A wise supervisor at work once told me, many people can air complaints but few have the knack for rendering solutions.

Often times, as Rev. Joe Darby reminded me, we use discussion to air our dirty laundry and to complain about the state of the church and its policies. But how often do we approach this same church from the other angle...and suggest ways it can be even more effective a tool for evangelism, social change and salvation.

The A.M.E. Church has a bedrock foundation. There are no excuses for it not becoming strong as it grows older. How do you feel it can become even more effective.?

Rev. John

-- Anonymous, February 08, 2000

Answers

I believe our church has to return to its Evangelical roots. We have to be a church that is on fire for the Lord. We have to hold strong to the belief that the Word of God is the only way that man can come to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have to stick to the biblical teachings about Holiness and live by them. We have to become more inclusive as a church and realize that God calls us to minister to all people and that we have to be aggressive in doing this.

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2000

If the AME Church is going to be an effective vessel for liberationa and salvation it needs to first of all have an critical and independent assessment of its current organizational structure. By this I mean, we should have a top-rated management consulting firm like McKinsey & Co. or Andersen Consulting look at this denomination thoroughly, recommend changes and make swift implementation. Currently the bureaucratic, top-layer structure is an impediment to achieve the goals you cite. The realignment of Episcopal Districts is a good first step but more is needed to increase membership. There are over 30 million black folks in the US yet barely one million are AME's? Am I the only one who see something fundamentally wrong with this picture. The fastest growing cities in the US are west of the Mississippi River [Albequerqe, NM, Pheonix, AZ, Denver, CO, Las Vegas, NV]. Whay are there no aggressive recruitment campaigns to add churches in these places? As the previous poster correctly noted absent evangelism as a centerpiece of our theology the result will only be lethargic growth and churches full of holes not full of the Holy Ghost!!!

-- Anonymous, February 16, 2000

From an historical stand point, our denomination had a vision and mission and a purpose. What is our purpose? It wasn't just about saving souls for Richard Allen. It was more than that. From an historic perspective we were on the the cutting edge. The civil rights movement was not started in the late 50's or 60's, it was started when a group of freed slaves decided to be self determining. From that move, schools were built,churches were built, book concerns were established, newspapers where founded, distribution networks were formed, mission work was done in foreign fields and in the U.S...This was all done before the 20th century. Collectively, our founders has less resources and did more. They acted as a "WE" with a joint vision and mission... Look at our progress after 1930. It is my contention, that is the historic moment in our history that we stopped working from the perspective of "WE" and move to the p [erspective of "I". NO longer was the mission and vision collective. It became alot of individual visssion and missions...Look at your history. When was the last time that we look at it collectively as a topic of discussion. The Mission and vision of the A.M.E Church isn't known in the hearts of its membership and leadership. It is simply relegated to the pages of the dicipline, where it has become lifeless verbage on a page. Mission and vision are organic i.e. they have life, they evolve, and they die. But death of vision and mission is directly related to how they are nurtured and maintain. I ask again, when have we look at the mission and vision of this denomination and made it a ciollective topic of discussion?

-- Anonymous, May 27, 2000