I would like to know something.
If you were given 10 minutes to speak to the entire general board of the United Pentecostal Church what would you say? What would you ask. What are the issues you would like to discuss?
This would be what I would say.
Good day brethern, in the lovely name of Jesus, I only have 15 minutes so I will get to the point.
The state of the church, in my opinion cannot continue to operate as it has in the past with the same mindset toward organization and/or ministry. I say this because I understand how the business climate has changed dramatically from how business was conducted in past generations. The church cannot continue to operate in the vertical, top-down, heirarchical structure and still expect to succeed and maintain relevance.
Why has the secular business structure changed? Because our society has changed in terms of priorities, focus, education, and the natural cycle of change. Those same people are in your churches, believe it or not.
I know there are those who cross their arms with a crusty look and the resistive attitude that change=compromise, but those same people are the ones who will deprive their community of a church because that once they die off, the church will founder into non-existence.
As I am sure you also know, from a grassroots perspective there are sparks running across the foundation of the church. People are beginning to understand the effect of 30 years of preaching religious culture as though it were the sovereign word of God. It hasn't worked, it hasn't produced the holiness that people who embrace the standards are supposed to have and have come to expect from others. The law is there, the attendance is there, but only, in my opinion through peer pressure, suggestion, and insinuation.
So in a few words, the UPC has always been about attempting to preserve and protect their biblical doctrines and their social doctrines in an attempt to maintain a religious separation from the mainstream, however people do not grow, they are not spiritually stronger, churches are not stronger when the organization has first and foremost its own existence as a priority. People are starting to figure it out.
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