The United Methodist Church is living through a defining moment. Congregations are experiencing decline. Communities are changing. Cultural expectations are shifting. Leaders are navigating unprecedented challenges. Some churches are struggling to understand their identity and mission in a rapidly changing environment. Others are wondering whether the strategies that sustained the Church for generations can still carry us into the future.
As United Methodist leaders prepare to go to Calgary, Alberta, next month to discern the future of the United Methodist Church, it will be difficult to experience the new thing that God is doing by simply doing more of what we have always done. The temptation in times of disruption is understandable to go back to what we know. But what if going back is exactly what Jesus is calling us to stop doing? In John 21, the disciples had experienced Jesus' death and resurrection, yet uncertainty led them back to fishing. They returned to normal, worked all night, and caught nothing. Then Jesus showed up on the shoreline. Their empty nets became an invitation to shift. That story provides a powerful theological framework for United Methodism today. DARE TO SHIFT is not simply a call to change. It is a call to discern where Jesus is redirecting us so the Church can move from survival to Kingdom impact. I want to provide six essential Shifts that the United Methodist Church must dare to make to have a vibrant future.
Shift One: From Failure to Faith
The disciples' empty nets represented disappointment, exhaustion, and frustration. Yet Jesus used that empty season as an opportunity for redirection. The United Methodist Church cannot allow declining attendance, shrinking congregations, financial pressures, or institutional disruption to define our future. Remember, failure is not final.
Perhaps some of our empty nets are telling us that we cannot simply reproduce yesterday's ministry in tomorrow's world. I contend that if the Church continues to offer ministries before BC (Before COVID-19), there should be a critical assessment of them. If the nets are still empty, then courage is needed to shift. So, the question is not, “How do we get back to normal?” The better question is, “Where is Jesus calling us now?”
Shift Two: From Self-Reliance to Obedience
Jesus told experienced fishermen to cast their nets again, this time on the other side. The miracle came not simply because they were talented fishermen, but because they were willing to obey. This may be one of the hardest shifts for an institution to make.
We know how to build committees, conduct meetings, maintain buildings, and organize programs. But knowing how to do church is not the same as discerning what God is calling the Church to do. The United Methodist Church needs leaders courageous enough to say: “We have experience, but we still need direction.” Obedience may require us to experiment. It may require us to release practices that no longer bear fruit and listen to voices we have historically overlooked. The question is not simply what we can do. The question is: what is God asking us to do?
Shift Three: From Emptiness to Overflow
The disciples moved from empty nets to abundance. The lesson is not that the Church will never experience scarcity. It is that scarcity does not have to determine our imagination and innovation. Too often, churches organize their ministries around what they no longer have: not enough people, money, volunteers, young people, or resources. But Kingdom imagination asks a different question: “What do we have that God can use?”
The future of United Methodism is not found in making every congregation look like the church of the past. Instead, the future might be found in discovering how small congregations, new faith communities, lay leaders, bi-vocational clergy, young people, diverse communities, and innovative ministries can become sources of Kingdom overflow. God can still do much with a little.
Shift Four: From Distance to Discernment
When John recognized Jesus, he declared, “It is the Lord.” The disciples had been working, but they had not yet recognized what was happening. That is a word the Church needs to hear. We can become so consumed with institutional survival that we fail to recognize where God is already moving. The United Methodist Church needs to practice intentional discernment and ask divine questions like:
Where is God already at work?
What communities are we being called to serve? Who is missing from our tables?
What new Fresh Expressions of church are emerging?
What is the Spirit saying through the experiences of people who have stopped attending our congregations? The issue is not whether God is moving. The issue is whether we have eyes to see it.
Shift Five: From Performance to Relationship
One of the most beautiful moments in John 21 comes when Jesus essentially tells the disciples, “Come and eat.” Before another assignment, there is relationship. Before another demand, there is nourishment. Before another performance review, there is grace. The Church desperately needs this shift. We have created cultures where pastors feel they must constantly produce, congregations feel they must constantly perform, and leaders measure ministry by activity rather than transformation. But healthy ministry grows from relationship with Christ, not religious exhaustion.
The United Methodist Church does not simply need more programs. We need deeper discipleship. We need healthier leaders. We need congregations that know how to pray, listen, rest, serve, love, and follow Jesus. If we are spiritually exhausted, organizational innovation alone will not save us. We must rediscover the One who called us in the first place.
Shift Six: From Existence to Kingdom Impact
The disciples' encountering the resurrected Christ was not merely for their personal restoration. They were being sent. The resurrection was never intended to remain private. They were called to preach, lead, serve, witness, and transform communities.
That is the question before United Methodism: Are we simply trying to keep the institution alive, or are we preparing the Church to make a Kingdom impact?
That is where United Methodism stands today. We can spend our energy trying to recreate what once was. Or we can DARE TO SHIFT. Not change for change's sake. Not innovation because innovation is fashionable. Not abandoning our Wesleyan heritage. Rather, shifting because faithfulness sometimes requires us to do ministry differently to remain faithful to the mission of Jesus Christ.
Our Tradition should not become an anchor that keeps us from moving forward. It should become a foundation from which we can move courageously into God's future. The Church does not need permission to imagine again. We need courage. We need discernment. We need obedience. We need leaders willing to acknowledge that some nets are empty not because God has abandoned us, but because Jesus may be calling us to cast somewhere else. So perhaps that is the question every United Methodist congregation, pastor, leader, and denominational body should be asking: Not simply, “How do we survive?” But: “Jesus, what are You shifting us toward and will we have the courage to follow?”
Dr. Michael L. Bowie, Jr. is the National Executive Director of the United Methodist Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century. Since July 1, 2020, Dr. Bowie has utilized more than 20 years of experience as a United Methodist Elder to offer strategic, transformative leadership to clergy and lay that will strengthen black congregations. Dr. Bowie has developed and launched a cutting-edge initiative called “The Black Church Matters” that endeavors to strengthen congregations and ultimately transform communities. He echoes Dr. King's sentiment: “the local church is still the Hope of the world.”
His book, Dare to Shift, is available at booksellers everywhere.