When he was President of Methodist Conference, the present General Secretary of the Methodist Church, Martyn Atkins, referred to the large number of people he met during his presidential year now serving in other churches, who had started their spiritual journey as Methodists. At last year's conference our current President, Leo Osborn, made a telling comment: "I’m equally concerned about what is happening at the back door: those who slip away due to our pastoral neglect or remain but feel disappointed or uncared for". Good point. When I studied marketing we were always told that the unhappy or lost customer could tell us things about our business we needed to know.
Leslie has laid out for all to see how he feels. I suspect that the Methodist Recorder has many such letters, all of which remain unpublished. This one from a former President, a member of the House of Lords and a regular contributor just could not be ignored.
Sadly Leslie says what a lot of those who "slip away" actually feel. Just some of his points:
"I mourn for a church that can raise itself to such heights of false pride and contumely.....I have experienced (or been made aware of) vilification, character assassination, suspicion, jealousy, and downright mean mindedness of fellow Methodists...We have belittled ourselves with our littleness.....once I'm retired I shall no longer want to be "in Connexion" with the Methodist Conference.....I've had enough of the back-biting, sly, venomous and debilitating comments I have suffered over the last few years."
His letter ends with the dire warning that Methodism will itself be buried. But Leslie also makes another important point: the strength of the "unconditional love and patience" from his own congregation at Wesley's Chapel, that he had found in "virtually all the churches and circuits I've served."
He then makes the most important point of all: "there's a chasm between our people and those who lead them."
Here am I serving God through the Methodist Church in one of the UK's poorest and least regarded communities, but I find many echoes of Leslie's complaints in my own experience beyond my immediate circuit.
Several times I've offered, for example, to serve on various Connexional working groups. I have met the "littleness" to which Leslie refers preventing the Connexion making use of my experience and skills that are clearly in such short supply. Over the years I've had jaw dropping letters from little people with little grievances holding little jobs who would be an embarrassment to the Church if anyone in the outside world cared to be interested in our collective self abuse.
But what keeps me in the Methodist Church is what actually happens on the ground. I mentioned an example earlier today from the other end of the country. Here in Birmingham without the support of our members and circuit, a much needed church in an impoverished community would have simply faded away. Go beyond the circuit and we see little support. When I've taken up some serious issues (not blogged about here) I've been astonished at the inability of the Methodist "leadership" to actually do the right and just thing. This I have learnt is not a matter of individuals but a systemic institutional problem that simply debilitates. We are strong at righting the wrongs of the Middle East but paralysed by our local difficulties.
Somehow we need to address Leslie's point about the chasm between the Methodist people and those who imagine they lead..
