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The following is a statement that the curators of Via Media Methodists, along with a few other clergy colleagues, have drafted in an attempt to articulate common theological and ecclesial ground in the midst of dissension and fragmentation. We welcome your thoughts. 

God is Not Through With Us: A Statement of Methodists United

“Therefore, humans must not pull apart what God has put together.”
-Mark 10:9 (CEB)

We are a group of United Methodists who recognize that we are living in difficult times. We confess that we, too, have not always been faithful to our common covenant; our fears, frustrations, and perspectives have at times caused us to demonize, slander, and ignore our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Yet in the midst of our brokenness, now more than ever we are committed to unity:

• Our worship and adoration of the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — unites us.
• Our baptismal covenant unites us.
• Our Eucharistic fellowship around the one table of God unites us. It is at the table where we pray together for the Holy Spirit to come upon us and make us ‘one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world’.
• Our submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ unites us.
• Our commitment to Scripture as authoritative for Christian faith and practice, along with the aid of tradition, experience, and reason unites us.
• Our common mission of love and service to the world unites us.
• Our daily witness through our congregations and other ministries unites us.
• Our call to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world unites us.
• Our need for and celebration of God’s prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace unites us.

While we acknowledge disagreement among us, we do not support acts that intentionally breach the covenant to which we have voluntarily and collectively submitted our lives through ordination and membership, or, conversely, which seek a false resolution to our divisions by further dividing the Body of Christ.

We are committed to the hard work of relationship and building bridges for conversation, forgiveness, conversion, and renewal. We are compelled to this vocation for the sake of our mission, which is best carried out by a church united “in Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24).

• We commit to praying daily for our church, her leaders, and her mission.
• We commit to daily self-examination and confession.
• We commit to listening to the Spirit and one another, and engaging in intentional speech that seeks to do good and does no harm.

 

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

(VMM would like to thank the following for their wisdom in helping craft this statement: Rev. Kyle Cuperwich, Rev. Ben Gosden, Rev. Josh Hale, Rev. Juan Huertas, and Rev. Matt Rawle).

Continue reading “God is Not Through with Us”

In a recent twitter conversation, Stephen, Drew, and I were asked for a Via Media Methodists response to the recent … Continue reading Via Media Methodists Respond to the “A&W” Proposals: Part 1.

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