Notes from a Christian Centrist

UPDATE: There will be an updated post explaining where this blog post is coming from. I have been told that this is a confusing post--and I feel that it needs some explanation and to where it's coming from. 

I am neither progressive not traditionalist. I am a Centrist—a Christian Centrist. I have come to the conclusion however, that we don’t have a good working definition of Christian Centrist. I’d like to offer one here:

Being centrist must not be confused with taking the middle road between fundamentalism and liberalism. It embraces the truth in both camps and negates the untruth in these positions as well. Being a centrist evangelical means building upon the center or core of faith--the gospel of God's reconciling act in Jesus Christ attested in Holy Scripture and clarified by the fathers and teachers of the faith through the ages.

• Theologically, the centrist is orthodox, typically labeled moderate to conservative somewhere on the spectrum between fundamentalism and liberalism holding a high view of Scripture, the work of Christ (incarnation, substitutionary death/atonement and resurrection), salvation through Christ alone and God’s redemptive mission.

With all this in consideration here is how I would define a Christian centrist: an orthodox (as defined by the Nicene Creed) believer in Christ who develops his/her peripheral theology (any belief not explicitly defined by the Nicene Creed) by honestly considering all ideas equally without concern for ideological consistency or popularity. Instead, their concern is forming convictions grounded in their core faith and based on context and reason. They are willing to change positions or enact reforms when better evidence or new circumstances convince them that any previously held peripheral belief has become inadequate. Their investigative and open nature drives them to understand why someone with a differing opinion believes what they believe without believing the same or taking offense. In this way, they can peacefully debate others because the end goal is their own edification.

It is with great regret that I announce that there must not be a middle ground within the United Methodist Church any longer. There will be no room for middle ground believers in the conservative movement, nor the progressive movement. For the traditionalist/conservative and the progressive/liberal camps the thought is “You are either with us or against us!” If you point out something that the traditionalist don’t like you are too progressive, if you point out something the progressives don’t like you are too traditionalist. There is no room for people like me; which is sad. I’m too progressive for my traditionalist friends, and I am too traditionalist for my progressive friends. 

I have come to the conclusion that the Christian Centrist has come to a place where we are being forced to choose sides and hope that we are on the “right” side. Everything has become a them vs. us scenario and the Christian Centrist doesn’t have anyone to really stand with. At General Conference 2020, most likely the UMC that many of us love, will shatter. And friends, people like me will fall into the cracks because we don’t have an iron in this fire. 

Earlier this week, I shared a story about a kid in Kentucky who was kicked out of a Christian school for the fact that her mother posted a picture of her with a rainbow cake. I shared this story with several conservative friends and all of them “read between the lines” that the kid could possibly be LGBT despite the parents’ claims that the kid just likes rainbows. I shared the same story with my LGBT friends and they were appalled that a “kid who likes rainbows” would get kicked out of school for an alternative lifestyle and my progressive friends said the same…”sometimes a rainbow is just that…a rainbow.” 

In the recent days, on facebook, several churches have posted “notes” and blogs “No middle ground” placing emphasis on the verse of Luke 11:23 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” However, why they fail to mention or even understand is that Jesus isn’t talking about people, He’s addressing the impossibility of neutrality in the strife between Jesus and Satan. Matter of fact, according to The Pulpit Commentary, “Our Lord here is referring to the exorcists, and contrasting their imperfect work with his, showing how hopeless a task it was to attempt to combat the evil one and his satellites apart from him—Christ. It is particularly to be noticed that Jesus neither here nor elsewhere charges these with imposture. Pretence and ridiculous spells and incantations were doubtless constantly mixed up with their attempts to exorcise; indeed, the term used to describe them in Acts 19:13 is one of contempt; but Jesus assumes in his argument here, what was no doubt the fact, that in these cases there was often, in the person of the physician-exorcist, earnestness and prayer mingled with the deepest pity for the unhappy sufferer, and before these there is no doubt that, in the less severe cases of possession, the evil influence or spirit yielded, and for a time at least let go his victim. “See,” said the Master, “he that is not with me is against me in this dire conflict against evil;” for these would-be exorcists were utterly unable, even in those instances where they expelled the devil, to render him powerless to do mischief for the future. “My power sent these dread beings to the abyss, there to wait. The would-be exorcists were unable to replace the hellish tenant which they expelled by another and a holier influence. I bring back the once-tormented soul to its old relations with its God-Friend, and replace the unclean spirit by the Holy Spirit.”

I don’t see anyone in the middle ground as deceived. I see them as Bishop Michael J. Coyner does Those in the Methodist Middle are not in the middle-of-the-road just to avoid issues. They try to center their life and faith on Jesus Christ, and they believe in the continuing presence of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct their lives and their church. Their faith is not relegated to past traditions, nor does it ignore those traditions. Their faith is firmly grounded in Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. They are not opposed to theological exploration and new ideas, but they want these explorations and ideas tested by the whole community of faith and by the whole experience of Christian tradition.

At this point, I really feel like I am finding myself daily where Luther once stood praying “here I stand, I can do no other, God help me, amen.”