Church Tomorrow

[Sandy]

My wife and I will be worshipping with the Methodists in the morning. We're in Buffalo, NY, at my step-mom's, and she's a member of a small church around the corner from her apartment. It's Free Methodist, not UMC, not really sure what the differences are other than polity and governance. Looked on their website, and it looks like the late service she attends is contemporary.

[Haruo]

As with most denominations, Free Methodists vary quite a bit geographically. Historically my understanding is that the "free" designation arises from the fact that in the period immediately before the Civil War, they withdrew from the main bodies of US Methodists (ancestors of the bulk of today's UMC) in opposition to the then-prevalent practice of charging for reserved, dedicated pew space. Apparently the same faction was also more prone to abolitionism than the Methodist majority, and between "free pews" and "free slaves", everyone agreed to call them "Free Methodists". It does not mean "Arminian Methodists", since the Methodist mainstream is and has been pretty much Arminian from the get-go.

[Haruo]

[Sandy]

It was a nice experience, of course, we enjoyed going to church with my step-mom. She moved back to Buffalo from Tucson when my Dad passed away, and we thought we would probably not get to see her again, but we moved up here two and a half hours away, so we can do this from time to time.

The service was contemporary, not anything different from our CMA church, or the last Baptist church we belonged to. Small congregation, they have two worship services, both the same, but they're outreach oriented and if they just had one, their small sanctuary would be pretty full. They are a Free Methodist congregation, but their church name doesn't identify their denominational affiliation. The pastor preached a practical, applicable sermon with a blend of scripture exposition and take away points. Very informal, he wore slacks and a golf shirt. The service ended with communion and an invitation to prayer for healing.

My step mom has been a committed Christian for a long time, and that is her home church, though she joined and was involved in a Southern Baptist church in Tucson for the four years she was married to my Dad. She doesn't see much difference, and she's more observant and on top of those kinds of things than the average church member.

[James]

Sandy, Thanks for your posts. I like to hear about the worship practices of folks not quite like moderate Baptists. My summer church was missionary Baptists of which I have some fond memories

Haruo, Thanks for your singing report. Our local shape note situation has reached the point where we can no longer participate. They sing on Tuesday night in Richmond. That's a long commute for an hours singing. I've sung with Seattle people at a house singing arranged to coincide with a trip my wife and I made some years ago. They were very gracious and wonderful singers.

Yesterday at HBC was a little different. Our minister to youth/children preached. She is an OK preacher but not great. She freely admits that her calling is not to the preaching ministry. So she does a few things differently when in the pulpit including breaking into song and stopping so that the congregation can comment to each other on her central point.

Next Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, will be different. We will dress casually. We are encouraged to wear red. Informal worship will be followed by a pot luck dinner on the grounds followed by activities relating to the demolition of our 1961 addition which needs to come down so that we can fix the historic part of the church. D-Day is next Monday.

[Tim Bonney]

Sandy,

Free Methodists are generally more conservative theologically than United Methodists. Hauro is right on about the about the history of Free Methodists. You can also add in an opposition to Freemasonry for some of the name too as I understanding it. Fraternal memberships are still forbidden according to their discipline. Their seminary is Asbury Theological in KY.

As also said, there is a lot of variation between local churches. They do have a connectional polity like most all other Methodists though somewhat different from the UMC.

[KeithE]

[Tim Bonney]

Congratulations to both of the Keith!

Our annual conference here in Iowa is June 6-9. On Sunday the 8th is when the ordination service will be held for those to be ordained or commissioned. And on the 9th will be the annual "fixing of appointments" when the Bishop officially announces are appointments for the year. Though now we all know well in advance of the official announcement where we will be next year with only a few odd exceptions.

As to pew charges, yep at one time people were charged for their seat. Then Methodists went to an apportionment that was so much per church member. Now apportionment is calculated based on the annual income of the church and is different by conference. In Iowa annual apportionment is about 20.5% of general receipts.

[Sandy]

The pastor of the church got his M Div at Northeastern Seminary, connected to Roberts Wesleyan College in New York, while the associate got his degree from Houghton College, also a Wesleyan school, and the two are rivals. Houghton belongs to ACSI, which requires adherence to their general doctrinal statement that is conservative, and from what I could gather without asking, it appears that the church is conservative in theology. They were a dying, aging congregation until their current pastor came a few years ago, and deliberately forced a turn toward outreach. They dropped the denominational identity from their name, dropped a formal liturgy in favor of a contemporary one, spent a third of a long running savings account to update the building, including a sound system that works better than any church I've been in, and they're growing again. A sign of their attentiveness and outreach capability--I've never been there before, but when I introduced myself, people recognized my name because my stepmom has had me on the prayer list since my surgery in January. It's nice to be told "We've been praying for you."

[James]

Sandy, your post keep ringing bells in my life. I came close to bleeding out from a ruptured spleen in a little town a long way from home about 17 years ago. We were staying w/friends at the time. All during my 20 day recovery period, their pastor visited me in the hospital, sunday school classes sent cards and flowers, but I never met any of the church folk. A year later, I went to a singing at the church. I love to sing. I sing loud unless told not to, usually by my wife, so the preacher asked our section to sing a song by ourselves. At the end of that, I walked up to the mike and said to the congregation. You all know my name because I got the cards you sent and felt the prayers you raised last year. I'm Jim North and your prayers made a difference. Many people thanked me afterward for letting them have a face to match the name. Small towns, if they are healthy, create a wonderful environment for healing.

[Mike Stidham]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Sandy]

I'm not sure you can tell a denominational identity by a style of worship. The CMA church we currently attend has a contemporary service with a praise band, singing mostly choruses to the accompaniment of an electronic keyboard, guitar, bass and drums. The Free Methodist church we attended a week ago had a very similar service. So do several of the Baptist churches we've attended recently. You couldn't really tell them apart.

[Tim Bonney]

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

Except if it's a baptismal service, I'm not sure how much difference there is between Methodist services and Baptist services, regardless of the subdenomination of the Methodists or of the Baptists in question. I haven't been to a whole lot of Methodist services, Free or United, but only one of them struck me as distinctively Methodist, and that was because it was heavily Wesleyan in topical matter. Which is not to say that a Baptist preacher couldn't do a heavily Wesleyan sermon, just it's less likely to happen.

[Sandy]

I was in a Methodist church several years ago for a wedding, and was surprised to see, at the front, a baptistery with steps leading down into it, large enough for immersion. I said something afterward, and they said that they bought the building two years prior from the Baptist church that moved down the street.

I've been in the UMC in the neighboring community once, by invitation, to speak for a few minutes about the school. But the service I attended was their 11 a.m. contemporary, which meets in a building across the street from their main congregation. The message was one of practical application, and I wouldn't say that it was particularly "Wesleyan." Excellent praise band, and the service was really well designed, unlike some contemporary worship I've experienced.

[Tim Bonney]

I'd say you'd not notice too much different in preaching in a UM church other than when Wesleyan theological concepts are being preached about or it is a special day like Aldersgate Day.

What you may notice is that in church that the pastor vests for worship the tendancy has been to move away from the pulpit robe to the white alb. The robe as academic rather than eccesial. Also the alb is viewed as more as standing more for equality of laity and clergy since anyone helping with worship can wear an alb.

[Mrs Haruo]

The discussion of robes and albs and whatnot reminded us of an incident in the Presbyterian church Haruo and I went to when we were in high school. I had noticed from visiting other Presbyterian churches with our youth group that the ministers in Seattle tended toward clerical collars and more formal robes than out at our suburban church. Our pastor only wore robes in the winter on Sunday mornings and shirt and tie in summer. One Sunday after he had been in an auto accident he showed up in a robe and a high stiff foam neck collar. He remarked that "My fellow pastors in the Presbytery in Seattle have been chiding me for not wearing a clerical collar-- this one should show them!"

[Haruo]

Yeah, although I saw him almost weekly for four years, my mental picture of Harlow Willard is indelibly dressed in that huge collar, which I'm guessing he only wore for a few weeks.

[Tim Bonney]