesley would say by “Doing all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”

United Methodists call ourselves a world-wide church. And we are. You knew that, right? As you sit here today you are part of the second largest protestant denomination in the United States. There are some 12.8 million United Methodists in the world. That number in the United States is, sadly, not increasing…world-wide it’s still a wonderful movement…..but we’ve lost momentum in the United States in particular.

On the other hand, according to the United Methodist News Service, during the past year the Burundi and East African conferences of the UMC gained over 68,000 members.

"The African churches now have over 4.2 million members and have been growing at over 200,000 members a year. They have the same evangelistic spark that made Methodism America's biggest and fastest growing church in 19th century America.”

However, in the United States in particular, "Methodism has lost membership every year since 1964. It has lost over 4.5 million members since that point.

Part of that is, I believe, again, we’ve become more of an institution than a movement in the U.S. In many cases we became more about the building than we were about the message. Now, don’t get me wrong, the care and upkeep of a building that’s been provided and supported by thousands over the years here in particular is important. This building stands as a mission outpost in this community. But it’s not about the building is, it? It’s about the mission. It’s about the movement. The church is a people.

Now I think one thing we need to do is rediscover our roots. Youcan find out a lot about this movement called United Methodism from the web address umc.org. Who are we? Well, we’re global, we’re connectional, we’re inclusive, we’re grounded in scripture, we’re Wesleyan, we’re concerned about personal piety and social justice, we’re mission oriented, and we’re ecumenical.

What’s all that mean? Well let’s look at a few of them. Why? Because, for one, in just a couple weeks what’s called the General Conference of United Methodism will be gathering in Oregon to decide the next steps for this world-wide mission oriented movement. We’ve been praying about that, and I invite you to be especially in prayer about this movement and those representing us in that decision making time May 10 – May 20. What’s General Conference, and why do I care?

General Conference is the top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church which meets once every four years. The conference can revise church law, as well as adopt resolutions on current moral, social, public policy and economic issues. It also approves plans and budgets for church-wide programs.

This year this local church said we need to set prayer as a key goal, a key priority. That’s right in line with the future of this movement this year in particular. You say you’re not a delegate to the General Conference - you can’t attend the General Conference? Well, you can be there in spirit…and invite the Spirit of God to be there big time…….with your prayers, invite the power of the Holy Spirit in particular which fueled that original church of Jesus Christ we read about moments ago.

You can be part ofthe denomination's General Conference, even if you won’t be present in Portland, Oregon for the meetings. All are asked to offer prayer for this time of what we pray will be Christian conferencing. In fact, a 60 day time of prayer has been called for during and after the gatherings in Oregon.

The Rev. Tom Albin, Dean of The Upper Room (you’ve read those booklets, right?) Rev. Albin says all United Methodists should join the effort.“Regardless of whether you feel connected to the political and decision-making process, our denomination will only be as healthy as the prayer life of all of our people.” This General Conference, as any General Conference can be, will be a time of controversy and change. Rev. Albin says talking to other denominations has led him to believe that prayer is an essential element of the legislative process, before, during, and after.

He adds, “Many of their churches weren’t ready for the change. And they didn’t do anything to help them after the change was decided to understand, interpret, pray together. I’m hopeful that we United Methodists can be intentional about our life together before, during and after the United Methodist General Conference.”

You can follow General Conference on line. Just go to

There you can even watch activities live.

Regardless of what legislative action may occur during that time from May 10-20, I pray we will remain a global, connectional, inclusive, grounded in scripture,a Wesleyan movement. What do we mean by some of those things?

  • Global:Today we speak many languages and live in many countries—with different cultures, ethnic traditions, national histories and understandings of Christian faith and practice. It’s not about “me and my Jesus” and that’s a good thing. Our mission’s team here at Faith can’t cure world hunger by themselves but we can do what we can right here and we, as a church body, through our world-wide givings, can and do make a difference.
  • Connectional:Every United Methodist congregation is interconnected throughout the denomination via a unique, interlocking chain of conferences. That’s where you can be in mission around the world with your givings even if you can’t be there physically. The United Methodist Church practices representative democracy in its governance. Conferences elect delegates who are authorized to act and vote.Again, please pray for those delegates scheduled to attend General Conference, most especially our East Ohio Delegates including clergy representatives Armando Arellano, Gary George, Dan Bryant, Delaine McGhee, Scott Walsh, and Gary Henderson, and laity representatives, those folks who are not pastors, including Jessica Vargo, Holly Grant, Kay Panovec, Allan Laferty, Brian Sheetz and Martha Banks.
  • Inclusive:All persons are welcome to attend our churches andreceive Holy Communion, and are eligible to bebaptized and becomemembers. This is not a club…..this is a movement where all persons are welcome.
  • Grounded in Scripture:We encourage free and faithful discussion in matters of Christian doctrine. But our faith is guided by Scripture, tradition, experience and reason. Of paramount importance, however, is Scripture as the witness of God’s creating, redeeming and sustaining relationship with God’s people.Scripture first and foremost.
  • Wesleyan:The United Methodist Church has a Wesleyan heritage. What’s that mean? Based on the influence of founders like John Wesley, it means we place an emphasis on mind and heart (knowledge and vital living as a set apart disciple of Jesus Christ). We put faith and love into practice ---- how we live our lives.
  • Concerned about social justice:For more than 200 years, The United Methodist Church and those that have gone before us to become this movement have expressed concern for God’s children everywhere — the poor, the orphaned, the aging, the sick, the oppressed and the imprisoned.We care.
  • Mission-oriented:Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. In uncomplicated terms, this means we strive to nurture followers of Christ who then reach out and teach others about the love of Jesus.We’re to be disciples making disciples.
  • Ecumenical:United Methodists consider dialogue and missional cooperation between United Methodists and other Christians as a valid witness to the unity of the body of Christ. We aren’t exclusive. We are at our best when together all who claim the name of Jesus join to reach out in that name, lifting up others.

So as we approach this table of the Lord, may we do so together praying for Christian, loving dialogue, for a focus on the mission of the church to prevail daily through Faith Church and especially and for the Holy Spirit’s guidance during this General Conference in particular and in all aspects of our church life together.

(Communion)