Church must grow in spirituality, Cho says
This article was updated on June 8, 2016.
By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff
Bishop Young Jin Cho, Virginia Area, speaks during a morning Bible study.
“You Have the Power.” When Bishop Young Jin Cho, of the Virginia Area, first heard that this was the theme of the 2016 Baltimore-Washington Conference, his first thought was simply, “Really?”
Bishop Cho had been invited to lead a two-part Bible study for the conference June 2 and 3.
“We may have many kinds of power, but do we really have the power,” he asked in an exploration of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-25. “This is a great promise. But what about our reality?”
The church is in a time of major challenge, and some even say, crisis. Leaders like the one in Luke 18, are wondering what can be done. But easy answers won’t change the narrative of uncertainty and decline.
New plans and new programs may help the church to some degree, but putting new bandages on old wounds, or just working harder won’t solve the problem, the bishop said. The key is rediscovering our spiritual depth and power.
Authentic and vital churches are led by God, the spirit of Christ is in charge of mission and ministry, and the congregation’s life together is based on prayerful discernment of the mission of the Holy Spirit.
“Is our church led by the Holy Spirit,” Cho asked. “Do we truly honor the lordship of Jesus Christ?”
Too often, in our churches, rather than recognizing that salvation is God’s business, we take over and allow for only brief consultations with God, the bishop said. Many churches today are also “pneumophobic,” allegoric to responding to the responding of the Holy Spirit.
“We are too confident in ourselves to rely on the help of the risen Christ. This is the fundamental problem – a lack of total trust and dependence on God. That’s the one thing keeping us from having ‘the power.’”
This reliance on God can create new life, and spiritual and relational vitality, Cho said. “The risen Christ is still alive and leading our church through the Holy Spirit.”
To illustrate his point, the bishop shared the story of a young boy at a grocery store, picking out a pretty good size box of laundry detergent. The grocer walked over and, trying to be friendly, asked the boy if he had a lot of laundry to do.
“Oh, no laundry,” the boy said. “I’m going to wash my dog.”
“But you shouldn’t use this to wash your dog. It’s very powerful and if you wash your dog in this, he’ll get sick. In fact, it might even kill him,” the grocer said.
But the boy was not to be stopped and carried the detergent to the counter and paid for it, even as the grocer still tried to talk him out of washing his dog.
About a week later the boy was back in the store to buy some candy. The grocer asked the boy how his dog was doing. “Oh, he died,” the boy said.
The grocer, trying not to be an I-told-you-so, said he was sorry the dog died but added, “I tried to tell you not to use that detergent on your dog.”
“Well,” the boy replied, “I don’t think it was the detergent that killed him.”
“Oh, what was it then?”
“I think it was the spin cycle.”
“The spin cycle of changes happening in today’s world, has brought about more changes in the church than ever before,” said Cho.
Claiming the power to address the changes and grow deeper in spirituality and relevance, will require the church to turn it’s face to God in prayer.
This was the theme of the second Bible study session the bishop led, exploring Luke 11.
When the disciples had an opportunity to request anything of Jesus, they asked, “Lord, teach us how to pray.”
Today, United Methodists need to be making a similar request in asking Jesus, before anything else, to teach us to pray, Cho said.
“Prayer is the essence and foundation of our faith. Being a Christian is more than becoming a good person. It is more than a culture. “Being a Christian means having a relationship with a living God. … Faith as knowledge needs to be transformed into faith as relationship,” said Cho.
Prayer will also help create more vital churches.
“Our beloved church is at a crossroads,” Cho said. “We cannot do our ministry effectively and fruitfully with our own strength only. We need to kneel down before the Lord and humbly seek the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Cho challenged those present to spend at least one hour a day in spiritual disciplines, like prayer. “Just saying hello to God a couple of times a day at the table is not enough,” he said. “Our prayer needs to go deeper.”
According to the bishop, the church is always looking for new methods, plans and organizations to advance the church. The church is looking for better methods. But God is looking for better men and women. The church needs men and women whom the Holy Spirit can use.
And for those who want to learn to pray deeper, the answer is simply eloquent, the bishop said: “We learn prayer by praying.” Just as one learns to swim by getting in the water, a person learns to pray by kneeling down before God, he said.
The excuse that we are too busy is ridiculous. “Are we busier than Jesus was? Probably not,” Cho said. “Day and night, Jesus prayed.
“We need to pray deeper, harder and longer,” Cho said. “We need to ask Jesus: ‘Lord, teach us to pray’. … If we are facing serious situations, we need serious prayer.”