Methodism

A Methodist Church in the US looks very much like most Protestant churches, I think. There will be large great room with high ceilings, called the santuary where services are held. In the front of the sanctuary will be a raised platform. In the center will be the altar table, covered with a purple velvet cloth, with a metal cross sitting in the middle and brass candle sticks with white candles on each side. The candles are lit just before a service begins. The altar cloth is usually embroidered with a gold cross and the alpha and omega symbols. Collection plates, stacked up, will sit in front. In Communion Sundays, the Communion necessities will also sit on the altar table.

Usually there is a choir loft , with seats for the choir, sometimes facing the audience and sometime split into two sections, one on each side, sideways to the audience.

There will be communion rail with padded cushions on which to kneel , facing the altar. The organ is usually in the front built into a corner of the choir loft. There will probably be a piano somewhere in the front. The will be a baptismal font near the altar.

There are typically two pulpits, one on each side, closer to the audience than the choir and altar. The left pulpit usually has the large pulpit Bible which sits on a built in stand. Large American and Christian flags hang on poles on either side of the pulpits. The exposed floor in the front and the aisles are usually carpeted. There is usually a sound system with microphone set up at the pulpits .

For seating there are rows of benches known as pews. There is almost always a

central aisle which leads directly from the main door in the back of the church to the altar in front. The arrangement of side aisles varies considerably with the size and shape of the sanctuary.

The backs of the pews have racks for hymnals and often Bibles, usually with red covers nowadays. On the wall in front is typically a round window , known as a rose window and the side windows often have arches at the top . Colored glass is common and some Methodist churches have elaborate stained glass windows depicting Bible scenes.

Behind the sanctuary and separated usually by curtains, is the foyer. ( The curtains

can be opened in the event of an overflow crowd.) The foyer has coat racks and

tables that hold literature and bulletins . Usually there is a guest book that visitors can sign.

Besides the sanctuary, a Methodist usually contains a large reception hall with an adjoining kitchen, restrooms and a number of class rooms for Sunday school.

Theologically the answer to this question is Jesus Christ.

Across the globe there are several Methodist Churches (denominations). The United Methodist Church, the largest, has no one person who is the leader of the church, like a Pope or Archbishop. Instead, the form of governance is more like the US federal government. It has Judiciary, a Legislative, and Executive bodies. However, the Executive is composed of all the active Bishops, not one President like in the U.S. Federal Government. Official policy is set every four years at the General Conference, a legislative body composed of representative delegates. Twice a year a nine-person Judicial Council meets to interpret questions of law brought before it (questions of policy and procedure, not of censure or discipline). The Episcopacy (the Executive body) is composed of all the active bishops. It does have a President, but this bishop does not act as the president of the denomination, only of the Council of Bishops.

In other churches, such as the Methodist Church of Great Brittan, they do elect a President every year. The current (2009) President of the Methodist Church of Great Brittan is The Reverend David Gamble. You can read more about this here: http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=1567

John Wesley is recognized as the founder of the Methodist Church. http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/foxwesley.stm His brother, Charles Wesley, wrote more thatn 9000 hymns and songs for the church.

Richard Allen is credited with founding the denomination altough he had lots of help

This question could refer to many different people, so it's practically impossible to create an exhaustive list. Here are a couple of people who sang in church choirs while growing up as Methodist pastors' grandchildren:

Leontyne Price

Every church is different. But usually churches, are usually adorned with different symbols, and objects that represent or have meaning in that particular faith. Since they are places where people worship they are clean and people treat them better than their own homes.

Although the Methodist church does not encourage or support divorce, it will perform marriages of people who had divorced another person.

No, Baptists do not have a pope.

He lost his right arm in 1860.

As an infant, you are baptized in your parents' faith. Wh en you are at an age of accountability, usually in the junior high years, you are confirmed in your own faith after a period of study with your pastor or church elders. The act of confirmation signifies that you comprehend the basic philosophy of Christianity and what is expected of you as a practicing Presbyterian.

He needed to know Christ personally.

Methodists don't agree with it, but we love homosexuals anyways and try to give them support

Even though there aren't much around now,but in the past the Methodist Episcopal south was different from the methodist episcopal because the methodist episcopal south believed in owning slaves.

The Methodist Church started out in middle part of the 18th century in England.

They were a small group of religious scholars that studied scripture and theology in a very methodical way. They were accussed of being as such and the term "Methodist" stuck. This happened at Oxford University. The interesting thing to remember is that the founder of this movement, was the Rev John Wesley, who was a high church Anglican priest of the Church of England. His brother Charles was also as was his father. It was never his intention to break away from the Church of England and urged his followers to remain loyal to the established church. Despite this, the Church of England was hostile towards the Wesley's because of their preaching in the open and not inside the church. People from all over England, but especially Cornwall and Wales, became strongholds for the Methodist societies that were emerging. John Wesley sailed to the American colonies and landed in Georgia to preach to the native Indians and others. He also travelled to Philadelphia and New York.

George Whitefield was another major figure during this time. They were close friends and he was consecrated a Bishop in the colonies. In time, they developed animosities and had some serious disagreements. The Revolutionary War and its aftermath, led to the Methodists leaving the Anglican Church-it was more a political than religious decision. Rev Wesley published the Methodist Book of Worship, which was almost identical to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer which he so loved. He also encouraged that Holy Communion be celebrated every week. Most of the Anglican Articles of Religion were incorporated by the Methodists. Both Wesley's would remain staunch supporters of the Church of England despite their support in helping the new church. Unlike the Episcopal Church that was formed after the Revolutionary War and was too rigid and conservative in evangelizing-the Methodists were not as strict and used circuit riders who had little formal education to find converts and establish new churches in all the colonies. This helps to explain why the Methodists are found in all regions of the country and have more parishes than any other denomination-although they had to close many churches in the last 20 years and experienced a huge decline in membership.

But that was not the case after the war. The Methodists would until the middle half of the last century, be evangelical and its services and churches were informal with little emphasis on sacraments or its historical roots. All that changed in the last 65 years when the United Methodist Church began to act more like the other liberal mainline churches and less evangelical. The churches began to take on the style of Episcopal and Lutheran churches and the worship services became much more traditional and formal with pastors wearing vestments and celebrating Holy Communion more frequently. The UMC have entered into full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2008 and will with the Episcopal Church in 2012. The British Methodist Church and the Church of England have recently announced that both traditions will merge either this year or next.

Leontyne Price

no, celibate religious persons ( monks, unmarried priests, and as you mentioned Nuns, are rare-to-non-existant in most Protestant denominations. Luther was not only opposed to celibacy ( he married an ex-Nun- Katharine Von Bora)- but also chauvinistic as , well a Foreign Legionaire would be- he followed the Paulist track that women should not take any active role in the management of the church- apart from well, child care, singing hymns, etc. This ruled out female religious as Catholics know them. ( it is rare to find a Lutheran church named after a female saint). There are nuns and monks- which evolve into celibate priests- in the Anglo-Catholic branch of Episcopal Church, in the US, among the men- they are known as the Cowley Fathers. In a Cowley monastery rectory- there are eight breviary officers who are in charge. These men have specific responsibilities. There are also Episcopal Nuns- again rare. Not any in Lutheranism or the Baptist faith. There are Deaconesses who are involved in charitable deeds- such as nursing, in Lutheran Homes and Hospitals for example, but they are categorically NOT NUNS.

The Puritans tried to reform the Church of England along Calvinist lines and ended up separating into Congregational, Presbyterian and Baptist denominations. Without the strong Puritan influence, the Anglican churches drifted toward cold rationalism. John Wesley (1703 -1791) was the man raised up by God to awaken the spiritual life of England. Wesley was determined to revive the evangelical spirit within the Church of England. Ultimately, Wesley became the founder for the emotional movement of his time, which was called as Methodism.

One great result of the revival was the new Church, the Methodist Church. Wesley did not desire this. He loved the Church of England, and wished that the people who became Christians under his preaching and that of his fellow workers could be taken into it. But the new Church was forced upon him. Wesley theology was called "Arminianism of the heart" - an Arminianism combined with Pietism and burning with revival fire. Methodism and Wesley left an indelible impression on North American evangelical theology and for the rest of the denominations of the world.

A still greater result of the revival was a spiritual awakening of England, affecting the nation widely and deeply. Thousands of people who had been living in practical heathenism, because of the neglect of the Church of England, were gathered into the Methodist societies.

- By S. A. Devasahayam, can be contacted at dsahayam@sify.com

Yes, it is the Sabbath after all. :D

The Methodist version is: : Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name : Thy kingdom come,Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven. : Give us this day our daily bread. : And forgive us our trespasses, : As we forgive those who trespass against us. : And lead us not into temptation, : But deliver us from evil. : For thine is the kingdom, : and the power, and the glory, : for ever and ever. Amen.

r u asking how we feel about it or what we believe happenes?