baptist vs. methodist

[alty29]

my entire life I went to a methodist church, then within the last year I started going to a baptist church, and it seems pretty much the same, I was just wondering what the differences are between the two, because I havn't noticed any.

thanks-alex

 

[SumTinWong]

my entire life I went to a methodist church, then within the last year I started going to a baptist church, and it seems pretty much the same, I was just wondering what the differences are between the two, because I havn't noticed any.

thanks-alex

Click here or if not here is the text:

United Methodists and Baptists have much in common -- belief in God and Bible, acceptance of Jesus as Christ and savior and divine, observance of Baptism and Communion as the two sacraments. “Our tradition asserts the real, personal, living presence of Jesus Christ. We understand the divine presence in temporal and relational terms. In the Holy Meal of the church, the past, present, and future of the living Christ come together.”
United Methodists baptize infants, youth, and adults; Baptists baptize only confessing youth and adults. Baptists baptize by immersion; United Methodists use immersion, sprinkling, and pouring. United Methodists have communion open to all; Baptists open the table to baptized church members only. United Methodists have bishops and are governed by districts and Conferences of churches; Baptists have independent congregations, which choose their pastors. United Methodist pastors are sent to congregations by bishops, after consultation with the congregation.

President George W. Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton are both Methodists by the way, while William Jefferson Clinton is a member of a Southern Baptist church.

 

[Andyman_1970]

A line from the movie "A river runs through it" (set in the early 20th century), the dad (who was a Presbyterian pastor) referred to Methodist as "Baptist that can read".................I fell out of my chair laughing.............anyway I thought that was funny.

 

[Iosias]

my entire life I went to a methodist church, then within the last year I started going to a baptist church, and it seems pretty much the same, I was just wondering what the differences are between the two, because I havn't noticed any.

thanks-alex

Eucharist: Methodist - real presence; Baptist - memorial.

 

[Diane_Windsor]

Eucharist: Methodist - real presence.

Do you have a source for that?

Thanks

 

[Iosias]

Do you have a source for that?

Thanks

There are a number of discussions on this in the Methodist forum

 

[SumTinWong]

Do you have a source for that?

Thanks

Read the link above that I posted...

 

[CrystalBrooke]

dont methodists believe in infant baptism? if so, thats a BIG difference, if not, ignore this post

 

[alty29]

yeah, I was baptised in the methodist church when I was like 3 months old or something, can't be sure because I don't remember it to well

 

[kayanne]

Hmmm....I went to a United Methodist Church for almost 30 years, and I never heard anything about "real presence," or the word "eucharist", or anything along those lines.

That article says that to take communion in a Baptist church, you must be a baptized church member. I attended baptist churches for several years, and never heard that one either.

So either that article is way off track, or there's a LOT of variation from church to church. I have found Methodists and Baptists to be extremely different, in the churches I attended, but not in the ways this article describes. The Methodist church I attended throughout childhood and young adulthood did not preach salvation through faith (in fact, one pastor pretty much ridiculed me when he heard that I had "been saved"), and the Bible was not held in high regard whatsoever--it also was somewhat ridiculed (like verses about wives submitting to husbands were joked about).

 

[crazy4Christ007]

My mother is methodist and I am Baptist. There isn't a huge difference but the way the preacher preaches is different.(but again all preachers preach in different ways) They sprinkle you in a Methodist church and Baptize in a Baptist church.

 

[Sinai]

United Methodists have communion open to all; Baptists open the table to baptized church members only.

This varies from church to church among Baptists. Some Baptist churches practice open communion in which the Lord's supper is open to all persons who have accepted Christ as personal savior, while others may limit it to baptized believers of that particular church--and others fall somewhere in between those positions. There are also Baptist churches that do not express a position, but rather leave it up to each individual worshiper as to whether he or she should participate.

United Methodists have bishops and are governed by districts and Conferences of churches; Baptists have independent congregations, which choose their pastors. United Methodist pastors are sent to congregations by bishops, after consultation with the congregation.

Like most Christian denominations, United Methodist churches are owned and controlled by the denomination itself. Baptists, on the other hand, are autonomous groups that may voluntarily join similar churches or groups of churches in order to better accomplish common goals and objectives. Thus, Baptist churches tend to be autonomous and are generally democratically controlled by the members of that local church--though some local churches may be controlled by a ruling body (deacons, etc.) or by the pastor (this is more common among certain fundamentalist Baptist churches that consider the pastor to be the "shepherd of the flock").

Largely because of this tendency toward having locally owned and operated autonomous churches--when coupled with the Baptist doctrines of soul competency and priesthood of the believer--one may find a tremendous variety among Baptist churches....even within the same Baptist denomination. If you also examine the multitude of different Baptist denominations, you will find even greater diversity....

So either that article is way off track, or there's a LOT of variation from church to church.

Yes, there can be "a LOT of variation from church to church."

 

[Flynmonkie]

Hi!
I had this same thought in this thread!
http://christianforums.com/showthread.php?p=2734259#post2734259

As far as I am concerned at this point. For the most part as that you can get extremes to each side of the spectrum with either denominations.

Its 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other! Many wonderful friends that are Methodist, I attend a Baptist Church. The only thing for me that is different truly is that I believe Baptism is something we each should decide when we are of the age of understanding (whom knows when that would be only God) Based on the knowledge that we are his from the womb. But to me this is personal and I do not judge. As that I do not truly believe salvation depends on it. It is a gift, nothing we can do to earn. (not wanting to get into a discussion just my thoughts on why I do or do not see many differences)

 

[BT]

At least one difference is that I go to a Baptist church, and I don't go to a Methodist church.

That is an indisputable difference!

 

[WiredSpirit]

Well, I grew up in a non-denominational church but my mom is now General Baptist and I am United Methodist. A couple of observations:

Methodists ordain women as pastors, most Baptists do not.

Methodists offer infant baptism, but don't teach that it is necessary. I've never heard of any Baptist denomination doing infant Baptism.

Under no circumstances do Methodists 're-baptize' because they feel it is like saying that God didn't do it right the first time. It doesn't matter to Methodists what church you were baptized in.

Someone said in one of these forums that "Methodists believe that baptism is God's promise for us while baptists believe it is our promise to God." The reason Methodists accept different types of baptism is because we believe God is the one who is really doing the work and what we do is only symbolic.