World Methodist Beliefs
UM Information
A Statement of World Methodist Belief and Practice
I
Compelled to Account
1. Since Methodists form a Christian community, scattered in mission
throughout the world, they are compelled to give an account of who they
are by declaring what they believe and hope. The good they do appears to
some as more obvious than the faith they profess, and yet they proclaim
that the good they do proceeds out of the faith they profess. Many are
confused. Methodism appears to them as a collection of various opinions
where a person is free to believe almost anything that person chooses.
What is needed is a clear, fresh and vital vision of the saving truth,
which is Jesus Christ, who transforms human life and gives meaning and
hope to human existence.
Seeing the Vision
2. How can we describe the vision we see so that we enable others to see
it with us? How do we express what we believe so that we pass it on to
others as the truth we have also received? It will not be enough to
reproduce the words of others. Somehow, our answer must point clearly to
the vision of Jesus Christ for human life and all creation in the
Kingdom of God. It must be deeply grounded in the Scriptures that attest
to that vision.
Our vision must not contradict what Christians of all ages have
experienced and known. To carry conviction our answer must arise from a
genuine experience of that vision. That vision can happen anywhere,
anytime, and is capable of making sense of the full range of human
experience. We should give our answer in a way that helps not only the
Świse meną but also the Ślowlyshepherdsą to see that vision and commit
themselves unreservedly to it. And yet our answer must not be so
complete as to prevent our growth in understanding the Christian Faith.
Our Sufficient Authority
3. The authority upon which all Christians base their understanding and
their doctrinal formulations is, first and foremost, the Holy Bible.
Taken as a whole, it is sufficient for our knowledge of God and of his
self-disclosure in Jesus Christ.
Essentials of Faith
4. We therefore invite Methodists throughout the world to seek to
discover and reaffirm the essentials of the Christian Faith. This would
include an appreciation of our Methodist tradition as well as a deeper
understanding and love for the catholic heritage that lies behind it.
They will then be able and ready to "give an account of the hope that is
in them."
Coming to understand the Faith will make sense of, at least, three
things: our experience, how we think, and the responsibilities that we
have in life. This understanding will give wholeness, strength and
courage to our lives. It will enable us to claim our identity as part of
the Christian family. It will give us things to say and do in our
mission in the world. It will provide us critical norms for evaluating
and transforming the values and ways of life that shape people. It will
sensitize us to the evil structures of our world, such as racism,
injustice, oppression, violence and terrorism, and inspire us with
courage to overcome them and work for peace. It will give us freedom to
participate with all those who work for making a better home for
humankind. It will motivate us to be more faithful servants of the Lord
who, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through people, continues
to make the Kingdom come.
This is no light option. For it to succeed, commitment, effort and
resources must be given to this task.
II
Beginning at Pentecost
5. What we are inviting Methodists to discover and do began in
Jerusalem. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came with power upon the
apostles, and the other disciples, and made them realize that God had
been at work in Jesus to bring salvation to the world. Suddenly, as a
result, they found words to tell others of what they had seen and heard!
This that happened in Jerusalem began to happen in "Judea, Samaria and
the uttermost parts of the earth."
God brought peoples in all ages and from various cultures and
civilizations into the same experience and formed them into a fellowship
across the world. They came to belong to the same family. This process
has been happening ever since and we are a part of it.
The Wesleyan Movement
6. Similarly something very special and remarkable happened to John
Wesley. His life was transformed by the grace of God, who used him to
light a flame that spread throughout the world. He offered to all who
would listen the Good News that they could receive salvation through
Jesus Christ. Doing so he gave them a vision of the Śnew creaturesą they
could become. The churches that have arisen from this movement
throughout the world are not identical, but there is a strong family
likeness among them. The Methodists are still one people.
Methodist Distinctives
7. Central to Wesleyąs work was the proclamation of salvation and out of
this emerged what is distinctive in Methodism:
Godąs Grace
Grace is behind the whole of Godąs works. Godąs grace is active in
creation and providence. By grace we possess conscience which enables us
to discern good and evil. Human beings reject the will of God, are
estranged from the divine life and themselves, and are entangled in the
evil which corrupts the world around them. Thus human beings are in need
of salvation, and Godąs grace gives them the capacity to respond to
salvation offered us through Jesus Christ.
Godąs Saving Love
The grace of God is, in its essence, Godąs saving love, rooted in the
atoning death of Jesus Christ. God forgives our sin, removes
estrangement and fear and conquers evil in and around us, as an
anticipation of the full victory to be realized in the eternal world to
come.
Christąs Atonement For All
The benefits of Christąs atonement must be appropriated by each and
every person. Though Godąs saving grace is intended for everyone, it is
not irresistible. God created human beings with freedom of choice. He
will not violate their nature, even to save them.
A Gift to be Received
Salvation is neither inevitable or self-achieved. People cannot save
themselves. God alone is the giver of salvation, but a person may refuse
to accept the gift when it is offered.
Transformed Lives
God not only works for us in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for
our redemption, but also works in us by transforming our lives through
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Divine Life Within
Sanctification. As we live with God, the divine life is shaped within
us. The goal is perfect love which is attainable in this life. The
Christian life is one of growing maturity in grace.
A Society of Saints
Holiness is social as well as personal. It involves the transformation
not only of the individual, but transformation of the world of which he
or she is a part. It envisages a society of saints. All people are
called to be saints. The expression of holiness in its social context
entails the physical and material well-being of all people.
The Witness of Godąs Spirit
The feature of Methodist thought which brings joy, comfort and strength
to people is the assurance of the work that God has done and is doing in
them. "His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God." (Romans 8:16) The believer knows that the abode of the Holy
Spirit is human hearts and communities.
Offering Christ
8. Since proclamation of the Gospel of salvation is central to
Methodism, its theology is best expressed through preaching that
contains the offer of salvation and calls for a response to it. Its
theology is enshrined in hymns that are both a vehicle for teaching and
an expression of the joy and praise of salvation. It is not
insignificant that Methodists have often been dubbed Śa singing people.ą
The beauty of this theology is that it finds concrete expression in the
holiness of the lives of the people shaped by it; and in the renewing of
the world in righteousness, justice and peace according to the vision of
the Kingdom. Theology in the Methodist tradition joins "knowledge and
vital piety"; it is inclusive in its scope and seeks to speak "plain
truth for plain people." These distinctive features of Methodism are
meaningless unless they are set within the whole Christian tradition.
III
What Methodists Share in Common With Other Christians
9. Methodists along with all other major Christian bodies accept the
Apostlesą Creed and the first four ecumenical councils of the Church,
the teachings of which are set out in the Nicene Creed and the
Chalcedonian formula. These embody the doctrine of the Trinity; the
Person of Christ, the divine Word made flesh, fully God and fully human;
and the doctrine of redemption.
We share with all Christians belief that:
--Salvation is the work of the Triune God.
--Scriptures reveal Godąs plan of salvation.
--All people need salvation since all are sinners and cannot save
themselves.
--Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is the Saviour of the world.
--The Holy Spirit is God present and active in the world for its
salvation.
--The Church is the body of Christ; the community that bears the message
of salvation and incorporates those who are in the way of salvation into
its own body.
--The church is the community of those who are being saved by grace
through faith in Christ, living under Godąs rule, and are sent out as
instruments of Godąs eternal purpose.
--The Church is a fellowship of worship and praise in which the Word of
God is preached and the sacraments are celebrated.
--The Victory of Godąs love. Christ came preaching the kingly rule of
God for all life. Salvation, under godąs rule, is available now but
looks forward to its consummation when every form of evil will be
destroyed and the last enemy, which is death, will be no more. The
victory of Godąs love will gloriously triumph in the "resurrection of
the body and the life everlasting."
The One Church
10. Methodists gladly affirm their commitment to the ecumenical
movement, and are invited to commit themselves afresh to work and pray
for the visible unity of the one Church.
The Summons
This invitation summons the family of Methodists around the globe to
prayer, that what happened in Jerusalem and at Aldersgate through the
moving power of the Holy Spirit will happen again in us.
Methodists are asked to reflect on what they already believe, but
perhaps do not find easy to express, and to open themselves to the Bible
and the insights of other Christians across the centuries. Thus, they
may enter into a deeper and more meaningful experience of faith itself
and receive a greater motivation to share the Good News with others.
Then, our vision, our hopes, and our dreams of a new awakening may be
fulfilled.
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This statement was Drafted in Jerusalem and Adopted by the World
Methodist Council in Nairobi, Kenya
The World Methodist Council is the Christian World Communion of 71
Methodist and related United Churches in 107 countries. The Council
began with the first Oecumenical Methodist Conference which met in 1881
in Wesleyąs Chapel, London.
Published by The World Methodist Council, P.O. Box 518, Lake Junaluska,
NC 28745 USA
The World Methodist Conference was held in Brighton, England, July
25-31, 2001.