Affinity not Geography

Some of you have read Thomas Friedman's The Earth is Flat. Friedman demonstrates that contemporary technology, communication, and transport are blurring boundaries and bringing the world's peoples closer together. When you order an airline ticket or seek help for your computer, you are more than likely talking to someone in New Delhi rather than Delaware. Geography doesn't mean that much anymore.

Some years ago Lyle Schaller wrote an interesting little book, Affinity Not Geography. In that book Schaller, veteran church observer, said that the United Methodist Church continues to be modeled on an 1850 form of church involvement. In 1850, 99% of folks attended the church that was closest to their home. But today, less than 10% of us attend the church that is closest to our home. Most North Alabama Methdists will pass a dozen churches on their way to church. Most of us work, go to school or to the doctor crossing great distances.

Our present district alignment is related to a nineteenth century mentality in which railroad lines and river transportation figured heavily to where folks were able to travel.

One of the benefits of district realignment is that it gives us a chance to address the huge inequities that have developed in our present twelve-district configuration (we have nearly as many Methodists in two of our present districts as in the other ten) and to move away from a purely geographical mindset. We must focus more on fruits of the Spirit, mission, and the peculiar nature of each congregation than merely upon geographic location.

In Affinity Not Geography, Schaller said that we ought to group churches not simply on where they happen to be located geographically, but on the nature and character of the congregation's mission. A small congregation in Jasper may have more in common with a small congregation in Gadsden than a very large congregation in Jasper. Sometimes we have diffused and weakened our work because we have used a "shotgun" approach, trying to administer churches as if they were all alike, using a "one size fits all" approach rather than tailoring our work to suit the character of specific congregations. Through district realignment -- clustering congregations on the basis of mission affinity, focusing more on the mission work that needs to be done than merely upon geographical location -- we can be more faithful in our work.

Will Willimon