Methodists and Being Alive

[rapturefish]

Original anecdote of the late Rev. John Wesley communicated to the Preachers assembled in Conference at Liverpool, August 1820, by Mr. Robert Miller.


"The first time I had the pleasure of being in company with the Rev. John Wesley was in the year 1783. I asked him what must be done to keep Methodism alive when he was dead: to which he immediately answered,
'The Methodists must take heed to their doctrine, their experience, their practice, and their discipline. If they attend to their doctrines only, they will make the people antinomians; if to the experimental part of religion only, they will make them enthusiasts; if to the practical part only, they will make them Pharisees; and if they do not attend to their discipline, they will be like persons who bestow much pains in cultivating their garden, and put no fence round it, to save it from the wild boar of the forest."
Rupert Davies, A. Raymond George, Gordon Rupp, eds. A History of The Methodist Church in Great Britain, vol. 4 (London: Epworth Press, 1898), p.194.

http://www.imarc.cc/buletins/wesleyq.html

Where does the Methodist church lie today in terms of their doctrine, their experience, their practice, and their discipline? How will it find its continuance in being "alive"?

 

[ClementofRome]

I am speaking of the UMC as a whole (as there are good and godly Christians at many local levels) when I say that there is little attention to doctrine, experience is still valued too highly, practice would depend on each individual as the UMC is awash in a sea of faith ...and as for discipline...when societal norms become the norms of the church, where is the discipline?

As my subtitle above states, I am a Whitefield Methodist. I can be critical as both of my parents are retired UMC pastors and I myself teach at a UMC college.

BTW, I find it curious that this question has been asked by a Pentecostal in a Reformed Forum????

 

[rnmomof7]

Yea me too

 

[ClementofRome]

ignore....I choose to delete what I just posted.

 

[Wrigley]

I am speaking of the UMC as a whole (as there are good and godly Christians at many local levels) when I say that there is little attention to doctrine, experience is still valued too highly, practice would depend on each individual as the UMC is awash in a sea of faith ...and as for discipline...when societal norms become the norms of the church, where is the discipline?

As my subtitle above states, I am a Whitefield Methodist. I can be critical as both of my parents are retired UMC pastors and I myself teach at a UMC college.

BTW, I find it curious that this question has been asked by a Pentecostal in a Reformed Forum????

Good last question.

 

[rapturefish]

Guess I'd better come clean. I've journeyed from a Baptist/Presbyterian background to Pentecosta, yet I am technically still a member of the Presbyterian church. Because the presbyterian church still remains the church I consider most pivotal in beginning my life with God I still have a heart for it, and for reformed churches in general.

No need to be wary or maybe you were just curious. I do wish the best for reformed churches and would like to see them flourish as the church God wants them to be.

blessings,

 

[ClementofRome]

Guess I'd better come clean. I've journeyed from a Baptist/Presbyterian background to Pentecosta, yet I am technically still a member of the Presbyterian church. Because the presbyterian church still remains the church I consider most pivotal in beginning my life with God I still have a heart for it, and for reformed churches in general.

No need to be wary or maybe you were just curious. I do wish the best for reformed churches and would like to see them flourish as the church God wants them to be.

blessings,

I was just curious...thanks.

 

[rnmomof7]

Guess I'd better come clean. I've journeyed from a Baptist/Presbyterian background to Pentecosta, yet I am technically still a member of the Presbyterian church. Because the presbyterian church still remains the church I consider most pivotal in beginning my life with God I still have a heart for it, and for reformed churches in general.

No need to be wary or maybe you were just curious. I do wish the best for reformed churches and would like to see them flourish as the church God wants them to be.

blessings,

My church is full of people that traveled from the Catholic to the Pentecostal to the Presbyterian..
I attended an AOG and a Nazarene church before becoming a Calvinist .
So Wesley is usually an interesting topic for me.

Many of the early Methodists were Calvinists.
The "method" that became Methodist was a means to living out a Christian life.
This has much truth to it

The Methodists must take heed to their doctrine, their experience, their practice, and their discipline

He did need to add a warning on the potential to become a legalist however and forget the Christian liberty that comes with our salvation..

 

[Jon_]

My church is full of people that traveled from the Catholic to the Pentecostal to the Presbyterian..
I attended an AOG and a Nazarene church before becoming a Calvinist .
So Wesley is usually an interesting topic for me.

Many of the early Methodists were Calvinists.
The "method" that became Methodist was a means to living out a Christian life.
This has much truth to it
He did need to add a warning on the potential to become a legalist however and forget the Christian liberty that comes with our salvation..

Hi, I'm Jon, and I'm a recovering Nazarene.

You're all too correct about the legalism thing.

Soli Deo Gloria

Jon