Our Methodist Denomination (part II)
As the colonists traveled from England to America and because some of them had been greatly touched by Wesley’s ministry in England, there was a desire to develop a new church in America. With Wesley’s approval, the Methodist Church was created, which later became the United Methodist Church (1968) after the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church merged to become one denomination.
With our sacramental roots and our evangelical roots, we are positioned right in the middle of the Christian family throughout the world. Some United Methodist congregations will be more evangelical than others. Some are very sacramental and liturgical. But both of those have a place in the United Methodist family as well as many different blendings of those traditions and emphases in between.
Baptism
United Methodists recognize two sacraments, the sacrament of Baptism and the sacrament of Holy Communion. They are “means of grace” for us through which, we believe, the Lord draws close to us in a very special way.
Baptism is the sacrament through which God proclaims his wonderful love for us. The emphasis for United Methodists is not upon the act of faith in the life of the believer, but rather upon the gift of grace from God himself. Our act of faith is a response to God’s gift of grace. But God’s gift of grace comes first and our responsive faith then follows. Both are necessary to effect salvation in the life of the believer, but we believe baptism is a special act of God by which the gift of his grace is celebrated as it has been given to us.
As United Methodists, the act of confirmation follows the sacrament of baptism. And it is in confirmation that one confirms his or her baptism and is confirmed into the life of the Church and is blessed with the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. So the emphasis in baptism is upon God’s grace and the emphasis in confirmation is upon our faith in response to God’s grace.
As United Methodists, we baptize infants and children. We believe that God extends his grace to these little ones long before they are able to receive his grace. Churches that practice so-called “believer’s baptism” feel that baptism represents a person’s belief in the Lord and therefore infants could not be baptized. However, given our understanding of baptism as symbolizing the gift of God’s grace extended to us even before we are able to respond to him, we baptize infants. And every infant baptized is placed on the rolls of the Church, though they are not full “professing members” nor actual Christians until they reach the time in their life when they can say YES to the One who has already spoken his YES to them through their baptism. It is the moment when they are confirmed following their profession of faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
(continured in Part III)
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