23 Oct What Does it Mean to be United Brethren?

Ron Ramsey, Bishop
What does it mean to be a United Brethren today?

In rereading Christian Newcomer’s journal, it seemed clear: we were passionate about reaching lost people. They took seriously the Great Commission. Being a United Brethren wasn’t simply a matter of taking a membership class in a local church.

In many of our churches:

• The Great Commission is merely a slogan we hang on the wall or print in a worship folder.
• The Great Commission is not an eternal truth that compels us to become strategic in reaching people for Christ.
• There is little passion or conviction to reach lost people with the Gospel.
• There is little talk, if any, about the passion that drove Christian Newcomer and others of our early history.

If we are to have a lasting future, we must take seriously the Great Commission.

No denomination has an inherent right to exist. Any church or denomination that loses its passion to make disciples for Jesus stands in risk of having its candlestick removed from the candelabra.

For our early church fathers, being United Brethren required a conviction that people apart from God’s saving grace are lost in their sins. They leaders would do anything, go anywhere at any cost, at any time, in order to:

• See people come to Christ.
• See them gain an assurance of salvation.
• See that faith begin to grow in their lives.

21 Oct Making a Connection with God

Ron Ramsey, Bishop
In early October I attended the 140th anniversary of the Liberty UB church in Stockport, Ohio. Bishop Milton Wright, father of the Wright Brothers, preached when the Liberty church was dedicated. I love being in the hills of southern Ohio. That’s my roots. And being at Liberty turned out to be among the highlights of my three years as bishop.

The pastor is Charles Simmons, a converted oil derrick worker. He told me, “I’ve done every sin imaginable.” A few years ago he found Christ in a Nazarene church, and through a series of circumstances, he became the preacher at Liberty when the former preacher left. He doesn’t have a ministerial license or any formal training.

They have a girl with Down’s Syndrome who reads well. She selects the music for every service and tells the pianist, who tells the chorister. She doesn’t know what the pastor is preaching about. But it was absolutely amazing how her song selections fit what he preached about that day. It gave me goosebumps. I spoke in the afternoon, and she had no information about my sermon. But again, she chose appropriate songs.

At Liberty, the preacher preaches. He preached loud, walking down the center aisle and across the back and around the sides and back to the front. The church was full, with about 75 people. They had a sound system, but you didn’t need it for him, or for me.

Liberty is so different from Mainstreet, the church I pastored on the outskirts of Toledo. But I sat there thinking: those people are happy, they lead a Christian lifestyle, and you sense God’s Spirit in that place. I enjoyed being there. They didn’t have printed bulletins, no projector or video. But they knew how to connect with God, and it was very evident.

What works at Liberty wouldn’t be appropriate for every congregation. But one thing belongs in every church, regardless of style: to make a connection with God in worship.