One of the things that I have heard in these early days of the Global Methodist Church is that we need to reclaim aspects of Methodism that we have forgotten. Amen to that! However, I wonder if we are all on the same page about what it means to be a Methodist in the first place. Judging from nineteen years as a pastor, I don’t know that the average person in the pew knows very much about Methodism and what makes it a powerful voice for the gospel in our world.
I am not trying to give anyone a hard time, to be clear. To whatever degree that is true, it is a sign of a failure in leadership over decades. If pastors haven’t been explaining the value of Methodism, how can we expect most folks to know it? Further, if our pastors haven’t been taught it in seminary (and we all know that some seminaries didn’t teach it) or learned it in other ways, how can we expect them to teach it? It is a difficult set of circumstances, but one that deserves our attention.
There are many things we could say about Methodism, but John Wesley wrote a short pamphlet called “The Character of a Methodist” that is worth considering. Surely John Wesley’s understanding of Methodism should count for something.
He starts out by being clear about what are not distinguishing marks of Methodism. He says that being a Methodist isn’t in “any particular set of notions.” It also isn’t in any “peculiar mode of speaking.” He says you cannot tell a Methodist because they do certain special things. He also says that Methodists aren’t so obsessed with just one aspect of the faith that they never want to talk about anything else.
He then goes on to define what he means by Methodist. “A Methodist is one, who has the love of God shed abroad in his heart, by the Holy Spirit given unto him; one who loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength.” Because of all of this, a Methodist is confident in God and is thankful for all that God has given. A Methodist prays, loves his neighbor, is pure in heart, and seeks to do the will of God. On top of that, a Methodist doesn’t just say they do those things, they really do them and the world can see it because they are bearing fruit.
My favorite part of the pamphlet is after he lists all of these things and he imagines a response. Someone might say, “Why these are only the common, fundamental principles of Christianity.” Wesley replies, essentially, “That is the point. All we really want to be are Christians.”
If you are a little worried about all this talk about Wesley and Methodism, if you are nervous that this means that you need to accept some strange way of living so that we can reclaim our heritage, be at peace. To be a Methodist really means, at its core, to be a Christian and to seek to be one more and more. Now, it is true that the Wesleyan heritage emphasizes somethings that other Christians don’t, but that is because Wesley wasn’t satisfied with people just knowing the truth about God. He insisted that we must live the truth of God.
The world is often suspicious of denominations and large institutions. People may fear that our big goal is now to make a bunch of Methodists. The goal is not to make people loyal to Wesley, it is to make them loyal to Christ. If you can get on board with that, we can be of one mind. Everything we do has to be in service to that or else it is not true to Wesley’s vision for Methodism. Let us follow Jesus together and make disciples of all nations!
