Strangely Warmed

Scott Jones is the bishop of the Kansas area of the United Methodist Church. At The Extreme Center , Bishop Jones recently wrote [dead link]: I have offered an interpretation of the shape of UM doctrine in my book United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center. I argue there are three levels: Constitutionally Protected Standards of Doctrine: Constitution, Articles of Religion, Confession of Faith, General Rules, Wesley’s Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, and Wesley’s Sermons. Contemporary Statements of the General Conference: Part II of the BOD (Our Doctrinal History, Our Doctrinal Heritage, Our Theological Task), Part III  Ministry of All Christians (including the Mission Statement), Part IV Social Principles, doctrinal parts of the BOD, Book of Resolutions . Liturgy: The United Methodist Hymnal and United Methodist Book of Worship . I argue that these three levels differ in authority with Standards of doctrine (the hardest to change) being most authorita...

It was over three decades ago that my bishop first appointed me as the pastor of a United Methodist congregation. A little more than two decades ago, a different bishop appointed me into what is now known as an Extension Ministry of the church. As a military chaplain, I serve in the category of extension ministries endorsed by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. I have always considered myself as a United Methodist pastor on loan to the Army. I was a pastor for nearly ten years before I entered the chaplaincy and I always expected to return to the local church when I completed my military service. When I have talked with my colleagues from other denominations or prospective chaplains from my own church, I explained our concept of the chaplaincy this way: we United Methodist chaplains are clergy and pastors first and chaplains second. The church expects those called to ordained ministry within the United Methodist Church to serve wherever they are needed, and not ...

At the Scriptorium , Fred Sanders writes on the 18th century battle of Calvinist and Arminian hymns in Hit 'em With the Rock of Ages. Some of the hymns that were intended as a shot across the bow became universal in their appeal. The songs were more enduring and more "catholic" than their authors' partisanship. Sanders concludes: If you belong to an evangelical church that gladly and wholeheartedly sings the songs of Wesley and Toplady side by side, are you a dupe who can’t tell when two things disagree? Not at all. The churches that sing Toplady’s anti-Wesleyan Rock of Ages right alongside Wesley’s anti-Calvinist Love Divine, All Loves Excelling are acting on a sound instinct. They can see clearly what Toplady and Wesley in the heat of battle did not always discern: that we have the most important things, the things we want to sing about, in common.