New Stirrings in Methodism

For the last 15 years there has been steadily developing in American Methodism a “High Church” movement. This has been connected with an earlier development in English Methodism, the principles of which were being advocated as early as 1914 by the “Wesleyan Guild of Divine Worship,” earliest representative of similar (and more developed) organizations.

A number of terms has designated the movement. Liturgical Movement is one, although this is likely to be misunderstood, as it means an emphasis not upon mere ritual but upon worship as the act of the whole congregation, and moreover it is a term used of a movement beyond the distinctive Methodist development. Sacramental Revival describes it better, although again casual readers may miss many implications of this term.

Distinctive Beliefs

The title we have used above is less commonly used, more descriptive perhaps of the actual nature of the movement. We may describe the Methodist High Churchman as one who believes in:

1. High views of the Christian Faith: the wholehearted acceptance of divine revelation given in the Holy Scriptures and witnessed to in the historic Christian creeds.

2. High views of Christian worship: the acceptance of worship as the principal business of the church and the duty of every individual, and the belief that such worship must center around the divinely given Word and sacraments.

3. High views of the Church of Christ: belief in the Church as a divine institution headed by Christ himself, and one which has a mission to the whole world.

4. High views of the ministry: belief in a divine call to the ministry, the importance of ordination, and the distinctiveness of the clerical vocation.

By whatever name, the movement stands for a distinct view of the Christian faith and is not to be confused with the aestheticism common in churches today. It is based upon a hard core of Christian doctrine.

Described by some of its supporters as a “militant attack upon humanism,” it is in fact a return to the historic faith after the inroads of secular philosophy in the present age. There is throughout the movement an emphasis upon the historic confessions of the Christian Church, especially those of an ecumenical character like the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds.

In those circles affected by this quietly growing force is the repeatedly used phrase “Nicene Christianity.” It represents part of the insistence upon the objective quality of Christianity, and is rooted in faith in the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the Resurrection. Members of one organization connected with the movement are pledged “to submit my mind humbly to the faith of the church as set forth in the Nicene Creed.” The faith in all ages whether in the first century or the twentieth is, and must be, one in essence.

The first issue of Present Age Leaflets, “I Believe,” published by the Wesley Witness of Rochdale, England, is a good example of this conviction that Christian doctrine matters. It challenges those who “make nonsense of Christianity” by preaching “Marx, Tennyson, Wells, and Shaw … a creedless religion which is agnosticism with a veneer of ritual.”

Methodism’S Heritage

In all this, Methodism’s own particular heritage comes frequently to the front. Methodists never quite escape their founder, and those hard sayings of Wesley, so often shelved by modern Methodists, are being rediscovered by friends of the Sacramental Revival. They know, if others do not, that Wesley did not just say, “We think and let think.” He said, “As to all opinions which do not strike at the root of Christianity, we think and let think.” The preceding words make clear exactly what Wesley had in mind:

We believe, indeed, that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God’; and herein we are distinguished from Jews, Turks, and infidels. We believe the written Word of God to be the only and sufficient rule both of Christian faith and practice; and herein we are fundamentally distinguished from those of the Romish Church. We believe Christ to be the eternal, supreme God; and herein we are distinguished from the Socinians and Arians.

The Sacramental Revival means a return to Wesley in regard to worship as well as doctrine. There can be no doubt that in worship, modern Methodism has largely departed from Wesley both in theory and in practice. Nowhere is this more evident than with regard to Holy Communion. Wesley through a long life communed about every third day and taught his followers to do the same. His “Directions Given to the Band Societies” urge members “To be at church and at the Lord’s table every week.… To observe, as days of fasting or abstinence, all Fridays in the year.” In 1784 in his letter to the American Methodists, regarding forming a separate church, Wesley said, “I also advise the elders to administer the Supper of the Lord, on every Lord’s Day.” His liturgy prepared for, and adopted by American Methodists in that year presupposes such a practice.

Not only in practice but in theory as well, a falling away from the Wesleyan ideas has occurred. The average Methodist minister or congregation is not at home with Wesleyan doctrine in regard to the sacraments. Wesley’s “Treatise on Baptism,” published 18 years after his Aldersgate experience, would be strongly opposed today by many in Methodist circles. The Methodist hymnal does not contain a single hymn on Baptism or the Lord’s Supper by the Wesley brothers. Wesley’s principal work on the Lord’s Supper is not even cited in Burtner and Chiles’ Compend of Wesley’s Theology, although this is an effort to set forth Wesley’s teaching.

Conservative Aspects

In that it seeks to return to basic principles within Methodism, the Sacramental Revival is a conservative movement. It seeks a return to the original character of the Wesleyan movement in opposition to the lowest-common-denominator revivalism that once prevailed in America and to the humanism which succeeded it.

The Sacramental Revival is conservative in that it seeks a worship rooted in biblical concepts. It magnifies the sacraments because the New Testament magnifies them. In them the drama of redemption is shown and becomes effective. The worship of the church must, in this view, center around the Gospel as an objective fact. The faith cannot be what each individual feels it is, but what Christendom has always declared it to be.

With regard to the church union, this movement also represents a distinct point of law. It believes in it, and prayer is constantly offered for that objective. But in contrast to the views sometimes held out, it does not hope for a union achieved by disregarding the basic doctrines of Christianity. Union however reached, must always be built upon the forthright acceptance of the faith revealed in the New Testament and believed by the undivided church.

The Past And The Present

The Sacramental Revival has vital relation to the past: to Wesley, to the Church of England, and to the primitive Church. It is related to modern movements: the revival of biblical theology, the liturgical movement, and the ecumenical movement. It is related to the personal spiritual needs of individuals, and is supported generally by those who have found it satisfying religiously. For these reasons it is reaching an ever-increasing number of Methodists.

The present writer is a convinced supporter of this movement. I believe in its principles. I realize that many, both inside and outside Methodism, have yet to evaluate it. But sooner or later they will do so. To the conservative that would consider the qualities of the movement, I would suggest that he keep in mind the following:

1. Its doctrinal base. Do not confuse it with externels: robes, candles, and incense are not the basic things in this movement.

2. Its unquestioned loyalty to the historic Christian faith, magnifying the Incarnation, Atonement, and Resurrection.

3. Its spiritual quality.

4. Its close connection with the thought and practice of John Wesley and other early Methodist leaders.

We Quote:

HENRY J. CADBURY

Professor, Haverford College

Whenever we review the higher criticism of past centuries, we realize how much it proceeded in accordance with changing styles or was affected by external influences. But we find it difficult to recognize and allow for similar patterns in our own day. Thus neo-orthodoxy and ecumenicity have replaced former influences, only to give place, I suppose, to other patterns of tomorrow. Even bodies of newly discovered or newly studied literature are successively exploited. The gospel of John has always proved puzzling. During the past half century one clue after another has been pressed to provide a solution; the mystery religions, apocalyptic Judaism, Mandaism, Hermeticism, have all had a turn.… Any experienced historian of criticism could have predicted that if a substantial body of new information about a contemporary Jewish or Christian movement were discovered in 1947, men would at once be found to claim therein a key to the gospel of John. Such a prediction has been enthusiastically and uncritically fulfilled since the publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This reminds us how hard it is to acquire perspective towards our own time.—In an article, “Some Foibles of New Testament Scholarship,” in The Journal of Bible and Religion, July, 1958.

Mrs. Lillian Turner is a church secretary in Mississippi, and a graduate of Draughan’s Business College in Jackson. She writes of a small but growing movement in American Methodism. In England its strongest organizational expression is the Methodist Sacramental Fellowship, formed 1935, and in the United States, the Order of Saint Luke, founded 1946.

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