Questions about UMC re: beliefs and worship

[worshipjunkie]

Hi,
I'm a moderate to liberal Christian looking for a church. Our local UMC is big, has a lot of people, and is near the bus station (the latter being a critical issues. ) But I know nothing about the UMC. My experience is largely either Salvation Army, traditional Catholic, or Pentecostal. I have some questions I was hoping people could answer.

*What is the service like? Is it liturgical, or is it more "evangelical", for lack of better terminology? The church here lists one traditional service and one contemporary service and I'm wondering what that might exactly mean.

*What are their beliefs on the Sacraments? Do they do weekly Communion, biweekly, or quarterly, or is it up to each individual church? Do they perform infant baptism?

*If you had to say two or three important things about UMC's beliefs, what would they be?

TIA~!

 

[Methodized]

These are kind of hard questions to answer because United Methodists have a wide variety of worship practices. I'm a pastor in the UMC (ordained Elder in full connection. So, I will give it my best shot.

Services in Methodist churches vary from liturgy to contemporary to evangelical. You have to check out the individual congregation. Some have services in more than one style, including the church I pastor in Iowa.

We have very similar beliefs about the sacraments that our sisters and brothers do in the Episcopal church. We believe in the real presence of Christ in communion. We believe both communion and baptism are means of grace and that a person may be baptized at any age. We do not believe in rebaptism. Yes, we do perform infant baptism.

Methodists beliefs include a strong understanding of the work of the grace of God in our lives. John Wesley like to preach about the importance of grace and that God loves and cared about us in advance of our response (prevenient grace), that God provides saving grace for us (justifying grace) and that God works to help us grow in grace seeking to love others as Christ loves them (sanctifying grace).

The UMC is an episcopal denomination, meaning we have Bishops who are in charge of our regional organizations called "Annual Conferences." Pastors are appointed to local churches by their Bishop.

 

[bekkilyn]

Concerning the frequency of communion, it is different for each church. Most seem to hold communion once a month, but I do know some pastors who have managed to implement a weekly communion service.

And one Methodist congregation may be very different than the one right down the street.

 

[Rawtheran]

Hi,
I'm a moderate to liberal Christian looking for a church. Our local UMC is big, has a lot of people, and is near the bus station (the latter being a critical issues. ) But I know nothing about the UMC. My experience is largely either Salvation Army, traditional Catholic, or Pentecostal. I have some questions I was hoping people could answer.

*What is the service like? Is it liturgical, or is it more "evangelical", for lack of better terminology? The church here lists one traditional service and one contemporary service and I'm wondering what that might exactly mean.

*What are their beliefs on the Sacraments? Do they do weekly Communion, biweekly, or quarterly, or is it up to each individual church? Do they perform infant baptism?

*If you had to say two or three important things about UMC's beliefs, what would they be?

TIA~!

I am currently a clergy candidate in the Church of the Nazarene but I used to be a member of the United Methodist Church growing up so I can help answer some of your question from the perspective of a lay member.

1. The UMC while it does have an official Order of Worship usually gives a lot of freedom to individual churches on how they want to conduct worship. I've been to Methodist services that would be seen as more Pentecostal with an altar call and a praise band and I've been to services that were very much liturgical where the clergy wear stoles, the choir wears robes, and you recite the Lord's Prayer and or other liturgical prayers.
2. The United Methodist Church practices two sacraments which are the Eucharist and Baptism. When it comes to receiving the Eucharist the UMC practices what is called open communion meaning you don't have to be a member of the church in order to partake in communion meaning anyone can. Usually it is to a certain extent up to the individual church on how often they want to administer communion but in my conference in West Ohio there was a strong recommendation from the Bishop for churches to do communion at least once a month. Something else I should note is that the UMC doesn't use wine but grape juice and they do not practice transubstantiation or consubstantiation but do believe that the presence of God dwells within the elements in a mystical way. In terms of Baptism the UMC practices Infant Baptism and Adult Baptism if someone has never been baptized before. If you were already baptized as an infant then you don't have to be rebaptized to become a member of the church. The beliefs on Baptism are also liturgical but the UMC does not believe that Baptism itself saves someone. It is rather seen as an outward expression of an inward change and apart of the initiation process of accepting someone in Christ's Universal church.

I hope that this helped in answering all of your questions!

 

[bekkilyn]

Note that in order for a baptism to be accepted as legitimate in the UMC, one must have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit within a denomination with a traditional Trinitarian view. Baptisms by groups that deny the Trinity or that do not hold the Trinity to be co-equal, for example, would not be viewed as legitimate baptisms.

 

[worshipjunkie]

These are kind of hard questions to answer because United Methodists have a wide variety of worship practices. I'm a pastor in the UMC (ordained Elder in full connection. So, I will give it my best shot.

Services in Methodist churches vary from liturgy to contemporary to evangelical. You have to check out the individual congregation. Some have services in more than one style, including the church I pastor in Iowa.

We have very similar beliefs about the sacraments that our sisters and brothers do in the Episcopal church. We believe in the real presence of Christ in communion. We believe both communion and baptism are means of grace and that a person may be baptized at any age. We do not believe in rebaptism. Yes, we do perform infant baptism.

Methodists beliefs include a strong understanding of the work of the grace of God in our lives. John Wesley like to preach about the importance of grace and that God loves and cared about us in advance of our response (prevenient grace), that God provides saving grace for us (justifying grace) and that God works to help us grow in grace seeking to love others as Christ loves them (sanctifying grace).

The UMC is an episcopal denomination, meaning we have Bishops who are in charge of our regional organizations called "Annual Conferences." Pastors are appointed to local churches by their Bishop.

Thank you very much. That really helps me get some of the basics!

 

[worshipjunkie]

I am currently a clergy candidate in the Church of the Nazarene but I used to be a member of the United Methodist Church growing up so I can help answer some of your question from the perspective of a lay member.

1. The UMC while it does have an official Order of Worship usually gives a lot of freedom to individual churches on how they want to conduct worship. I've been to Methodist services that would be seen as more Pentecostal with an altar call and a praise band and I've been to services that were very much liturgical where the clergy wear stoles, the choir wears robes, and you recite the Lord's Prayer and or other liturgical prayers.
2. The United Methodist Church practices two sacraments which are the Eucharist and Baptism. When it comes to receiving the Eucharist the UMC practices what is called open communion meaning you don't have to be a member of the church in order to partake in communion meaning anyone can. Usually it is to a certain extent up to the individual church on how often they want to administer communion but in my conference in West Ohio there was a strong recommendation from the Bishop for churches to do communion at least once a month. Something else I should note is that the UMC doesn't use wine but grape juice and they do not practice transubstantiation or consubstantiation but do believe that the presence of God dwells within the elements in a mystical way. In terms of Baptism the UMC practices Infant Baptism and Adult Baptism if someone has never been baptized before. If you were already baptized as an infant then you don't have to be rebaptized to become a member of the church. The beliefs on Baptism are also liturgical but the UMC does not believe that Baptism itself saves someone. It is rather seen as an outward expression of an inward change and apart of the initiation process of accepting someone in Christ's Universal church.

I hope that this helped in answering all of your questions!

Yes, this helped a lot. Thank you so much.

 

[worshipjunkie]

Note that in order for a baptism to be accepted as legitimate in the UMC, one must have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit within a denomination with a traditional Trinitarian view. Baptisms by groups that deny the Trinity or that do not hold the Trinity to be co-equal, for example, would not be viewed as legitimate baptisms.

Ok, I thought so. That wouldn't be an issue for me but it's good to know.

 

[Methodized]

Note that in order for a baptism to be accepted as legitimate in the UMC, one must have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit within a denomination with a traditional Trinitarian view. Baptisms by groups that deny the Trinity or that do not hold the Trinity to be co-equal, for example, would not be viewed as legitimate baptisms.

True, but that is a very rare circumstance. Most mainstream denominations hold to a trinitarian view of God. And we are actually forbidden to re-baptize if a person has been legitimately previously baptized.

That is such a serious rule that a pastor can be brought up on charges for preforming a rebaptism.

 

[Rawtheran]

True, but that is a very rare circumstance. Most mainstream denominations hold to a trinitarian view of God. And we are actually forbidden to re-baptize if a person has been legitimately previously baptized.

That is such a serious rule that a pastor can be brought up on charges for preforming a rebaptism.

I knew a Pastor in the West Ohio Conference who had a parishioner that absolutely insisted on being baptized as an adult even though they had been baptized as an infant so finally after having a conversation with the DS they agreed to allow the new member of the church to go through with it but during the ceremony they just said that he was remembering his baptism.

 

[hedrick]

I knew a Pastor in the West Ohio Conference who had a parishioner that absolutely insisted on being baptized as an adult even though they had been baptized as an infant so finally after having a conversation with the DS they agreed to allow the new member of the church to go through with it but during the ceremony they just said that he was remembering his baptism.

Wouldn't this simply be reaffirmation of baptism? At least in the PCUSA that's a thing.

 

[Rawtheran]

Wouldn't this simply be reaffirmation of baptism? At least in the PCUSA that's a thing.

Pretty much the same thing yeah