WHAT IS YOUR SPIRITUAL DNA?

The Methodist movement began with John and Charles Wesley in the 1700s. The sons of an Anglican Priest, they revolutionized the way church was done. Charles wrote over 9000 hymns, including “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing.” They emphasized small group discipleship for spiritual growth and took the evangelical witness to the fledgling colonies in America. During the American Revolutionary War, it was not appropriate to belong to the Church of England, so the Methodist movement became an autonomous church body. Later joined by The Brethren, a German pietist movement, the new church spread across the continent.

Here are some of the markings of our spiritual DNA we have inherited and adapted to our current mission field. It’s not that this strain of DNA is better than others, or other tribal or family traits are wrong. It’s just a part of who we are.

heartwarming  grace  musical  evangelical   group   media  
mobile  connected   healing  social

The Heartwarming Gene
John Wesley started out as a legalist, emphasizing obedience to certain rules of conduct and religion. But he felt empty. On Aldersgate Street in London, listening to someone quote from Martin Luther’s preface to the book of Romans about being saved through grace, John felt his heart was strangely warmed, and he “did trust in Christ, and Christ alone, for my salvation.”

Rather than rules, principles and law, we emphasize the personal, heartfelt experience of Jesus Christ for the believer.

The Grace Gene
The Wesleys emphasized “means of grace,” that is, habits of the heart that are likened to opening a window to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Among these habits are prayer, fasting, Christian community or small groups for growth, constant communion, and meditating scripture. Also, each believer was to avoid evil and do good wherever they could.

We emphasize these and other holy habits that are conducive to spiritual growth, knowing that it is Christ’s work within us, and not through our own work, that we are able to grow in the likeness of Jesus. Rather than be satisfied with the one moment a person is saved, we emphasize continuous growth in scriptural holiness.

The Singing/Musical Gene
The Wesleys never wrote a systematic theology. They sang their faith. After preaching to miners on their way to start their day’s work, John heard them singing popular drinking songs of the day. He turned to Charles and said “Write words for that.” Thus Charles wrote, and John translated from other languages, the contemporary Christian praise and worship music of their day. The first church ever to own their own printing press, it was the invention of the hymnal that helped people learn the songs of the faith.

We emphasize music that is contemporary to our mission field, and the use of innovative technology to encourage the participation of the worshiper.

The Evangelical Gene
While many churches are more concerned with the folks already in, the Wesleyan tradition emphasizes the need to reach those on the outside, to “spread scriptural holiness across the nation.”

We will put the interests of the last, the least and the lost ahead of the saints.

The Group Gene
While salvation could happen in the larger celebration, the Wesleys encouraged believers, especially new believers, to gather in smaller groups to study, pray and share “how goes it with your soul?” To bring people to a saving experience of Jesus only to have them slide away for lack of discipleship was simply to “prepare food for the devil.”

Acknowledging that large group celebration is important, we also emphasize the need to gather in growth groups for mutual support and encouragement, and to grow in the likeness of Jesus. Growth groups include Bible studies, Sunday School Classes, Discipleship and Covenant Groups and special interest groups.

The Media Gene
The Wesleys embraced the newest media of their age: print. With the advent of widespread literacy, people could read the hymns (rather than having them lined out by a song leader) and read their own discipleship materials (rather than having them read to them by a leader.) The Methodist Church was the first to own its own printing press, a very expensive proposition in the 1700s. They paid for it by printing and selling hymnals, Disciplines and tracts that addressed spiritual issues. Sermons were published and sold. There was an entrepreneurial spirit to their approach.

Like the Wesleys, we will look for ways to employ the newest media in communicating Jesus. HUMC was one of the first in the area to include a screen and projection in the worship space. We will also employ graphic arts, video and web based means to communicate. While the message remains the same, the media is always changing.

The Mobile Gene
Spreading across frontier America, Methodists employed a mobile leadership. Called Circuit Riders, these pastors would ride horseback to complete their circuit, which might include 5 to 15 separate churches, many different “classes” (small groups) and include several counties in their territory. Most of these pastors were not married, though there was no rule against marriage. They simply couldn’t settle down enough to marry. And they tended to die young. Preachers tended to serve a charge (area churches) for two years, then be moved to another. It was almost considered a failure to be appointed for a third year! It meant you couldn’t do your work in a timely manner.

We still employ an appointment model, though it has greatly changed over the years. The Bishop of an area will meet with other District Superintendents when there is an opening in a church due to the death or retirement of a pastor, and collectively they will choose a pastor to appoint. In the early days there was little or no consultation. Pastors would learn at an annual meeting where they were going for the next year. Now there is consultation between the church (“What kind of leader do you need?”), the pastor (“Here is what I think my gifts and graces are.” or “I do/do not want to move to a new appointment.” and the cabinet (the Bishop and Superintendents.) While the average appointment is 4.5 to 5 years, the larger the church and the older the pastor, the longer the tenure. Also, we have learned that in today’s culture it takes about four years to “earn” the privilege of being a leader in the church.

We will also be a mobile church. Groups are encouraged to move to other meeting spaces when that will help utilize the building more efficiently. No group has a permanent right to a meeting room. HUMC has already moved once (in 1899) and constructed a new facility, the current fellowship hall. We moved worship from one end of the building to the other in 1995. We will always be open to where God is leading us; we are a mobile tabernacle church, not a set-in-stone temple church.

The Connected Gene
Methodist Churches are not ultimately independent of each other, but interdependent. We cooperate in funding camps, missions, ministries, resources and personnel (Bishops and Superintendents), and caring for retired pastors and their spouses. Pastors are members of an area conference, not members of the local church, although their families join the local church.

We recognize that we are not an island, but a cooperative community with other Methodist Churches. We also are cooperative with and respect churches of other denominations. We know that no one group, denomination or tradition contains all the truth. God knows the truth, and the rest of us are just guessing. We will pray for God to bless the leaders, worship and ministry of other churches. We accept the baptism performed in other churches, and practice open communion.

The Healing Gene
John Wesley wrote “A Primitive Physique”, a landmark work in the use of natural herbs for healing. This served as a foundational work well into the 1800s. The Methodists opened drug stores for the poor, and established hospitals, including Parkview and Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Many of our missionary efforts are healing ministries.

In accordance with James 5:13ff, we emphasize praying for one another and anointing the sick with oil. We also recognize the valuable contribution of godly counseling.

The Social Gene
The Wesleyan movement has always engaged the culture in advocating for the poor and fighting injustice. Methodists worked to abolish debtor prisons, slavery, alcoholism through the temperance movement, resisted the move for government sponsored gambling, and advocated for the rights of women and civil rights for all God’s children.

We recognize that a part of our ministry should be focused in areas like this as well. We seek to be a prophetic voice in calling for “justice to roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” We will pray for our national leaders.

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