wfn.org | Houston pastor sees 'cracks in the temple'

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Sept. 14, 1999        News media contact: Tim
Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.     10-21-28-71BP{467}

NOTE:  This report may be used as a sidebar to UMNS story #466. A photograph
is available.

By Lynne DeMichele*

INDIANAPOLIS (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church "has been reduced to a
kind of pussycat church," a Houston pastor declared at a convention of the
Confessing Movement.

The remark was not a compliment.

"We have seen ... cracks in the temple," said Bill Hinson, senior pastor of
Houston First United Methodist Church, which has more than 13,500 members.
"It's all about the very foundation on which it is built. When 2.5 million
souls are lost in 30 years, it's safe to assume something has gone wrong."

Hinson gave the keynote address at the Sept. 9-11 meeting of the Confessing
Movement, an unofficial United Methodist group that is seeking to bring the
denomination back to its doctrinal foundation.

Describing key problems he sees as at the root of United Methodism's sagging
membership, he noted the graying of its members. According to church
reports, the average age is more than 57. "We're losing members, primarily,
to death," he observed.

Hinson also blames a "breakdown in community" for the decline. " 'United
Methodist' has become almost an oxymoron." He cited the 15 "dissident
bishops" who in 1996 stated that their personal convictions were at odds
with the church's position that homosexuality is sin. He questioned the
bishops' will to enforce church law. 

"Our ... conscience is affected and manipulated by popular culture," he
stated.

Hinson addressed what he termed the "marginalization of those of us with a
high view of Scripture."

"We're bringing up a generation that will offend nobody, not even the
devil," he said.

He suggested that graduates from Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., and other
theological schools known as conservative receive "extra scrutiny" when
seeking appointments. "The intimidation factor is real -- strong even among
our bishops," he added.

Hinson also looked ahead to the 2000 General Conference, the denomination's
next quadrennial legislative session, which will meet May 2-12 in Cleveland.
He suggested there would be lobbying for "inclusivity at the table," an
apparent reference to pressure for a more welcoming church posture for gays
and lesbians as full participants in church life.

"But where," Hinson asked, "is the cross?" He then alluded to the importance
of sacrifice, an elliptical reference to the idea that homosexuals can be
"healed" of what evangelicals see as sinful practice and a violation of
biblical injunction.

"The whole notion of truth is under assault," he concluded. "... We've lost
our moral discernment." 

Today, nobody wants to offend anyone, Hinson observed. Moreover, pastors
have become reluctant to preach with any clarity on moral issues, he said. 

"We have to choose between being popular or being faithful."    

# # #

*DeMichele is communications director of the Indiana Area of the United
Methodist Church and editor of the Hoosier United Methodist News.

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