In an age of church division, it can seem fashionable, even righteous, to be willing to divide the church for the sake of ideological purity. While not eschewing the need for sound doctrine, Methodism counters this divisive trend by emphasizing relationship and community. Since its beginning, Methodism has been a vast river that cuts through the middle of the wide range of Christian faith.
Understanding how to reconcile the idea of a single body of Christ with the reality of so many different beliefs and institutions is one of the greatest challenges to Christian faith. If we are one, why are there so many denominations? We dismiss people because they’re different, and emphasize our rightness, but in Christ, we’re called to live as one body.
The Trinity is both mysterious and central to Christianity. It is the belief that God exists as three persons, but is one being, having a single divine nature. The members of the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - are co-equal and co-eternal, one in essence, nature, power, action, and will. The Trinity is both relational and of one essence.
Debate over which gospels and letters were true and which weren’t led the church body to formally declare a canon, or an agreed upon understanding of what makes up the Scriptures we hold to be true. Though we may disagree on interpretation, these shared texts have remained constant for centuries. It is through them we have access to Jesus.
In the third century, some began to teach that Jesus was a created being and therefore different and subordinate to God the Creator. Eventually the church declared what seemed like a paradox: Jesus is fully God and fully human. We continue to debate this today when we emphasize the divine or human side of Jesus. As the two natures are equally present, the challenge is to live set apart from, and yet sent into, the world.
The presence of God's Spirit is the sign of the new believer. Yet some in the early church insisted that new believers adopt certain laws, too. Do we do the same today? We teach that grace is sufficient, yet do we expect the Holy Spirit to see to it that other people become like us? What does it mean to be one in the Spirit?