FM History & Polity – Assignment 3

Post a reflection based on your reading of the first three chapters of the 2015 Free Methodist Book of Discipline.  Don’t forget to come back and share observations on at least three of your fellow classmates’ posts.

18 Responses to “FM History & Polity – Assignment 3”

  1. Thomas Werstler says:

    Read the first 3 chapters of Book of Discipline. It definitely provides a good framework of who we are and what we are to do and how we are to act. It’s interesting to me seeing this written out and then seeing some of the opposite things being practiced. At the Keystone Connect, I was in a class where a lead pastor called two people “beasts”. Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but Paragraph 158 warns us not to do that? I marked other things I had questions about. Will definitely like to discuss these things at our meeting in April. The Book of Discipline also helped me understand some other things as well. – I looked up other things I was curious about too.

    • Pamela Truesdale says:

      I think that people are just fallible and that we often fall short of what God expects of us and what the church expects of us. I think even we are capable of doing or saying things out of alignment with the Book of Discipline. Sometimes people forget the enemy is not people, but rather powers and principalities of darkness. I think it’s important for us to be aware of our guidelines in order to make sure we ourselves are doing our best follow them and repenting when we mess up.

      • Dan Robinson says:

        Hi Pam,

        I love your comment, and you are right! Even the most spiritually connected and sound people are still human. They are riddle with things that are working against them and can be overtaken by those things at any time. It is important that as leaders within out church’s that we are sensitive to how things are done and be able to ask questions as to why things are done a certain way or why changes are happening. Are they for “us” or are they truly for God.

    • Shawn Pierce says:

      I too looked up a few different things. Most of which were the scriptures. And you are correct. Sometimes it is crazy to see some of the opposite things being practiced. I think it’s stuff like that that gives us Christian’s a “bad name” if you will.

  2. Shawn Pierce says:

    Having served in a leadership position at our church for more than 10 years now, I’ve seen all of these principles used and set in place as our general guidelines. I thought that these were just the basic rules to follow in leadership in our church. Actually seeing them all laid out this way gives a much more clear mindset as to how we can lead by example, rather than using the “do as I say not as I do method”. I would like to think that the majority of these things would be from more of a “ that goes without saying” stand point. Every bit of this is exactly what Christ expects of us if we are going to call ourselves a Christian. I am actually going to continue reading the rest of this. I will also be looking up each of the scriptures listed. So thankful that we are free to live in Jesus just as he intended for us to do!

    • Thomas Werstler says:

      The also really like the Scripture references that solidify the writings in the Book of Discipline. If I can’t find it in the Bible, I don’t take it as “gospel”. Too many times we take the “word of man” as the “Word of God”. It is also another reason as leaders, we need to be careful what we say as those who are not spiritually discerning will take these things as Christ’s words.

      • Sue Palz says:

        I agree, I also liked all the scripture references to solidify what is written in the Book of Discipline

    • Pamela Truesdale says:

      I too liked that it was backed with scripture and that the Book of Discipline really is just laying out how the bible already expects us to be living.

  3. Pamela Truesdale says:

    I skimmed through quite a bit of the Book of Discipline and was honestly surprised by how little I actually knew about the behind the scenes of the Free Methodist Church. I learned that we do not require payment for funerals or weddings, rather they can give an honorarium if they choose. I enjoyed reading through the information on the rituals of baptism, weddings, infant dedications, funerals, and communion. I also appreciated that everything in the constitution is backed with scripture. It makes me thankful that the Lord lead me to the church He did, that is aligned with scripture and preaches truth.

    • Thomas Werstler says:

      It’s funny to see that others couldn’t stop with the first 3 chapters either.Lord, help us all to continue our hunger for Truth and knowledge while th wisdom, Amen! In reading tonight in both my devotions and Bonhoeffer’s book “Life Together”, the central theme was being thankful for the smallest things. The Book of Discipline does a great job of including the “small things” as well.

    • Shawn Pierce says:

      I can’t really say there wasn’t much I didn’t know. I had just never seen it all written out like that. I’m always amazed at how God leads us to exactly the right places too. I’m also very thankful God led me to our church!

  4. Sue Palz says:

    It was educational for me. I didn’t realize so much off the framework that. Is the base for the FMC. I love the fact that the Book of Discipline is based on the authority of the Bible as God’s Holy Word as stated in paragraph 108. I guess I didn’t realize how many administrative layers there are. I particularly enjoyed chapter 3 The Christian Journey. I would like to think as a Jesus follower I practice the things discussed but there were some things I didn’t think of! I have some questions that hopefully we will be able to address at the meeting in April

    • Dan Robinson says:

      Hi Sue,

      I agree 100%, that is wonderful to see that everything that is stated comes directly from God’s word and vision for us as people. That it is just some doctrine that was given by some person and was important because they said so.

      This is it; it can be weighed against the ultimate and never-failing truth, God’s word!

    • Shawn Pierce says:

      I also enjoyed chapter 3 the most! For me personally, I think Ed that was where I gained the most information. Although the first two chapters were packed full of great things too, but for some reason 3 really stuck out to me.

  5. Dan Robinson says:

    This was such a cool read! Like Shawn had mentioned, however I have been at this many less years, it is very cool to see how this organization and faith-based structure ties everything we do as a church and as individual followers together. I the past i always had questions as to “why was it done this way” and was provided very few answers except, because that’s how it is done, very unsatisfactory.

    This is the outline that all ministry and action can be compared too, along with the Bible of course. Does what is happening in the ministry I am leading and the church that I am apart of draw directly back to this text? I think this is an important question to use an evaluation of any program or plan that can be implemented.

    • Shawn Pierce says:

      Dan, those are great questions to ask. But as long as it lies within these guidelines and can be referenced by scripture, then this is how Christianity should look. That’s how we lead by example.

    • Pamela Truesdale says:

      I too think it is important to know why we do what we do and not be given the standard, “that’s how we’ve always done it.” Oftentimes “that’s how we’ve always done it” doesn’t make it right or the best way of doing something. Knowing that there’s actually a reason and it is biblically based is important and helps people be more inclined to follow such practices.

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