It’s Aldersgate Week in those church traditions that celebrate the strange warming of Charles and then John Wesley’s hearts. Both men were ordained clergy and lifelong Christians, but they also recognized that something was missing from their faith. There was a lot of head knowledge about God. There was a lot of positive action for God. But what lacked was an assurance, a sense of peace that anything but their own good actions would secure their salvation. On Pentecost Sunday, May 21, 1738, Charles Wesley felt an overpowering witness of the Holy Spirit that Christ had indeed died even for him, and that that was enough (read more about it here). A few days later, on May 24, brother John would receive the same overwhelming sense of blessed assurance, saying, “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death” (read more about it here).
The Methodist movement began as a sort of organized revival in England and America. George Whitefield and the Wesley brothers were key figures establishing the movement, though Whitefield parted ways, leading a Calvinist version of Methodism. Methodism gradually formed into a separate denomination from the Church of England out of necessity after the American Revolution. With John Wesley’s blessing, Francis Asbury served as the first bishop in America, establishing The Methodist Episcopal Church. Pretty quickly, James O’Kelly (a dear friend of Asbury’s and a prominent circuit rider District Superintendent) walked away with a group of Methodist clergy who wanted to practice Wesleyanism without the appointment system where bishops tell pastors where to go. Soon after that, Richard Allen left to form the African Methodist Episcopal church, which would provide greater freedom for black leadership in the church. There are a hefty handful of other splits and mergers through the years of Methodism that are worth your time learning about, and hopefully we’ll cover them eventually here!
I share this with you not to elevate or condemn church splits, but to share with you my personal thoughts on the matter. I wish we could figure out a way to stay together. I pray with Jesus that we may “be one” as Jesus and the Father are one (John 17:20-23). But I do not foresee that happening in The United Methodist Church. The Bishops have affirmed their approval of “The One Church Model” that was recommended by The Way Forward Commission. This would remove from the Book of Discipline all language regarding homosexuality as incompatible with Christian teaching, and allow more local contexts to determine whether their conferences will ordain clergy in same-sex marriages, and allowing local churches to choose whether or not they will perform same-sex marriages. If I said that wrong, I apologize, most of us have little clarity on how “contextualized” this will play out (Read a recent press release here).
I deeply respect our bishops, and I’m trying to follow and understand their leadership through this. I personally have a difficult time believing The One Church Model will pass the called General Conference (here’s a great article by Dr. Kevin Watson on the potential problems with this model), if for no other reason than how virtually impossible it has been to remove that language from the BOD for however many years its been in there. I would predict the Wesleyan Covenant Association is quite primed to shoot it down, considering they’ve made it clear that their agenda is to keep that language, either in United Methodism, or in whatever they plan to call themselves if they don’t get to take over United Methodism.
I do not say that in a condemnatory fashion. I may not agree with their politics, or really, anybody’s politics at this point. I want us to make a decision and move on. I do not have a strong opinion yet about what I think that decision should be because the political structure of this denomination is already super wonky. My deepest hope and prayer is that the Holy Spirit would warm our hearts in the strangest way yet, and that somehow, the gospel of Jesus Christ would spark a new awakening in this world through the People Called Methodists, and all their crazy spin-off denominations. That certainly won’t happen if we continue to sling mud all over the people we don’t understand or agree with.
So I will try to seek to understand my opponents and allow my words and thoughts about them indicate that I value them as children for whom Christ died. And I ask that you as God’s people would do the same for me.
PS. Yes, this comic is clearly just a marketing ploy to entice you to buy my fresh on the market Wesley Bros Playing Cards and Coffee Mugs at my Etsy store!