Teach me.

[yogi bear]

If anyone here is from this fellowship I would like to learn more about just what is taught in your fellowship.
I am not trying to look down my nose at anyone but trying to get a better feel as to why we understand as we all do.
That being the case I would like to see some of the things that this fellowship teaches.

[larry2]

Dear bvaug, since you didn't receive any replies, I'll give it a try. I didn't find anything on "Teach Me Fellowship," but there is a "Teaching Fellowship" involved with financial aid for scholarships.

Is it a possibly a ministry of some recognized Christian organization?

In Jesus' name - larry2

[DCR]

Dear bvaug, since you didn't receive any replies, I'll give it a try. I didn't find anything on "Teach Me Fellowship," but there is a "Teaching Fellowship" involved with financial aid for scholarships.

Is it a possibly a ministry of some recognized Christian organization?

In Jesus' name - larry2

I think there's a misunderstanding here. 

He was asking about the Methodist Church, since this is in the Methodist forum.  He was asking someone to "teach him" about the Methodist Church.

[kensington]

They believe in infant baptism, they believe Jesus is LORD...  they sing praise and worship songs, they do not lift or clap hands during.  They keep attendance each Sunday, women can be ushers, they confirm at about the age of 13.  I've never seen an altar call there.  They take communion, and they have women pastors.

My daughter joined the Methodist Church and my best friend was a PC in the Methodist church before getting saved.  If you have any questions specifically, I can ask one of them. Peace.

[DCR]

my best friend was a PC in the Methodist church before getting saved. 

PC?

[kensington]

Oppss... That is PK... Preachers kid.  Thanks DCR. 

[wolflet7]

They believe in infant baptism, they believe Jesus is LORD...  they sing praise and worship songs, they do not lift or clap hands during.  They keep attendance each Sunday, women can be ushers, they confirm at about the age of 13.  I've never seen an altar call there.  They take communion, and they have women pastors.

My daughter joined the Methodist Church and my best friend was a PC in the Methodist church before getting saved.  If you have any questions specifically, I can ask one of them. Peace.

I beg to differ on some of that.  I'm a Free Methodist, so it may be a little different than just Methodist. 

1) We DO lift and clap our hands when we sing.

2) We also have attendance on Wednesday nights.

3) There are plenty of altar calls (as in, "if anybody would want to pray at the altar, please come".  It is up to us if we want to go, but it's for hard times that we are going through, praying for someone, etc.)

4) "they confirm at about the age of 13"- I don't know what you mean by that.

[HRoberson]

Free Methodists: http://www.freemethodistchurch.org/sections/about_us/beliefs/god.shtml
UMC: http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.1707359/k.BE59/Beliefs.htm

[Tandemlady]

They believe in infant baptism, they believe Jesus is LORD...  they sing praise and worship songs, they do not lift or clap hands during.  They keep attendance each Sunday, women can be ushers, they confirm at about the age of 13.  I've never seen an altar call there.  They take communion, and they have women pastors.

My daughter joined the Methodist Church and my best friend was a PC in the Methodist church before getting saved.  If you have any questions specifically, I can ask one of them. Peace.

Kensington,
I'm sorry but your knowledge of the United Methodist Church is limited and filled with errors and misconceptions.

The United Methodist Church's primary statement of belief is found in the Apostle's Creed, which is recited regularly during most "formal" or "traditional" worship services. The Nicene Creed is also occasionally recited.
 
Even in most "traditional" services, members of the congregation are free to lift their hands in praise and to say "Amen" when led to do so by the Holy Spirit, however this practice is most common during "contemporary" services.  During contemporary worship services, the congregation members are strongly encouraged to clap and sing and raise their hands in praise.

As far as "Altar Calls".......sometimes it is as Wolfet said, a "general" invitation to pray at the altar...but there are also many "Altar Calls" which deal specifically with accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior or repentance and rededicating our lives to Christ.  

In the UMC, infant baptism is an act by the parents and congregation to "bring the child up in the knowledge and love of the Lord".  This baptism does NOT insure salvation for the child after they reach the age of accountability.  However, if/when the child accepts Christ as his/her personal Savior, they may or may not be re-baptized.  IMO, most DO choose to be re-baptized but the UMC regulations do not require it.  

Baptism may be done by "sprinkling", "pouring", or "immersion"----it is totally up to the person making the decision to follow Christ.  However, most UMCes do NOT have a baptistery, so immersions are traditionally done at other venues.

Most UMCes have strong Sunday School and Youth programs, however this varies greatly depending upon the size and resources of the local church.

Organizationally, the local churches are "grouped" into areas called "Conferences".  Each Conference has a "Bishop" and each Conference is divided into "Districts" which have "Superintendents".  "Conferences" meets annually to "appoint" the clergy to the local churches.  "Conferences" are members of larger area groups called "Jurisdictions".  The "General Conference" is the National organization and it meets every 4 years to review/revise the rules and regulations of the UMC.

The United Methodist Church was founded by John Wesley and "Methodists" got their name from the unusual "methods" of John Wesley.  Other Wesley-tradition denominations "broke off" from the Methodist Church and are much more conservative in their practices (Holiness, Mennonite).

John Wesley was one of the first church leaders to welcome women as ordained pastors.

HTH,
Tandemlady

[Angelos]

I liked Methodism as a "theory" (i.e., I liked John Wesley's sermons and passion). Unfortunately, as I studied Methodism (UMC) the way it is practiced in the US I discovered some things that really bothered me.

First, different Methodist churches have very different beliefs. Some are VERY pro-gay (they even fly the gay-rainbow flag at their roof) and lobby for the gay agenda, some are against same-sex marriage. Some believe in the Trinity and the full divinity of Jesus, some don't. The UMC has become "too democratic", core dogmas can change by a majority vote at their general conference (happens every 4 years).

On youtube (just search UMC) I saw bishops screaming at each-other (at their general conference) arguing about the gay ordination. So I guess my advice would be, before you join a Methodist church (UMC) talk to the minister, make sure you're comfortabe with is beliefs. Also don't be surprised if the UMC's core practices change significantly over the next 4 years to accomodate the gay agenda

[banished]

Hello,

Is the reception of the consecrated wafer in the eucharist to be the receiving of Christ himself (Roman Catholic), or in rememberance like most Protestant churches?

Do the Methodist still follow Wesley's list:  No drinking, No gambling, No Worldly Games, No bargaining at the market, Sunday is the Lord's Day, etc  I forgot the rest of the list?

[Angelos]

The UMC website has details. I believe UMC see the Eucharist as a rememberance. The Methodist churches in the NorthEast I know do not keep Wesley's list...but Methodist churches can very a lot from eachother

[banished]

The UMC website has details. I believe UMC see the Eucharist as a rememberance. The Methodist churches in the NorthEast I know do not keep Wesley's list...but Methodist churches can very a lot from eachother

Thanks, do you know of any church that keeps Wesley's list?  Most of my Protestant side of the family that lives in Canada keep Wesley's list, well, at least on Sunday.

Richard

[janine]

I wonder why he did not like bargaining?  Maybe he thought it made you look like a lover of money?

[Tandemlady]

Hello,

Is the reception of the consecrated wafer in the eucharist to be the receiving of Christ himself (Roman Catholic), or in rememberance like most Protestant churches?

Do the Methodist still follow Wesley's list:  No drinking, No gambling, No Worldly Games, No bargaining at the market, Sunday is the Lord's Day, etc  I forgot the rest of the list?

As a life-long Methodist/United Methodist, I've NEVER even heard of "Wesley's list", let alone of "following it".

tandemlady

[banished]

Hello,

Is the reception of the consecrated wafer in the eucharist to be the receiving of Christ himself (Roman Catholic), or in rememberance like most Protestant churches?

Do the Methodist still follow Wesley's list:  No drinking, No gambling, No Worldly Games, No bargaining at the market, Sunday is the Lord's Day, etc  I forgot the rest of the list?

As a life-long Methodist/United Methodist, I've NEVER even heard of "Wesley's list", let alone of "following it".

tandemlady

Yes, you probably only know of "new school" Methodism, and of course the "old school" will most likely have followed the Wesleyan standards. In other words, Christians are behaving quite a bit different nowadays.  Last year was Wesley's 300th birthday, and there is a book out titled, "How John Wesley Changed America"     

[fcadcock]

Also a life-long methodist here.  I grew up in the church that my grandfather built and recently moved to a larger church in a new town, also a united methodist church.  I can't say that I have ever heard of "Wesley's list."  One of the things I like most about my church is that it has always held a very honest and tolerant view of things such as drinking.  My pastor has gone so far as to remind me (not the congregation, this was a conversation at my home) that Jesus turned water into wine, not wine into water.  We don't believe in being drunks, but we will gladly speak to each other in the liquor store. 

I left a large southern baptist church I attended in college after I heard the pastor jokingly point out that his facebook picture showed him drinking a glass of spiced cider at a party he attended at my home. I was ashamed at the hypocracy I saw there when an adult could not even admit to having a glass of wine in front of his church.

Side note:  As a bit of trivia, it's interesting to point out that the Welches juice company got it's start when a man (Mr. Welch) decided to start a company making grape juice for communions at church.  Mr. Welch was a methodist and began selling his juice to the methodist churches in his area.  When you go to a methodist church today, the only grape juice you will find there will be Welches grape juice.

[Gabrielle A]

Dear bvaug, since you didn't receive any replies, I'll give it a try. I didn't find anything on "Teach Me Fellowship," but there is a "Teaching Fellowship" involved with financial aid for scholarships.

Is it a possibly a ministry of some recognized Christian organization?

In Jesus' name - larry2

I think there's a misunderstanding here.  

He was asking about the Methodist Church, since this is in the Methodist forum.  He was asking someone to "teach him" about the Methodist Church.

This is a Methodist Church forum? Wow! I did not know that...I thought that this was an Interdenominational forum. It's all beginning to make sense now.

I was hired as a consultant and funding coordinator by a Methodist Minister at one time. This particular Church had outreach Center which they used as an arm into the community. Lovely people and totally missions focused. I didn't have much idea about their beliefs though...but what I did know about them showed in their responses toward community needs eg: Music and Movement for developing children's motor skills. Youth Bands ( teaching all types of musical instruments), Youth Camps (open to all young people, mostly unsaved). Drug and Alcohol support, Prison re-habilitation, Food Bank, Super Gran (which assisted young single, solo and married couples in basic life skills by retired/semi -retired professionals.  They even had courses for Israeli Dancing. I enjoyed working for them...

I think that they were a combined Parish - Primitive Methodists and Presbyterian.

Blessings!!!

[highrigger]

Is the reception of the consecrated wafer in the eucharist to be the receiving of Christ himself (Roman Catholic), or in rememberance like most Protestant churches?

banished or whoever,

This is an old post but I could not help but answer this reasonable question.

Methodists do not see the bread and wine (eucharist) as physically or literally as Christs body. Neither do we have a priest presenting a sacrifice. Neither do we accept the doctrine of transubstantiation. Our communiion is performed much as Justin Martyr described about 150 AD in accordance with Pauls description in 1 Cor 11.

We do percieve the eucharist as spiritually sharing in Christs body as Paul taught in 1 Cor 10:16. "When we break the bread, is it not a means of sharing in the body of Christ.?" It is a memorial and a proclamation as Paul explains.
Since we see ourselves as one part of Christs body (catholic), all who accept Jesus as Lord are welcome to the Lords Table including the children, who Jesus told us are "of the Kingdom." Peace. John