But it isnāt an argument. I donāt want to argue, but Iād just like you to tell me how Jesus founded the Methodist church, as you say it is from Christā¦
If you donāt want to argue, why are you putting words into my hands that I never typed? I never wrote that Jesus founded the Methodist Church but, rather, that the Methodist movements which eventually became the United Methodist Church flowed from the stream of Catholic Christianity which goes back to Jesus.
On Pentecost the Holy Spirit fell upon the Apostles and the Church was born.
The Church grew through the Roman Empire over the centuries, eventually overcoming the Empire when Constantine Established it as the religion of the Empire. The church grew and flourished into an institution that was capable of refining its doctrine and perpetuating the Holy Scriptures
Over time, debates grew as to the precision of some of these doctrines, and one of these debates eventually resulted in the tragic splitting of the Church into two halves ā east and west. The church in the west continued to grow and evolve and, eventually, the Protestant Reformation on the mainland erupted over various doctrinal and political disagreements. In England, too, political whims took hold and pushed the church into a division from Rome over the issue of the authority of the monarch. This division grew and shrank, but eventually was perpetuated for political reasons. Some doctrinal influences from mainland Protestant Christianity filtered in, resulting in some Reformed Characteristics within Anglican Christianity.
Over time, within that Church of England, a lack of respect for the Sacraments and a deadness of spiritual life arose. This was responded to by reformers like John and Charles Wesley, who were Priests of the Church of England, missionaries in America, professors at Oxford, and the writers of hymns and sermons. John and Charles read widely in the Church Fathers, as well as among some of the Mainland Reformers, and thus they developed the āmethodā which eventually became known as Methodism. It wasnāt a new discovery, but simply a reaffirmation of ancient Christian practices of applying the Means of Grace in their many manifold forms to the disciplined Christian life. Hence, morning and evening prayer, daily Eucharist, the study of Scripture, Christian conversation with other believers, doing good for others ā¦ all of these means of grace, and more, were put into a āmethodā which the Wesleys promoted within the Church of England. Their teachings, their sermons and hymns, helped to revive the Church of England ā¦ and, particularly, the importance they placed upon sound preaching and the frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist.
The Methodist movement had grown in the colonies prior to the Revolutionary War. When the Church of England was forced to pull its clergy out of their colonial churches, the Methodist lay preachers remained behind to continue preaching and shepherd the flocks abandoned by the Church of England. However, they didnāt have the authority to baptized or celebrate the Eucharist, so for the duration of the War these were lacking among Anglican Christianity within the colonies. Following the Revolutionary War, John Wesley implored the Archbishop of Canterbury to send clergy back to America, but for political reasons he refused. Eventually, John Wesley himself enabled the founding of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America in 1784.
The Methodist Episcopal Church grew across the United States as the nation grew. It split north and south, anticipating and mirroring the civil war, and the re-united first with the non Episcopal āProtestant Methodistā Church and then with the German Methodists (the Evangelical-United Brethren Church) to form the United Methodist Church in 1968.
The UMCās understands itself to be part of the greater church catholic, part of the long history of Christianity going back to the Apostles, part of a continuity of faith and witness which extends back to Jesus Christ himself and filtered to us through the centuries . We donāt understand each form of Christianity ā even our own ā as separate religions; rather, we understand all kind of Christianity as different flavors, styles, types, communities of the Body of Christ. Institutions may be divided, but Jesus is not. At least, that is our understanding.
or did they?
