The mission of the Free Methodist
Church is to make known to people everywhere God's call to wholeness
through forgiveness and holiness in Jesus Christ, and to invite into
membership and to equip for ministry all who respond in faith.
What Is A Free Methodist? (for more info, please click below)
What Is A Free Methodist?
Free Methodists are people who follow Christ's
teachings. These are explained in the Holy Bible, God's Word. The Bible is
the guide to a satisfying life. Free Methodists earnestly seek to spread
His Word throughout the world. They proclaim Christ's love for all people.
The Free Methodist Church is a well-recognized Christian denomination
emphasizing holy living.
Historically, the Free Methodist Church was organized at
Pekin, New York, August 23, 1860. The first
bishop of the new church was Benjamin Titus Roberts. He was a champion for
equal rights (especially for women), writer, publisher, Christian educator,
and holiness preacher. The influence of his character and ministry continue
today.
In 1860,
the "free" in Free Methodist emphasized certain basic freedoms
found in the Scriptures:
Human freedom, upholding the right of every
person to be free, denying the right of anyone to hold slaves;
Freedom
and simplicity in worship;
Free seats in church, so the poor will not be kept out
or discriminated against;
Freedom
and openness in relationships and loyalties so the truth may always be spoken
freely (avoiding vows of secrecy);
Freedom
of lay persons to be fully involved at all levels of decision making;
Freedom
from materialism in order to help the poor.
The biblical principles on which these freedoms are
based are as important today as ever.
We are "Methodists," believing in a
disciplined, simple lifestyle. Our witness to the world is through
enthusiastic, orderly methods. (top)
The
mission statement of the church is a declaration of purpose that explains
our uniqueness.
"The
mission of the Free Methodist Church is to make known to all people
everywhere God's call to wholeness through forgiveness and holiness in
Jesus Christ, and to invite into membership and to equip for ministry all
who respond in faith."
The Free
Methodist Church declares that God's call is to people everywhere who want
to be whole. The Free Methodist Church offers training for service, and
membership in a group of people who share similar beliefs and values. The
Free Methodist Church will help you find a relationship with Jesus. Through
Him you can receive forgiveness and strength for living a holy life. In
short, the Free Methodist Church will help you to be the best you can be.
(top)
The Free
Methodist Church emphasizes certain issues and concerns in its preaching
and activities. A church must have an identity if it is to be healthy and
carry out its purposes. Explanations follow of five of these emphases that
have top priority.
Scriptural holiness
The Free Methodist Church recognizes the Bible as
the rule for all matters of faith and life. Free Methodists practice a
positive holiness that is a disciplined lifestyle motivated by Christian
love. The holy life, a life of wholeness, is life lived at its best. It is
the normal way for Christians to live.
Practical godliness
The Free Methodist Church is not satisfied with
just talk. Rules of conduct, detailed in the Membership Covenant, spell out
practical guidelines for living a truly holy life. In this way, walk and
talk match up.
Social concern
Our Methodist heritage is lived out in social
sensitivity, in Christian love shown through compassion and service. Both
in North America and overseas, the Free Methodist Church sponsors programs
to meet human need: hospitals, schools, homes for the elderly, and a
worldwide child sponsorship program.
Christian education
The Free Methodist Church believes that
Christianity and education go together. B.T.
Roberts, a founder of Free Methodism, also started its first school, Chili
Seminary, now Roberts Wesleyan College in North Chili, New York. Today
there are six more church-related schools of higher education. Concern for
quality Christian education is also reflected in local churches through
Sunday school classes and midweek programs for all ages.
Evangelism and foreign missions
Winning people to Christ is at the heart of all
that Free Methodist people do. Evangelism involves honest concern for
others. The Free Methodist Church has an aggressive plan for reaching
people for Christ and planting new churches.
The
mission statement declares that the church is to make known to people
everywhere God's message of good news. The Free Methodist Church maintains an
active foreign missions program of evangelism and Christian education.
(top)
Free Methodists are a connected people sharing
resources in order to do the Lord's work. The Yearbook, the Light
and Life magazine, and World Missionary People Magazine, as well
as many other printed resources help to create a workable communication
network. The Book of Discipline helps to tie the church together
with a common set of beliefs and a shared heritage. In organization there
are local, district, conference, and general church levels. Whether from
North America or Africa, Tokyo or Mexico City, Free Methodists join under a
common Constitution. We practice our faith by the same Membership Covenant.
Free Methodists are definitely one family.
(top)
There is but one living and true God, the maker
and preserver of all things. And in the unity of this Godhead there are
three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are
one in eternity, deity, and purpose, everlasting, of infinite power,
wisdom, and goodness. (top)
His Incarnation— God was Himself in Jesus Christ
to reconcile man to God Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin
Mary; He joined together the deity of God and the humanity of man. Jesus of
Nazareth was God in human flesh, truly God and truly man. He came to save
us. For us the Son of God suffered, was crucified, dead and buried. He
poured out His life as a blameless sacrifice for our sin and
transgressions. We gratefully acknowledge that He is our Savior, the one
perfect mediator between God and man. His Resurrection and Exaltation Jesus
Christ is risen victorious from the dead. His
resurrected body became more glorious, not hindered by ordinary human
limitations. Thus He ascended into heaven. There He sits as our exalted
Lord at the right hand of God the Father, where He intercedes for us until
all His enemies shall be brought into complete subjection. He will return
to judge all men. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (top)
His Person—The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.
Proceeding from the Father and the Son, He is one with them, the eternal
Godhead; equal in deity, majesty, and power. He is God effective in
Creation, in life, and in the church. The Incarnation and ministry of Jesus
Christ were accomplished by the Holy Spirit. He continues to reveal,
interpret, and glorify the Son. His Work in Salvation The Holy Spirit is
the administrator of the salvation planned by the Father and provided by
the Son's death, Resurrection, and Ascension. He is the effective agent in
our conviction, regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. He is our
Lord's ever-present self, indwelling, assuring, and enabling the believer.
His
Relation to the Church— The Holy Spirit is poured out upon the church by
the Father and the Son. He is the church's life and witnessing power. He
bestows the love of God and makes real the lordship of Jesus Christ in the
believer so that both His gifts of words and service may achieve the common
good, and build and increase the church. In relation to the world He is the
Spirit of truth, and His instrument is the Word of God.
(top)
The
Scriptures
1. AUTHORITY
The Bible
is God's written Word, uniquely inspired by the Holy Spirit. It bears unerring
witness to Jesus Christ, the living Word. As attested by the early church
and subsequent councils, it is the trustworthy record of God's revelation,
completely truthful in all it affirms. It has been faithfully preserved and
proves itself true in human experience.
The
Scriptures have come to us through human authors who wrote, as God moved
them, in the languages and literary forms of their times. God continues, by
the illumination of the Holy Spirit, to speak through this Word to each
generation and culture.
The Bible
has authority over all human life. It teaches the truth about God, His
creation, His people, His one and only Son, and the destiny of all mankind.
It also teaches the way of salvation and the life of faith. Whatever is not
found in the Bible nor can be proved by it is not to be required as an
article of belief or as necessary to salvation.
(top)
The Old Testament is not contrary to the New. Both
Testaments bear witness to God's salvation in Christ; both speak of God's
will for His people. The ancient laws for ceremonies and rites, and the
civil precepts for the nation Israel are not necessarily binding on
Christians today. But, on the example of Jesus we are obligated to obey the
moral commandments of the Old Testament.
The
books of the Old Testament are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I
Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. (top)
3.
AUTHORITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The New Testament fulfills and interprets the Old
Testament. It is the record of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and
the Holy Spirit. It is God's final word regarding man, his sin, and his
salvation, and the world and its destiny.
The books of the New Testament are: Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I
Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I Peter, II Peter, I
John, II John III John, Jude Revelation. (top)
Man
God created man in His own image, innocent,
morally free and responsible to choose between good and evil, right and
wrong, by the sin of Adam, man as the offspring of Adam is corrupted in his
very nature so that from birth he is inclined to sin. He is unable by his
own strength and work restore himself in right
relationship with God and to merit eternal salvation. God, the Omnipotent,
provides all the resources of the Trinity to make it possible for man to
respond to His grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour
and Lord. By God's grace and help man is enabled to do good works with a
free will. (top)
God's law for all human life, personal and social, is expressed in two
divine commands: Love the Lord God with all your heart, and love your
neighbor as yourself. These commands reveal what is best for man in his
relationship with God, persons, and society. They set forth the principles
of human duty in both individual and social action. They recognize God as
the only Sovereign. All men as created by Him and in His image have the
same inherent rights regardless of sex, race, or color. Men should
therefore give God absolute obedience in their individual, social, and
political acts. They should strive to secure to everyone respect for his
person, his rights, and his greatest happiness in the possession and
exercise of the right within the moral law. (top)
Good works are the fruit of faith in Jesus Christ, but works cannot
save us from our sins nor from God’s judgment. As expressions of Christian
faith and love, our good works performed with reverence and humility are
both acceptable and pleasing to God. However, good works do not earn God’s
grace. (top)
Salvation
Christ offered once and for all the one perfect sacrifice for the sins
of the whole world. No other satisfaction for sin is necessary; none other
can atone. (top)
A new life and a right relationship with God are made possible through
the redemptive acts of God in Jesus Christ. God, by His Spirit, acts to
impart new life and put us into a relationship with Himself as we repent
and our faith responds to His grace. Justification, regeneration, and
adoption speak significantly to entrance into and continues
in the new life. (top)
Justification is a legal term that emphasizes that by our new
relationship in Jesus Christ we are in fact accounted righteous, being
freed from both the guilt and penalty of our sins.
Regeneration is a biological term, which illustrates that by our new
relationship in Christ we do in fact have a new life and a new spiritual
nature capable of faith, love and obedience to Christ Jesus as Lord. The
believer is born again. He is a new creation. The old life is past; a new
life is begun.
Adoption
Adoption is a filial term full of warmth, love, and acceptance. It
denotes that by our new relationship in Christ we have become His wanted
children freed from the mastery of both sin and Satan. The believer has the
witness of the Spirit that he is a child of God. (top)
The Christian may be sustained in a growing relationship with Jesus
as Savior and Lord. However, he may grieve the Holy Spirit in the
relationships of life without returning to the dominion of sin. When he
does, he must humbly accept the correction of the Holy Spirit, trust in the
advocacy of Jesus, and mend his relationships.
The
Christian can sin willfully and sever his relationship with Christ. Even so
by repentance before God, forgiveness is granted and the relationship with
Christ restored, for not every sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit and
unpardonable. God's grace is sufficient for those who truly repent and, by
His enabling, amend their lives. However, forgiveness does not give the
believer liberty to sin and escape the consequences of sinning.
God
has given responsibility and power to the church to restore a penitent
believer through loving reproof, counsel, and acceptance. (top)
The Church
1. The Church
The church is created by God; it is the people of God. Christ Jesus is
its Lord and Head; the Holy Spirit is its life and power. It is both divine and human, heavenly and earthly, ideal and
imperfect. It is an organism, not an unchanging institution. It exists to
fulfill the purposes of God in Christ. It redemptively
ministers to persons. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it that
it should be holy and without blemish. The church is a fellowship of the
redeemed and the redeeming, preaching the Word of God and administering the
sacraments according to Christ's instruction. The Free Methodist Church
purposes to be representative of what the church of Jesus Christ should be
on earth. It therefore requires specific commitment regarding the faith and
life of its members. In its requirements it seeks to honor Christ and obey
the written Word of God.
(top)
According to the Word of God and the custom of the early church,
public worship and prayer and the administration of the sacraments should
be a language understood by the people. The Reformation applied this
principle to provide for the use of the common language of the people. It
is likewise clear that the Apostle Paul places the strongest emphasis upon
rational and intelligible utterance in worship. We cannot endorse
practices, which plainly violate these scriptural principles. (top)
Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are the sacraments
of the church commanded by Christ. They are means of grace through faith,
tokens of our profession of Christian faith, and signs of God's gracious
ministry toward us. By them, He works within us to quicken, strengthen, and
confirm our faith. (top)
Water baptism is a sacrament of the church, commanded by our Lord,
signifying acceptance of the benefits of the atonement of Jesus Christ to
be administered to believers, as declaration of their faith in Jesus Christ
as Savior.
The Lord's Supper
The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of our
redemption by Christ's death. To those who rightly, worthily, and with
faith receive it, the bread, which we break, is a partaking of the blood of
Christ. The supper is also a sign of the love and unity that Christians
have among themselves.
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