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I Have A Sincere Question Please

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ShortCircuit

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Hi!
My family were members of the Methodist Church in our little town for many years. (Grand and Great-Grand) My mom decided that at the time, the local Baptist Church offered more in the way of activities for children so she convinced my dad to switch. That was when I was 7 years old.
Can someone please explain what the main difference between the Baptist (Southern Baptist) and the Methodist?
I hope it is okay that I posted here and asked this question.
Jan:confused:
 

Qyöt27

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You're going to find several differences, actually:

Methodists (generally) don't believe in Once Saved, Always Saved

Technically would be regarded as Prima Scriptura rather than Sola Scriptura (Scripture as prime authority rather than sole authority).

Run the political and theological gamut - there are Conservative, Moderate, and Liberal camps. There are also High (very traditional) and Low (contemporary/very casual) church congregations, and many in-between.

Allow women to serve as pastors.

Believe in Baptism and Communion as sacraments rather than ordinances - Communion is more than simply a remembrance and that Christ is present (although left to mystery). Infant Baptism is practiced, and it can be by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion if requested. Rebaptism is not practiced (unless the first wasn't Trinitarian in nature, if I remember correctly - I could be wrong).

EDIT: To clarify that, we don't immerse infants. At least, I'd hope we don't.

No unified (or near unified) Origins or End Times beliefs. End Times are also not very emphasized, preferring to focus on service in this life instead. There are always exceptions of course, but generally the mindset is that whatever view one holds of the End Times, it's in God's hands and there's not really much use worrying about the future when we should be helping others today. I've noticed that Methodism tends to stay away from evangelism techniques that rely on the fear of Hell to get people to convert. Not that it doesn't get brought up in some fashion, but other points of faith get far more attention. This is probably related in some way to the deemphasized view of the End Times or vice versa.

And even though this is a rather political or historical difference, Baptists in general splintered off during the Reformation in reaction against the Catholic Church. Methodism arose as a schism with the Anglican Church due to political differences around the time of the American Revolution and because of politics within the Church of England. Wesley never stopped serving as an Anglican priest, and never intended for Methodism to break from the Anglican Church, so the amount of reaction against certain beliefs and practices aren't nearly as pronounced. There are many Methodists that view the Anglican Church as a sort of 'parent', so to speak.
 
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Diane_Windsor

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Jan

I hate these types of questions. I find it quite difficult to compare and contrast denominations. The best thing for you to do is research what each denomination teaches.

SBC Position Statements
The Baptist Faith and Message

United Methodist Church-Questions

Wikipedia is also a good place to start for Methodism and for Baptists.

I can think of a few differences. Southern Baptists of course believe that communion is symbolic while United Methodists believe that Jesus is present in communion, though His presence is a mystery. As the poster above said we view communion and baptism as sacraments while the SBC views them as ordinances. Also, the poster above me correctly stated that while Baptists practice credobaptism, Methodists practice paedobaptism. This leads to another difference, the UMC practices confirmation while the SBC does not.

In the United Methodist Church we have bishops, but the SBC is congregational in church government. The SBC strongly emphasizes the autonomy of the local church. And lastly, we do stem from the Anglican church, and John Wesley was an Anglican clergyman till the day he died. Of course both were great hymn writers as well, and we know how Baptists like to sing hymns! :D

DIANE
:wave:
 
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Davis

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The Free Methodist Church also is different from just a Methodist church in some areas. To me it doesnt really matter as long as you find a church family that helps you grow in the Lord. And that the churchs teachings are based on the Word of God and not there own teachings or issues.
 
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