Thoughts about fishing

When I was young my Grandpa Kim used to take me fishing. I totally idolized this man and believed he was the most accomplished fishermen in the entire world. No question Grandpa Kim knew how to catch fish but I doubt he was the worlds best at it! Still, I remember that when we visited new fishing spots grandpa had the habit of asking the locals what kind of bait they were using. This often resulted in a change of tactic when it came to choosing our lures.

Three years ago General Conference voted to embraced a revitalization program called "Rethink Church." Emerging out of our, "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors," campaign, it seeks to raise the question, "What if Church were a verb?" You can find out more about this UMC movement by going to rethinkchurch.org. Presenting the Gospel in a rapidly changing world forces us to rethink how we reach those "fish" who did not grow up in the church or perhaps had a bad experience with it. That discussion has led to further dialogue about how we advertise (i.e get the word out). The hope is that we can get people into the doors so they can experience our church and its distinctive Christian message. We've played with logos and with the shorten reference to First UMC Lewisville of "First church." Some members have questioned whether this meant we were no longer United Methodists. Of course we are not officially changing the name of the church or our denominational stance. We are merely taking seriously Jesus' command to fish for people and that means a willingness to use different types of bait.

Over the years this church has made some difficult changes; relocating, adding new programs (CCDC,  New Hope Learning Center, and YOTO), changing hymnals and even Bibles (remember the KJV?); adding a contemporary service, and so on. None of these changes have made us any less a United Methodist Church.  And just for the record, many times over the last three years I've referred to our church as First Church. Some of you know that my home church no longer exists. As the community changed, the church was either unwilling or unable to address those changes.  I fear for the future of the church if we hold so tightly to our traditions that we can never adapt how we present the gospel. I've been in the church most of my life, much of it as an ordained minister. We don't do church like we used you....that's clear. The good news is, we are a thriving community of faith because of it.