[ReligionToday News 17 9 99)

The United Methodist Church "has been reduced to a kind of pussycat church,"
a Houston pastor says. "We’re bringing up a generation that will offend nobody, not
even the devil," William Hinson, senior pastor of the 13,500-member Houston First
United Methodist Church, said. He made the remark during his keynote address at the
national conference of the Confessing Movement Within the United Methodist Church (see
link #3 below), held Sept. 9-11 in Indianapolis.

…The movement, an unofficial part of the UMC, says it is trying to bring the
denomination back to its doctrinal foundations. It numbers 1,315 "confessing
churches," 3,212 clergy, and 600,145 United Methodists.

…United Methodist pastors have become reluctant to preach clearly on moral issues for
fear of offending someone, Hinson said. "We have to choose between being popular and
being faithful."

…"When 2.5 million souls are lost in 30 years, it’s safe to assume something has
gone wrong," Hinson said, referring to the UMC’s loss of members. The average age of
members is more than 57, according to church reports, United Methodist News Service said.

…Hinson decried the "marginalization of those of us with a high view of
Scripture." Graduates of conservative UMC theological schools, such as Asbury
Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., are intimated when seeking appointments, he said.

…The denomination’s General Conference in the spring "will be pivotal in shaping
the direction of our divided, distracted, and declining denomination," William
Bouknight, president of the Confessing Movement, said. "I am hopeful that God may yet
help us recover our Wesleyan heritage, based on biblical authority."