What’s “Free” About
“Free Methodist”?
THE WORD “FREE” can mean different
things to different people. “Cheap” as in “Cheap Methodists” is how one uninformed
wag understood the word. “Free” can connote irresponsibility, the lack of boundaries
and discipline. But that kind of “free” hardly applies to John Wesley, serious-minded
founder of the 18th-century Wesleyan movement.
He and his “Holy Club” colleagues at Oxford lived such disciplined lives that
in derision
they were called “Methodists.”
The irresponsible kind of “free” also does not
fit the deeply committed missionaries
from New York who founded Seattle’s First Free Methodist Church in 1880. Eleven
years
later, this “mother church,” along with the 16 other congregations in Washington
and Oregon, founded Seattle Pacific University, first known as Seattle Seminary.
Free Methodist missionaries crossed the country from east to west, not only starting
churches, but also launching schools. B.T. Roberts, founder of the Free Methodist
denomination, was known as a champion of the liberal arts. About the new school
in Seattle, he was concerned, writes Don McNichols in Seattle Pacific University:
A Growing Vision,
that “the institution must not be too strictly denominational; rather, it should
be competitive
with public education.”
To Roberts and the other 1860 upstate New York founders
of the Free Methodist
Church, “free” highlighted their reasons for separating from the parent Methodist
Episcopal Church. Actually, Roberts along with his associates in the ministry
and among the laity were excluded from the parent church because of their protest
against theological liberalism, lack of concern for pressing social issues and
loss of spiritual vitality.
Freedom from slavery was one of the freedoms these
spiritual and social reformers called for. Freedom to speak the truth
openly was another concern, leading these
early Free Methodists to avoid membership
in secret societies. Another commitment
was to free pews. In that time and place,
church pews were often rented or sold, thus
relegating the poor to benches in the back or
in the balcony. Think of it! Now, people can
sit
anywhere they want in a worship service; in a worship service; they can choose the back or the balcony!
Social issues have changed since 1860, but
Free Methodists continue to have a sensitive
social conscience.
A commitment to freedom from worldliness
led early Free Methodists to espouse
simplicity in life and in worship. Wary of formalism,
Free Methodists for instance did not
sanction musical instruments in their worship
services till the middle of the 20th century.
The denomination’s quests for freedom from
sin’s domination and for freedom in the Spirit were in close harmony with the
emphases of John Wesley. Free Methodists to this day continue to pursue vitality
in worship and holiness
of life.
Today’s stated denominational mission
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 mission statement encapsulates
Free Methodism’s vision of itself in the 21st century. Free Methodists today
desire to be faithful both to orthodox Christian faith and to the legacy of the
18th-century Wesleyan movement. In this, Free Methodists resist the revision
and reduction of classic orthodoxy frequently evident in more theologically liberal
brands of Methodism. In this, Free Methodists today continue to highlight John
Wesley’s classic doctrine of Christian holiness.
At the recent 34th General Conference
of the Free Methodist Church, held on the campus of SPU, considerable discussion
and preliminary approval was given to a new
statement on “sanctification.” This statement retains the high goal of sanctification as
the Holy Spirit’s re-creation of God’s people “after the image of God … conforming
them to the image of Christ.” The new statement, however, more clearly recognizes
not only the decisive moment(s) of response to God, but also the ongoing process
of Christian growth.
Far from the irresponsible meanings of “free,” today’s Free Methodists desire
freedom in Christ — and freedom to be the people God calls them to be.
— BY H. MARK ABBOTT
H. Mark Abbott has served as senior pastor of
Seattle’s First Free Methodist Church, located adjacent to the SPU campus, since
1982.
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