What is a Methodist

Scripture Text J.B Phillips
The Letter to Ephesus 2:1-10, pg 412-13

To each Methodist layman the organization of his own local church seems more important than the big over all structure of Methodism as a whole.  This is understandable.  He lives his life in the local church, attends to it's finances, and if he is a Steward, Trustee, or other church officer, he has a direct part to play in the church work. He knows in a general way the Methodist Church is a big institution with bishops and boards, with conferences and huge budgets.  But too often the average layman feels that the Methodist organization is too complicated for him to understand; and because he does not necessarily have to understand it, he is inclined to dismiss it from further thought.

Yet it is not too difficult to understand and every methodist should know in a general way how it functions.

The Methodist Church, though large, is a closely knit organization.  The basic unit of organization is the local church, or "charge", as it has been called in Methodism.  A charge may be one or more local churches.  If it is one it is termed a station charge, if more than one it is a circuit charge.

Charges are grouped geographically into districts each supervised by a minister known as the District Superintendent.  Districts in turn compose a larger grouping, called the Annual Conference.  This is presided over by a Bishop.

Annual Conferences in turn make up larger regional divisions known as Jurisdictions, of which there are six in the United States.

Who then are the people that comprise the Methodist Church?

A Methodist is the postman, the baker, the garbage man, your neighbor, your employer, your fellow-workmen, your closest friend.  Methodists are peoples of all walks of life, and of all races.

But they are Methodist in varying degrees.  To illustrate what I mean let me quote an often heard statement it goes something like this, "I don't have to go to church, I can be just as good, better than some of those hypocrites that belong to your church."  The sad part of this is that we could not completely deny this statement, for we do have in the Methodist Churches varying degrees of Methodist members.  This statement however is material for a sermon of it's own which we will not take up at this time.

Let us ask ourselves what is the cause of this varying degree of response to the total responsibility of the member to the Church.  Is it because people are uninformed about their church?  Is the church lax in it's responsibility to supply proper education and opportunity for learning?  I think not.  Is it possible that we repeat the Apostle's Creed Sunday after Sunday without an understanding of the belief and faith interpreted to us in it?

It is my opinion that it is not because the church does not make proper effort to inform people, but rather it is the people who do not make the effort.  Learn.

They are to busy as a general rule to even make an effort to come together in Christian fellowship in more than a Sunday morning service.

It seems to be a an ever widening and disturbing belief, disturbing to me, on the part of many church people to feel that they have met their obligation to church if they manage to attend four Sunday mornings out of five.  Really it makes as much sense as the nursery rhyme that has Little Jack Horner sticking his thumb and pulling out a plum and saying what a good boy am I.

I would term church attendance with this attitude, coming before god with nothing, if you come with nothing, not expecting or seeking, you go away as you came with nothing.  If we were to come with real old Methodist zeal we would be found often in the house of the Lord seeking his will and serving as he calls us.

One of the best known and most often quoted sayings of John Wesley, was that in which he describes the Methodist as "the friend of all and the enemies of none".  It seems to me we have gone far--far afield from the spirit of this quote in our modern world.  At every point of life we are faced with conflicts of interest and motive.  Men are grouped together in opposing camps, nations against nations, class against class, neighbor against neighbor.  It seems at times that we forget that no man can unto himself, everybody influences us and we influence everybody we meet.  We are the only Bible that many people ever read.

Again I ask who is a Methodist, and I would reply he is all these people we have mentioned.  But he is yet some thing more.  Let me illustrate what I mean with a story told by Dr. Baker in one of his books.  He speaks of a friend of his who when presented with enlistment form in the first World War, entered in the space opposite religion the word "Christian".  It caused confusion amounting to havoc at the local recruiting office, and they brought him the form to amend.  "But I don't wish to alter it", he protested.  "It is as a Christian I desire to be entered".  They told him this was impossible because they did not have that category on the form.

But I say to you a Methodist is also a Christian.

A Methodist is a Christian who believes in regeneration, the new birth, through which one becomes a child of God.  In the witness of the Holy Spirit that seals him as a Child of God.  He believes in the possibility of final perfection, that he can be "made perfect in love" in this life.  He believes in the doctrine of repentance, that he has a Godly sorrow for sin committed coupled with a will to sin no more.  He believes in the universality of redemption--that Christ died for all, not simply a chosen few.

He believes in Justification by Faith, that it is by God's grace that we are saved.  Faith is the lever here.  Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. (EPH 2:8)  First God offers, then we believe, then we accept.  "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."

Methodism like the whole Christian religion is the fruit of man's response to God's initiative.

It is not required of a Methodist that he hold fast to a set form of rules and regulations.  The Methodist Church is noted as a Church that "thinks" and let's think.

And yet if we as Methodist, as a church, would make our mark here for Jesus we must learn of him, we must hid his word in our hearts, we must learn all we can, for if we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ we must be willing to put loyalty to him above everything else.

We must be Christian,  Mothers teaching Gods word to our children, we must be fathers with a faithful witness.  We must be children at work and play who have the Love of Christ in our hearts.  We must be workers who have a concern and compassion for all our fellowmen around the world.  If we are to count for as Methodist and Christian we must "stand for Christ".  All the waking hours of everyday.  We must show Christ in our lives always.

Our watch word must be


"Christ Above all"


AND FOR ALL


Nottingham Methodist Church 1961, Nottingham Village, Cleveland, Ohio