Living as United Methodist Christians: Our Story, Our Beliefs, Our Lives
Living as United Methodist Christians: Our Story, Our Beliefs, Our Lives
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Overview
Pastors Andy and Sally Langford take a unique approach in this six-session study by looking at how United Methodists claim and live their faith as individuals and as a denomination.
Through the study, you will gain insight into the history of The United Methodist Church, its beliefs and faith practices.
Living as United Methodist Christians is ideal for small groups, new member classes, and disciple training classes and includes:
- An introduction that sets the stage for exploring the belief and practices of United Methodist Christians
- Six chapters that will help learners hear and claim for themselves the Christian story, particular emphases and beliefs of United Methodists, and ways to live as a United Methodist Christian
- Leader and learner helps such as reflection questions placed near main text material to which they refer. These helps will stimulate discussion about the reflections or insights participants gain from the material
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426726668 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Sales rank: | 998,461 |
| File size: | 316 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Living as United Methodist Christians
Our Story, Our Beliefs, Our Lives
By Andy Langford, Sally Langford
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2011 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-2666-8
CHAPTER 1
What Is Our Biblical Story?
United Methodist Christians affirm the authority of the Holy Bible as the source of our understanding about God and God's relationship with us.
"Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character, so that the person who belongs to God can be equipped to do everything that is good."
2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17
The Bible Moths
In 1729, three young men at Oxford University gathered together in a dorm room to read the Bible. These seekers then invited a twenty-three-year-old professor and newly ordained priest in the Church of England to lead their Bible study for the next six years. The bright, intense scholar was John Wesley. Around the raucous university town, other students called the group "Bible Moths," because they hovered over the Scriptures like moths around a flame. Another name, based on their methodical pattern of biblical study, prayer, fasting, and service stuck: Methodists. John Wesley distributed a pamphlet entitled "The Character of a Methodist," in which he described the people called Methodist:
The distinguishing marks of Methodists are not their opinions of any sort. Their assenting to this or that scheme of religion, embracing any particular set of notions, espousing the judgment of one person or of another, are all quite wide of the point.... We believe the written word of God to be the only and sufficient rule both of Christian faith and practice.... We believe Christ to be the eternal, supreme God.... But as to all opinions which do not strike at the root of Christianity, we think and let think. So that whatsoever they are, whether right or wrong, they are no distinguishing marks of Methodists.
Wesley did not begin his ministry to create something unique. He neither advocated a peculiar way of being Christian nor intended to form a new Christian denomination. Wesley simply listened to the Bible and did what God commanded. Nevertheless, that gathering of eighteenth-century young adults, who studied the Bible and walked in the footsteps of Jesus, marked the beginning of a huge movement. Over the past two and a half centuries, this movement has changed millions of lives and transformed the world in significant ways.
People of the Book
United Methodists are first and foremost people who read the Bible and seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ within the universal church. We are similar to the first followers of Jesus Christ as we draw near to Jesus, explore the riches of the Holy Scriptures, and know that our lives have been transformed. In the first decades following the death of Jesus, Christians gathered in homes around the Mediterranean Sea to tell stories about the risen Christ and read aloud the letters of traveling preachers like Paul. Similarly, Wesley first learned the stories of Jesus when his mother taught him to read through the pages of the Bible. Barbara Heck, a Methodist laywoman in New York City, in 1766 invited English immigrants and African slaves to her cottage to read the Bible and grow in their faith. And so the movement from which came The United Methodist Church grew.
This tradition of Bible study and faithful discipleship continues in our day and time throughout The United Methodist Church. In the Philippines, United Methodists gather each Sunday morning on top of a large trash dump in Manila to read the Bible and discern God's call to serve their neighbors. The same is true in countless other United Methodist congregations from Africa to Europe to the United States to Southeast Asia. Together with other Christians around the world, we are all children of God who listen for God's voice and seek to do God's will.
What Is the Bible?
United Methodists believe that the Bible is the primary source for hearing God's call on our lives. Our Bible contains sixty-six different books in the Old and New Testaments, which were written over a period of a thousand years but reflect events over a much longer period of time. Composed by many authors, the books of the Bible spoke to specific audiences in particular historical and sociological contexts. The human experiences depicted throughout the pages of the Bible are believably real and down to earth. People in the Bible are born, marry, have children, get sick, and die. These biblical characters also betray their friends; commit violent acts of rape, murder, and war; and put their own desires and interests before the needs and concerns of others.
Even so, Christians, including United Methodists, have affirmed over the ages that the Bible is the authoritative word of God for human beings. God's Spirit guided the Bible's authors as they compiled stories of God's actions in human history and reported on people who were transformed by God from self-centered individuals to obedient children of God. God's Spirit was also at work as the various writings were collected and then chosen to be part of the official Scriptures for the church universal. Furthermore, God's Spirit continues to move within human minds and hearts today whenever we read the Bible and hear God speaking to us. Whenever we allow the Holy Spirit to inform our reading and hearing of the Bible, then the ancient Scriptures confront us once again with God's life-changing word.
What Does the Bible Teach?
From Genesis, the first book of the Bible, to the last book, Revelation, God reveals God's own self to us as the world's Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. At creation, God formed human beings in the image of God and breathed life into them. God placed humans in a beautiful world and called them into a loving relationship with God and all creation. The human beings were disobedient and were cast out of Eden. God continued to provide for them and to speak to them, yet over and over again, the biblical stories reveal that people sought to be self-sufficient and failed to love God and others.
In response, God continued to call people back into a right relationship with God and others. Abraham and Sarah were called to leave their native country, travel to a new land, and become a blessing to the nations. When God's people were slaves in Egypt, God sent Moses to set them free and to lead them again to the Promised Land. Spirit-filled men and women served God's people once they had crossed the Jordan River. God then granted the people's wish for rulers such as David and Solomon to establish an earthly kingdom. When the kings ruled unjustly, prophets arose to proclaim words of judgment and hope.
In the fullness of time, God sent Jesus Christ, born of Mary and the Holy Spirit. Jesus healed the sick, preached forgiveness and reconciliation, and proclaimed that a new reign of God had been initiated through him. Jesus brought together poor and rich, female and male, and diseased and healthy people and molded them into a new community. When Jesus' ministry among the people was rejected by the religious leaders and Roman officials, he was arrested and crucified. At its climax, the Bible proclaims that God raised Jesus from the dead. When Jesus the Christ ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit became the guide and companion of his followers. Through the Holy Spirit, the church was formed, and its members shared with family, friends, and strangers the good news of life redeemed and abundant through Jesus Christ. Through the witness of Paul, Priscilla and Aquila, and others, the church spread from Jerusalem to Rome to the ends of the earth.
The Bible closes with the hope-filled vision of a new heaven and a new earth, in which God in Christ brings to fulfillment God's reign of peace and justice. At the end of history and in a new creation, all of God's people will live in harmony with God and one another. United Methodists, along with Christians everywhere, proclaim this scriptural message.
How Do United Methodists Read the Bible?
It is possible, of course, to read the Bible as a fascinating storybook. Engaging stories, such as Noah and the Ark, Esther in the court of King Ahasuerus, and Jesus' feeding of five thousand people with a lunch of bread and fish, fill the Bible. We also read the Bible to learn about ancient legal codes, hear beautiful poetry, and understand the history of Judaism and Christianity. United Methodists, however, are challenged to read the Bible for a much more profound reason. We are challenged to read or listen to the Bible's words with the expectation that we will encounter the living God and be transformed.
United Methodists do not regard the Bible as being without error in regard to history, science, or geography. We do not read only one translation of the Bible. We read the Bible as a trustworthy roadmap and compass, inviting us to discover in its pages an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Everything we need to know about God and our relationship with God we discover within the Bible. When we read and reflect on the Bible's words, the Holy Spirit stirs within us, and God reveals how we are called to be formed in the image of Jesus.
John Wesley always proclaimed that he was a "person of one book"—the Bible. According to Wesley, God reveals through the biblical story "the way to heaven." For Wesley, "heaven" or "salvation" was much more than a place of eternal bliss; heaven and salvation are a restored relationship with God and all of God's creation, which may begin now and last forever. United Methodists today affirm, as Wesley did, that "the Holy Scriptures containeth all things necessary to salvation" and are "the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine."
Reading and Listening to the Bible
Reading the Bible can be intimidating to anyone who first opens its pages. Do we begin at the beginning and read straight through, or is it better to pick one book of the Bible to read first? How do we start?
In Wesley's "Preface to Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament" he outlined how Methodists should read the Bible. Here we paraphrase Wesley's suggestions:
1. Set apart a little time every morning and evening.
2. Read a chapter out of the Old Testament and one out of the New Testament; or simply read a single chapter or part of one chapter.
3. Read this Scripture to discern God's will and with a desire to do God's will.
4. Before and after you read, pray that what you read may be written on your heart.
5. While you read, frequently pause to examine yourself, both with regard to your heart and life. And whatever you discern, put that insight to use immediately.
For some readers, it helps to begin with one of the four Gospels, perhaps the Gospel According to Mark. Many readers turn to a devotional guide such as The Upper Room or the well-known book A Guide to Prayer for All God's People by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck.
While we may read the Bible alone, our own individual insights are often not enough to understand God's word to us and others. We often can hear God more clearly when we read the Scriptures with other believers. Acts 8:26-40 tells of Philip's encounter with an Ethiopian official, who was reading aloud the prophet Isaiah. "Do you really understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. The Ethiopian replied, "Without someone to guide me, how could I?" (Acts 8:30-31). Philip sat beside the official and explained the words of Isaiah. As Philip told the Ethiopian about God's love revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the official's life was changed, and he was baptized that very day.
United Methodists today often read the Bible together and listen for helpful insights from one another. In small groups at a local United Methodist church, a friend's home, or a coffee shop, we read the Bible together and listen for a word from God for our lives. Andy's congregation hosted a Bible study called Beginnings at a local pub called "The George Washington Tavern." Over coffee and cold drinks, a group of adults read Scripture, asked their most profound questions of one another, and discovered new relationships with one another and Jesus Christ.
Reading the Bible is also central to United Methodist worship from Bible readings, to sermons, to music. While every United Methodist pastor uses the Bible for preaching, United Methodist preachers approach the Bible in different ways. Some preachers design their preaching and worship around the Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year sequence of biblical lessons used by many Christians around the world. Other pastors preach through a whole book of the Bible at a time, while still other preachers choose topical themes. All of these preachers, however, listen for God's voice in a particular passage of the Bible and discern God's call on them and their communities. United Methodist preachers then proclaim the connections they have discovered between the life stories of the people in their congregations and the biblical stories of God's redemptive work. In worship, the congregation will often recite or sing the psalms. Our hymns and contemporary praise choruses are based on Scripture.
The Bible and the Wesleyan Quadrilateral
Noted Wesley scholar Albert Outler is credited with developing the phrase Wesleyan Quadrilateral to describe the principal elements John Wesley used to inform Christian faith: Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason. The United Methodist Church looks to these elements as the principal sources and criteria for what we know about our faith and for the decisions we make according to our faith. They are described in The Book of Discipline. While not mentioned by name in the Bible or by Wesley, the Quadrilateral describes the basic filters through which United Methodists interpret our Christian faith. Our United Methodist beliefs and practices are grounded in Scripture, informed by Christian Tradition, enlivened by Experience, and tested by Reason.
We begin by affirming that the Bible is the primary source or foundation for our understanding of the Christian faith. The Old and New Testaments are the unique and authoritative standards for Christian doctrine. Wesley sometimes referred to Methodism as "scriptural Christianity." United Methodists begin with Scripture but listen for God's word in the context of the other parts of the Quadrilateral.
United Methodists also look at Tradition as a source for understanding our faith. Our understanding of God does not start anew with each generation or each person. Wesley knew the importance of drawing on the knowledge of other interpreters to understand God's word within the Bible. Wesley often read ancient and contemporary biblical commentaries, a wide range of theologians, and even the scientific writings of his age, such as Benjamin Franklin's studies of electricity. Wesley's Notes on the New Testament continues to be one of our foundational theological documents.
In addition to Tradition, we bring to the task our own distinctive personal and communal Experiences. Experience authenticates the truths revealed in Scripture and illumined by Tradition. When a West African United Methodist reads that the Old Testament prophet Amos was confronted in his rural setting by the prophets of foreign gods, she may understand anew the challenges she faces from animist teachings in her own isolated village. Inevitably, her response to the Scripture will be different from the response to that same biblical text by a United Methodist in Paris, France, or San Francisco, California. Each one of us must determine in our own setting and context how to follow Jesus faithfully when surrounded by competing religious claims. United Methodists cherish the different perspectives we bring to our reading and interpretation of the Bible.
Finally, we discover how God's word is challenging us to become more like Christ through the use of our God-given Reason. Although God's revelation and our Experiences of God's grace continually surpass the scope of Reason, we believe that God gave us minds, and we are expected to use them.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Living as United Methodist Christians by Andy Langford, Sally Langford. Copyright © 2011 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Words of Welcome from the Editor,Words of Welcome from the Authors,
1. What Is Our Biblical Story?,
2. What Do We Share with Other Christians?,
3. What Is Our United Methodist Story?,
4. What Do United Methodists Believe?,
5. How Do United Methodists Serve God and Neighbor?,
6. How Do United Methodists Live and Worship?,
If You Want to Know More,
Leader Helps for a Small-Group Study,