Churchgoers need a spiritually driven invitation to make disciples of Jesus Christ to revitalize the United Methodist Church and rule changes being voted on this week by nearly 1,000 delegates at the 2012 General Conference should not be seen as stand-alone answers to what ails the denomination, a bishop of the church says.

Bishop Thomas Bickerton, who leads the Church's Western Pennsylvania area, wrote in a blog post ahead of the start of Tuesday's once-every-four-years Conference that passion is needed to revitalize the church.

The United Methodist Church has issued a "Call to Action" which seeks to address challenges created by the denominations aging demographics and a financial crisis.

Lay and clergy delegates this week are considering changes to rules about annual conferences, guaranteed appointments, oversight structures, a revision of roles at the top levels, and a reallocation of funds and how they are raised.

"I remain convinced that until we motivate the people in the pew to find passion once more for the "making of disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world" on all levels of the church's life and work, no structural change, vitality assessment or metric-reporting system will achieve our desired outcome," the Bishop wrote.

"This is not to say that the plan does not contain valid points that need to be discussed and implemented. They cannot, however, be seen as stand-alone solutions to the deeper problems we face."

The Bishop, who oversees 800 congregations in his area, says he recently explained to the districts what he learned at a regional annual conference about the "death tsunami" facing the church as older members pass away and the denomination's "unsustainable future."

He said people pointed out that there was a hole in his presentation in that there was a "lack of theological 'grounding'" in his explanations.
He altered his presentation but many who heard it became depressed at the denomination's prospects. In 2011 he wrote an address entitled "What's Right With the Church" in an attempt to show how the denomination could "find hope, direction and revitalization in the midst of any tsunami that may hit our shores."

He said that real solution to the issues "will be found when we seek more honest conversations and authentic relationships with leaders on all levels of the church's work. More than that, we need focused leadership that will provide theological groundings, road maps of possibility and clear, concise, achievable steps for revitalization.

He called for a "lifestyled" not legislated call to action.

"What is needed is a spiritually driven invitation to reclaim a passion for ministry that will motivate our laity to win souls for Christ as much as many of them are motivated to preserve the padded pews and stained-glass windows of their buildings.

We need literally a "come-to-Jesus" call that will motivate clergy to jump out of their boats and swim to the shore to hear with anticipation the Lord saying, "Feed my sheep" (John 24). We need this motivation to be at least strong as our motivation to be passionate about pension projections and health-care providers."