Surviving the Next Schism

Without Works

Show Notes

Lemuel: I am Lemuel Gonzalez, repentant sinner, and along with Amity Armstrong, your heavenly host, I invite you to find a place in the pew for today’s painless Sunday School lesson. Without Works.

Amity: The amount of research that goes into each show makes it difficult to release episodes in a timely manner. By the time that we gather enough information for an informed opinion on a subject, it has been replaced with another fresh assault on the public accountability of faith. We are experimenting with a new idea: a single subject to discussion, each of us sharing our opinions.

This week it will be Not Necessarily the Good News, and our discussion will be on the recent changes in the Methodist Church.

Not Necessarily the Good News.

Amity: The Methodist Church, the communion founded in the late eighteenth century by brothers John and Charles Wesley, has recently followed the example of the Episcopal, Presbyterian and Lutheran Churches and ended bans on gay clergy, and same sex marriage.

The current United Methodist Church was created in 1968 by joining two associated branches with roots in Wesley’s teachings, the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Union together to a 12.5 million strong communion worldwide.

Outside of sharing the basic tenants of the faith, the methodist Church has three principles, which we could sum up this way:

Do no Harm. Do good, of every possible sort. Engage in daily, rigorous spiritual practice, like reading the scriptures, and prayer.

Based on these foundational principles the Methodist Church faced conflicts with conservative spiritual forces, most notably the Anglican Church. The Methodists followed the example of John Wesley who in 1774 published a sermon on the evils of slavery. By 1780 Methodist pastors were compelled to deliver anti-slavery sermons, and by 1785 any member who had purchased a slave, except with the express purpose of setting that person free, was expelled from the Methodist fellowship.

This caused a rift with slave state Methodists who wanted to hold on to what they considered property. A similar rift has been caused by the acceptance of gay clergy and gay equality in marriage. Language adopted by the United Methodist Church in 1972 condemned its gay members, declaring the gay lifestyle incompatible with Christian teaching, and banning gay members from ordination while extending to them the love of Christ. The United Methodist Church, in its recent conference, reversed the language and the decision, but that has lead to many churches to disaffiliate.

DISCUSSION: With over seven thousand of the thirty thousand Methodist Churches committed to disaffiliating, will the Methodist Union survive?

The inclusion and reconciliation with gay members consistent with the principles of founders John and Charles Wesley. Is there any grounds for churches separating for the communion?

Amity: That brings us to the end of this week’s episode. If you like it, please subscribe and leave us a review - and share it with a friend.

Lemuel: We have an internet home: withoutworkspodcast.com. Our show notes and links to stories we talk about can be found there.

Amity: All of our social links are on the website so if you want to reach out go there for all that information.

I’ve been Amity and he’s been Lemuel, and we urge you to go out and do something good.