March 29, 2024

A higher tour of duty

Methodist United Church gets new reverend

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, once said, “The world is my parish,” and ended up traveling 4,000 miles and delivering 40,000 sermons a year for the rest of his life.

Seemingly in keeping with this tradition, John Dickens, the new reverend of the Monroe United Methodist Church’s career as a messenger of the Lord has taken him all over the world, from Texas to Cuba, South Korea and now to Monroe.

He said he found out about his new station when he went to the Iowa Annual Conference for the United Methodist Church. At the last session of the last day, he found out he was going to be appointed to the
Monroe United Methodist Church.

He said he has been a reverend since 1985 when he was ordained in Louisiana and has always been active in the church since he was a child, doing vacation Bible schools and youth group. He did not decide to become a full time minister until he was mid-way through seminary.

“I have a very strong love for the church, for God and being a part of this enterprise that the church is all about, which is to share the love of God and to bring people closer to the Lord through Christ,” Dickens said.

He said ministry is a service mindset where all members of the church are ministers but he is the only ordained one who can hold the formal title. He said the direction of the church is unknown at this time because it is a group effort to move the church forward.

It will take time to determine the direction they want to take and through reflection on the strengths and areas of growth of the congregation and knowing how to improve on those areas.

He called it a transitional time and a time for mapping out objectives.

“The way that we do this in the Methodist Church is less of a me telling them what to do and more of an us figuring this out together,” Dickens said.

He said his personal strengths include a love of preaching, good communication skills and a lot of experience working with people of different ages who are at different points in their lives.

In his mind, what sets him apart from other reverends in the area is his different perspective on life due to his background, his closeness to the church, his time in the military which he sees as an extension of the church and a Southern accent.

There are many moments that mold a person into who they are today. In Dickens’ case, those moments are hard to pin down specifically. He said everyone should be given a chance to stretch themselves so they can grow.

A specific example came when he was the Deputy Division Chaplain for the First marine Division and later became chaplain for the division. Another time which shaped him was when he was a chaplain at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, where cadets were constantly afraid of if they will make it through their time or kicked out.

Many of other times shaped the new Monroe United Methodist Church reverend’s life and career.

“It came to me when I was deployed in a combat zone, it came to me when I made rank and was put in positions of responsibility over other chaplains, times when I was given the chance to lead and I didn’t mess up too badly.” Dickens said.

He said due to the large variety of faiths wherever he went, he said soldiers and sailors would go to him to listen to the kind of ministry only he could provide, but this as well is what John Wesley did, spread the word to those of different walks of life to whoever would want to hear it.

Contact Samuel Nusbaum at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or snusbaum@newtondailynews.com