Talking Methodist Minister

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Kmfioc

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A little background: I was raised in the Baptist church. Was never baptized. Got married and started attending the Methodist church with my wife. I have basically been luke warm about the Christian faith my entire life. I always liked attending church and would have even called myself a Christian, although I have never been baptized. A tragic death occurred in my family about a year ago that got me looking into my faith a lot more seriously. I decided to start from scratch about whether I really believed in God or not and if so, how could I not be living more accordingly. This started a long evaluation of conscious that has led me to the Catholic faith.

My wife grew up a Methodist and has been a pretty strong Christian her entire life. She has been open to joining the Catholic Church since I have started looking into it and I believe she would follow me into the church (she has the common Methodist attitude that it doesnt matter what denomination you attend as long as you are following Christ), but she is showing some reservations now that it is getting down to it. We have met with a priest together and I have met with him alone a couple of times. I do have some guilty feelings in taking her away from the church she grew up in and taking her and my children away from attending church with her family, which is rather large, and an almost ideal situation to raise children in a Christian environment. But I dont feel I can stay in a church that I cannot fully commit myself to.

To get to my question: She has requested, and I feel I owe it to her and myself, to meet with the Pastor at the Methodist Church. I am convinced that we will end up in the Catholic Church. I am not quite sure what to discuss in this meeting or where to take the conversation. I certainly dont want to get into any theological debates. Do you have any advice for me? What should I be prepared to answer? The pastor at this church seems to be very friendly and he is obviously very intelligent. Im not too concerned about him being condescending or anything like that, its just a little intimidating talking to someone you know who has a lot more education and experience in these matters.
 
Kmfioc said:
A little background: I was raised in the Baptist church. Was never baptized. Got married and started attending the Methodist church with my wife. I have basically been luke warm about the Christian faith my entire life. I always liked attending church and would have even called myself a Christian, although I have never been baptized. A tragic death occurred in my family about a year ago that got me looking into my faith a lot more seriously. I decided to start from scratch about whether I really believed in God or not and if so, how could I not be living more accordingly. This started a long evaluation of conscious that has led me to the Catholic faith.

My wife grew up a Methodist and has been a pretty strong Christian her entire life. She has been open to joining the Catholic Church since I have started looking into it and I believe she would follow me into the church (she has the common Methodist attitude that it doesnt matter what denomination you attend as long as you are following Christ), but she is showing some reservations now that it is getting down to it. We have met with a priest together and I have met with him alone a couple of times. I do have some guilty feelings in taking her away from the church she grew up in and taking her and my children away from attending church with her family, which is rather large, and an almost ideal situation to raise children in a Christian environment. But I dont feel I can stay in a church that I cannot fully commit myself to.

To get to my question: She has requested, and I feel I owe it to her and myself, to meet with the Pastor at the Methodist Church. I am convinced that we will end up in the Catholic Church. I am not quite sure what to discuss in this meeting or where to take the conversation. I certainly dont want to get into any theological debates. Do you have any advice for me? What should I be prepared to answer? The pastor at this church seems to be very friendly and he is obviously very intelligent. Im not too concerned about him being condescending or anything like that, its just a little intimidating talking to someone you know who has a lot more education and experience in these matters.
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Be completely honest with the Pastor about “why” you feel the need to join the Catholic Church. Be specific on what it is that the Catholic Church can offer you & your family that the Methodist Church can’t. Be ready to Biblically defend your reasoning, if pressed. Pray & Fast with the intention that you remain at peace and express it to him in love. You never know, the conversation may plant a seed of curiosity in him that will lead him to investigate. For the sake of your wife, I encourage you be ready to agree to take his advice for a specific time period after which you meet again, to review how his advice was either helpful or not, before parting ways.
 
Thanks for the reply Timmom. Great advice on the return visit and really taking into consideration what he puts forward.

I have put some thought into what my answer would be as to the why and what question. I will put it here because I feel it helps to write this out and discuss. I really dont have anyone to go to on these matters, so I am coming here.

The reasons I am joining the Catholic Church are three fold. 1) Practical Reasons 2) Theological Reasons and 3) Historical Reasons

Practically speaking, it is invaluable that I can attend mass daily. I feel that I need to constantly be renewed in order to stay on the right path. When I attend mass daily, I notice that I am also more disciplined in having an evening bible study and that I pray more often. I also feel that confession will lead me being more conscious of my sins before I commit them and notice them more after I commit them, which will lead me to be more determined to turn away from them.

Theologically speaking, there are many reasons which I will not be able to go into many. I love the communion of saints. The fact when our loved ones pass away, and when we die for that matter, they are still an extremely vital part of the church. The fact that the Kingdom of God includes all of us together, in communion with one another, and worshiping Christ with one another is something I can not do without. It also just seems to make the most sense to me through reason, that if Christ were to leave a Church, as a light for us while we are here on earth that he would leave us a clear path to follow him. Matt 16:18 and Isaiah 22 seem to fill this void of having a democratically run church. I feel this is evident by looking at the strong stance on current moral issues in the Catholic church as opposed to the stances by the Methodist church that seem to waiver at times from social pressure.

Historically speaking, although the Methodist church does not ignore history as other churches do, I feel that there is a ton of tradition that is ignored. Methodist adhere to prima scripture, or scripture first, then reason, personal experience, and Church tradition. I actually feel that using this has led me to the Catholic faith. For example, the example I gave above for the primacy of the pope I used all 4 of these things to come to the conclusion that there is a need for the Papal office and it was taken care of by Christ when handing the keys to Peter. Also, the Catholics churchs continuity of the Jewish faith before Christ until now, to me, seems to not abolish the law, but fulfill it. Priest, eucharist, etc? (I need to research this a little further, which is why I am glad I am writing it down)

THanks for any advice. I want to be prepared, but honestly, I could spend a lifetime researching and reading and probably never be fully prepared. I guess our conversation could go in 1 million different directions.
 
Kmfioc said:
Thanks for the reply Timmom. Great advice on the return visit and really taking into consideration what he puts forward.

I have put some thought into what my answer would be as to the why and what question. I will put it here because I feel it helps to write this out and discuss. I really dont have anyone to go to on these matters, so I am coming here.

The reasons I am joining the Catholic Church are three fold. 1) Practical Reasons 2) Theological Reasons and 3) Historical Reasons

Practically speaking, it is invaluable that I can attend mass daily. I feel that I need to constantly be renewed in order to stay on the right path. When I attend mass daily, I notice that I am also more disciplined in having an evening bible study and that I pray more often. I also feel that confession will lead me being more conscious of my sins before I commit them and notice them more after I commit them, which will lead me to be more determined to turn away from them.

Theologically speaking, there are many reasons which I will not be able to go into many. I love the communion of saints. The fact when our loved ones pass away, and when we die for that matter, they are still an extremely vital part of the church. The fact that the Kingdom of God includes all of us together, in communion with one another, and worshiping Christ with one another is something I can not do without. It also just seems to make the most sense to me through reason, that if Christ were to leave a Church, as a light for us while we are here on earth that he would leave us a clear path to follow him. Matt 16:18 and Isaiah 22 seem to fill this void of having a democratically run church. I feel this is evident by looking at the strong stance on current moral issues in the Catholic church as opposed to the stances by the Methodist church that seem to waiver at times from social pressure.

Historically speaking, although the Methodist church does not ignore history as other churches do, I feel that there is a ton of tradition that is ignored. Methodist adhere to prima scripture, or scripture first, then reason, personal experience, and Church tradition. I actually feel that using this has led me to the Catholic faith. For example, the example I gave above for the primacy of the pope I used all 4 of these things to come to the conclusion that there is a need for the Papal office and it was taken care of by Christ when handing the keys to Peter. Also, the Catholics churchs continuity of the Jewish faith before Christ until now, to me, seems to not abolish the law, but fulfill it. Priest, eucharist, etc? (I need to research this a little further, which is why I am glad I am writing it down)

THanks for any advice. I want to be prepared, but honestly, I could spend a lifetime researching and reading and probably never be fully prepared. I guess our conversation could go in 1 million different directions.
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I like how you’ve identified 3 main categories for your “why”.

Maybe out of each of the 3, you could select what most important to you. Like maybe in the Practical category Confession is most important to you and maybe in the Theology category the Eucharist is most important to you and maybe in the Historical category the Apostolic Succession is most important to you.

Whatever those 3 topics are, you would focus your pre-meeting preparation on those specific 3 areas and direct the conversation to address just those or better yet, pick the single most important issue to you & focus only on it.

I agree you don’t want the conversation to diverge into millions of issues and sidebar conversations.

For me, in Orthodoxy, the most important issues are the rich Spiritual Life not found in other forms of Christianity, the Eucharist/Divine Liturgy, Apostolic Succession and faithfulness to the Ecumenical Councils.
 
Kmfioc said:
Thanks for any advice.
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Not really offering advice. Read you posting and what thought, “Why not go to your wife’s church twice a month and she go to your Catholic Church twice a month?” I guess you could set a time limit of say 6 months on this and then see what happens. Not advice. Just my 2 cents.
 
Kmfioc said:
A little background:

To get to my question: She has requested, and I feel I owe it to her and myself, to meet with the Pastor at the Methodist Church. I am convinced that we will end up in the Catholic Church. I am not quite sure what to discuss in this meeting or where to take the conversation. I certainly dont want to get into any theological debates. Do you have any advice for me? What should I be prepared to answer? The pastor at this church seems to be very friendly and he is obviously very intelligent. Im not too concerned about him being condescending or anything like that, its just a little intimidating talking to someone you know who has a lot more education and experience in these matters.
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Go to the meeting with a mindset of humality and charity. Do not be forced into giving ansswers to questions you cannot answer…say you will think about it, and write the question down.

Also, pray for the guidance of the HS for the meeting.

In the end…you want to end up where God leads you, reflect on this passage below and memorize and keep it in mind:

1Sam15:
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has rejected you as king.”
 
Not really offering advice. Read you posting and what thought, “Why not go to your wife’s church twice a month and she go to your Catholic Church twice a month?” I guess you could set a time limit of say 6 months on this and then see what happens. Not advice. Just my 2 cents
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In a sense, this is what has been taking place for the past year as we have been trying to figure things out. We still have time to hammer things out in even more detail, as RCIA does not begin until the beginning of September.

But I need to be baptized into a church. And just as important, we have another child on the way due at the beginning of August that will need to be baptized. I dont want to rush into any decision, and more importantly force her into rushing into a decision, but I feel that with children being involved and the importance of baptizing a new child, it does hurry our decision along a little bit more.
 
I like your three points. Good luck and please let us know how things go.

I will pray for you for guidance, and the Holy Spirit to help you find the right words.
 
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