- Joined
- Jul 19, 2012
- Messages
- 14,185
- Reaction score
- 8,768
- Location
- Houston
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
If you want to know the spirit of Methodism in a nutshell think of the Salvation Army, which is mainstream Methodist. The emphasis is on service to our fellow men and women, helping the poor and average people, establishing institutions that do good works, and so on. A big part of this is simplicity in church buildings and sparseness of church appointments so as to have more money to carry out ministries in the community.
One Methodist church in Houston has a dental clinic and medical clinic for poor people located right in the church campus. It is especially focused on gay men and served them back in the days when health care professionals were reluctant see them. A meal for poor teenagers is served twice a week in the church. And many more such acts of service besides.
And these things are what Pope Francis emphasizes. Mind you I'm not claiming that Methodists are the only denomination that does this nor that Catholics never did it before. I'm just more familiar with Methodism, and everyone acknowledges that the Pope's emphasis is a break from the established practice of the last few decades.
There is a lot of variation among Methodist congregations and institutions. In Houston, Methodist Hospital is the one that especially caters to the rich even if Methodists run soup kitchens all over the place. Some congregations gotta have that big pipe organ, and so on. But on balance Methodists are true to John Wesley's ideas of what Christians ought to be.
One Methodist church in Houston has a dental clinic and medical clinic for poor people located right in the church campus. It is especially focused on gay men and served them back in the days when health care professionals were reluctant see them. A meal for poor teenagers is served twice a week in the church. And many more such acts of service besides.
And these things are what Pope Francis emphasizes. Mind you I'm not claiming that Methodists are the only denomination that does this nor that Catholics never did it before. I'm just more familiar with Methodism, and everyone acknowledges that the Pope's emphasis is a break from the established practice of the last few decades.
There is a lot of variation among Methodist congregations and institutions. In Houston, Methodist Hospital is the one that especially caters to the rich even if Methodists run soup kitchens all over the place. Some congregations gotta have that big pipe organ, and so on. But on balance Methodists are true to John Wesley's ideas of what Christians ought to be.