Interesting conversation at Annual Conference. I was talking with Cambron Wright, Mike Powers, and I am having a hard time remembering who else. I am sorry if I have forgotten to name you. We were discussing "how do you describe Methodism in one sentence?"
Now, we did not get far, it was a quick conversation that we hope to continue. Long story short, Methodism is "people who are saved by faith in Jesus Christ and who are pursuing holiness together."
Cambron, as I think about it, was your mom part of this? (Sorry for the stream-of-consciousness, but that's kind of how my substack is).
Fast forward to last night. House Group. We were discussing 1 John 1:1-4. Verse 3 was really sticking out to us:
"that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."
In a house group, we use the Discovery Bible Study method. Read a passage..meditate on it. Then we ask:
What is the Spirit saying to you?
And the most important question: "What are you going to do about it?" This is the disciple-making question. Applying the Word of God in our lives is the key from moving from bare faith to real Christian living.
When we got to "what are you going to do about it?" it went something like this: we need to remember that we are not just inviting people to hang out with us, to our fellowship, but to fellowship with God. That led to my describing the conversation at Annual Conference. And then we added to our one sentence description of Methodism: we are people who are saved by faith in Jesus, pursuing holiness together, and inviting others to join us."
What do you think? How do we tighten up our elevator pitch for what it means to be a Methodist?
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I like the addition that your group made to what is a Methodist.
Love this: We need to remember that we are not just asking people to fellowship with us, but also to fellowship with God. May not be a direct quote, but the message hits home.