Bob Marley once famously sang “If you know your history / then you would know where you’re coming from.”[1] As your Growth and Stewardship Animator, I’d like to use my soapbox to look into our rich history, to see what ‘jewels of our faith’ (latent or otherwise) might be there deep in our collective DNA; jewels that that we could potentially re-engage in this time and place in UCC East and in the wider United Church of Canada.
One of the ideas that Toward 2035 engages is that of Connexionalism.
Connexionalism—intentionally spelled with an ‘x’ — is drawn from the Methodist side of our United Church heritage.
As a document from our Methodist partner in the UK states: “The essence of Connexionalism is identified and defined in terms of belonging, mutuality and interdependence. All Christians are essentially linked to one another; no Local Church is or can be an autonomous unit complete [unto) itself. This understanding of the essence of the Church is grounded in the New Testament. It is vital for effective mission, and it is expressed in apt structures of oversight, balancing authority and subsidiarity[2]. Where these insights have become part of the ethos of the Church, Connexionalism is experienced in a way of life which assumes that all contribute to and receive from the life and mission of the whole Church.”[3]
My own sense is that elements of our recent history; including perceived scarcity at a time of decline in the church – have moved us more toward a kind of hyper-congregationalism; that is, into a posture of every-congregation-for-itself. At it’s worse, this reflects so much of the individualism that plagues our society. It leads us to feel we need to protect our own little piece of the pie. Sadly, this is all-too-often true of our local congregations as we grieve the places that we find ourselves in.
One might wonder whether the concepts inherent in Connexionalism—which has inherent within it those notion of deep mutuality and interdependence with a balance of authority and subsidiarity (local authority) — could this assist The United Church to find a ‘third way’ beyond to the polarities of our sometimes-competitive local communities while avoiding the alternative reflex toward an authoritarian top-down episcopal structure.
How might Connexionalism be re-imagined in our structures? At a time of smallness, how might clusters or geographic areas be engaged to hearken us back to the earliest meeting structures of the Methodist movement – with its localized small groups of deep vulnerability and sharing about how God is at work in our lives?
How might the connexional idea animate a way we do ministry in a post-Christendom context?
The connexional principle was integral to Methodism from its beginning. Accordingly, Wesley’s preachers were itinerant; that is, they were available to be sent wherever they were most needed. What would a principle of deeper sharing for benefit of the common good, for the reign of God, mean for our church?
This will take prayer, and it will take a re-orientation away from clutching to what we feel we deserve. It might mean sharing our resources, seeing a minister (be that ordained, diaconal or lay) serve the whole church, a wider geographic area rather than just one congregation? Yes, this is counterintuitive to trends in our more recent history, as well as to the culture most of us were born into – but I think it’s worth praying about as we pray toward “inspired, resilient, and diverse contextual communities of disciples seek to continue the story of Jesus by embodying Christ’s presence in the world.” (Toward 2035)
Thinking regionally, how might Connexionalism, with its ‘circuits’ and ‘circuit riding’ ministry be a foundation for The United Church of Canada to reimagine ministries of preaching and sacraments beyond the Christendom model—especially in a time of shifting economic realities in the church and wider society when it is increasingly difficult to call a local minister and the established Christendom models cease to function well?
As I settle into the UCC East, I already see some of this happening (praise be to God!). Cooperative and covenanted ministries share a minister between congregations and pastoral charges, small communities being served by larger communities, laypeople serving where clergy can’t regularly be (how might we support this better?!), buildings being shared between inherited and newcomer communities.
Behold, God is doing a new (and ancient) thing.
How might Connexionalism serve as a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled spiritual and prophetic counterpoint to the rampant individualism that is too-often reflected in the competitive nature of our congregations?
How might it draw us away from our tendencies toward competition around perceived scarcity toward a reorientation to the vast abundance of the Reign of God among us?
[1] From the song “Buffalo Soldier”
[2] Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level that is consistent with their resolution. (from Wikipedia)
[3] “The Gift of Connexionalism in the 21st Century” (The Methodist Church, 2017). https://media.methodist.org.uk/media/documents/conf-2017-37-The-Gift-of-Connexionalism-in-the-21st-Century_ZclJGAo.pdf, accessed 20 September, 2026.
