In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev had the nerve to submit to historic reality; the Soviet Union created and defended by his generation was falling apart. In one of his last speeches, he used some language about international relations that we might well apply to the church today: “We are witnessing a revolution [that] greatly increases the role of creative and positive policies. But equally, it raises the price of mistakes—the price we must pay for adherence to outdated dogmas, routine and old thinking. . . . I’m convinced that we stand on the threshold. . . .”
You might find it strange, almost offensive, to open this column with a quote from an old Communist, but the issue is not the source. The issue is whether those words are apropos for United Methodism as we move into the final weeks before an historic General Conference.
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