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| United Methodists: Are We Liberal or Conservative or Something Else? |
Methodism has its roots in the English evangelical heritage of the 1700’s and the Great Awakenings in America. The terms of membership in the early Methodist societies in both places were simple: “a desire to flee from the wrath to come and to be saved from their sins.” Our evangelical faith manifests itself in evangelical living: a continual desire for salvation, doing no harm, avoiding evil of every kind, doing good as far as possible, and participating in all the ordinances of God, which are
Our roots are also in the classic liberal struggles for basic human rights and Christian social action in America. Methodist opposition to smuggling, inhumane prison conditions, slavery, child labor, drunkenness, poverty, and the denial of women’s right to vote was founded upon a vivid sense of God’s wrath against human injustice.
Evangelical. Liberal. Conservative. Modernist. Fundamentalist. Social activist. United Methodists have been labeled just about everything under the sun. We admit we are a diverse people. As United Methodists, we deplore the use of these labels as stereotypes, and when Christian values and biblical interpretation are used to justify one group of believers over another.
In the name of Jesus Christ we are called to work within our diversity while exercising patience with one another in the Church and in the world, and we trust that the Holy Spirit will grant us wisdom and courage as we participate in what God is doing in our world.
The perils of yesterday and new ones - terrorism, hunger, disregard for morals and human life, poor stewardship of our environment - confront us. It is our conviction that the Good News of the Kingdom must judge, redeem, and reform the sinful social structures of our time.
