Another Perspective
Tale of Two Churches
American Methodists avoid the splits that now characterize U.S. Episcopalians.
Arguably the Episcopal and Methodist Churches have been America’s historically most influential. Numerous American elites, including many of the Founders, were and are Episcopalian, making it often the de facto “established” church. And Methodism became America’s largest church in the 19th century, creating the evangelical populist ethos that robustly survives today, if now mostly among other denominations.
Like other Mainline denominations, Episcopal and Methodist seminaries succumbed to theological liberalism early in the 20th century, reaching radical crescendos in the 1960s, when both churches began numerically to decline, a decline that continues until this day.
But the two denominations now seem set on different trajectories, as vividly illustrated by very recent events. Last week, the newly formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) convened its first provincial assembly, bringing into one denomination an estimated 100,000 regular worshipers and 700 congregations. Most of these Anglicans have left the Episcopal Church since 2003, when Gene Robinson became the first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop.
“There is a great Reformation if the Christian Church underway,” ACNA’s new Archbishop Robert Duncan told the ACNA audience last week in Bedford, Texas. “We North American Anglicans are very much in the midst of it. While much of mainline Protestantism is finding itself adrift from its moorings (submission to the Word of God), just like Western Anglicanism, there is an ever-growing stream of North American Protestantism that has re-embraced Scripture’s authority (just as we have).”
Duncan was formerly the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, which, with several other U.S. dioceses, left the Episcopal Church and joined ACNA. “The Father truly is drawing His children together again in a surprising and sovereign move of the Holy Spirit,” Duncan said. “He is again Re-Forming His Church. This also explains why there is such keen interest in what is happening here in these days among our Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters.”
One Orthodox “brother” was Metropolitan Jonah of the [Russian] Orthodox Church in America, who joined ACNA last week in Bedford. So too did California megachurch pastor Rick Warren, who told approving Anglicans: “God has not called the ACNA to be a reactionary group. In the first place, you didn’t leave them [the Episcopal Church].” Warren asserted that it was the old denomination that left the Anglican tradition.
Most in ACNA see the Episcopal Church as theologically irretrievable. Its membership now stands just over 2 million, more than 90 percent of it in the U.S., and the small remainder scattered in Latin America, Taiwan and Europe. The Episcopal Church belongs to the global Anglican Communion, with nearly 80 million members, and symbolically headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has not yet recognized ACNA. But Anglican primates in Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and elsewhere in the Global South, with tens of millions of members, have recognized ACNA, with some no longer in communion with the Episcopal Church. The U.S. Episcopal Church’s General Convention will meet in July in Anaheim, California. As an almost all-U.S. body, American Episcopalians can largely do as they please. Global Anglicans can threaten sanctions or ultimately ouster but have no direct juridical authority over the U.S. Episcopal Church.
United Methodists are organized very differently, hence their avoidance of schism. Nearly a third of the over 11 million member denomination lives overseas, mostly in Africa, in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Liberia. In 45 years, the U.S. church membership has fallen from 11 million to 7.9 million, while the overseas membership has surged to over 3 million and is fast growing. In two decades or less, most United Methodists will likely be African.
Unlike the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church began enacting strict guidelines on marriage and homosexuality starting in 1972, prohibiting actively homosexual clergy and same-sex unions, while affirming sex only in marriage between man and woman. Church courts have repeatedly affirmed these policies in high profile cases. Liberal efforts to overthrow these stances at the quadrennial governing General Conference, mostly recently last year, have met defeat, especially thanks to outspokenly conservative African delegates, who were 20 percent of the delegates and will be at least 30 percent next time.
Frustrated by the African obstacle, United Methodist liberals advocated creating a new U.S. only “regional” conference to deliberate over U.S. church business, omitting Africans and other internationals. Potentially a U.S.-only church convention could have redefined marriage and sexual standards for the U.S. church. Despite strong backing from U.S. bishops, which included a lesbian couple’s testimony even at the church’s Mississippi Annual Conference, this U.S. “global segregation plan” is being defeated by a nearly 2 to 1 in votes across the state-level annual conferences in the U.S. African conferences will vote later this year and almost certainly will follow suit.
“Here’s the great virtue of our church,” United Methodist theologian Billy Abraham of Southern Methodist University’s seminary told Virginia United Methodists a few weeks ago. “Our canon law has turned out to be extraordinarily healthy and good. And we have a universal canon law that works right across the face of the church. The Anglicans and the Episcopalians do not have that, and that has cost them dearly in dealing with the whole debate about homosexuality.”
The Episcopal Church has split, with the new ACNA looking to leadership from Anglican primates (archbishops) in Africa. United Methodism has not split, thanks to leadership from its African members. Episcopal elites and Methodist circuit riders of 200 years ago did not foresee that the spiritual spawn of U.S. missionaries in Africa would play such a role in their own U.S. churches. But they likely would have enjoyed the irony
About the Author
Mark Tooley is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C. and author of Methodism and Politics in the Twentieth Century. You can follow him on Twitter @markdtooley.
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Andrew B| 6.30.09 @ 6:58AM
As an Episcopalian-turned-Anglican, I will take a certain degree of grim satisfaction in watching the implosion of what remains of my former denomination. It will be especially sweet to see the open-minded, inclusive liberals in the Episcopal Church become increasingly frantic to squeeze out and silence any influence from Africa, Latin America and elsewhere. There is nothing more delightful to the ear than the crash of colliding liberal pieties.
Richard Baker| 6.30.09 @ 8:02AM
Regardless, the Methodists in America are in their death throes. When it has become a footnote here, the African church will probably send missionaries here to convert the "heathen savages". Black man's burden, anyone?
Ryan| 6.30.09 @ 8:24AM
The feel-good messages of the mainline (and some megachurch) denominations are going to be their downfall - the undercurrent in the theology remains that we can do whatever we want and God is okay with us.
Who needs to go to church to hear that?
Their preachers have become more motivational speakers than actual pastors. They speak more to the selfishness of man than the Glory of God, and to adherence to His Word.
Ohio Annie| 6.30.09 @ 9:35AM
Regardless of the UMC's polity, there are some openly practicing homosexual pastors who get a pass from liberal bishops and district superintendents. They use the "self-avowed" loophole to get away with it. As long as the pastor doesn't tell the bishop, DA, or head of the PPR committe that he is homosexual, then, according to the church, he isn't one. And in such cases, nobody asks. Don't ask, don't tell. There is a case of this in Ohio that I know of. De colores, baby.
Steve| 6.30.09 @ 9:47AM
The Orthodox Church in America is not [Russian], although it is descended from the Church established by Russian missionaries in Alaska in 1794. Currently the Orthodox Church in America is majority convert among the laity and overwhelmingly majority convert among the clergy, including our Bishops. A parishe that has a clear ethnic character might easily be Albanian, Bulgarian, Mexican, or Roumanian. Also, Metropolitan Jonah (a convert), the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, VISITED the Anglicans and ADDRESSED them--saying he "joined" them is ambiguous to the point of inaccuracy.
David T.| 6.30.09 @ 9:52AM
Anglicans took great pride in following the "via media", the middle way between Catholics and Protestants. Originally applied to the liturgy, via media is now a convenient tool for doctrinal compromise, especially in the Episcopal Church, where liberals see themselves as the vanguard of progressive virtues. Unfortunately for them, there is no middle way between sin and righteousness. Creation of the ACNA is a God-send for traditional Episcopalians.
Matchett-PI| 6.30.09 @ 10:49AM
The 55 Framers (from North to South):
John Langdon, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Nicholas Gilman, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Elbridge Gerry, Episcoplian (Calvinist)
Rufus King, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Caleb Strong, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Nathaniel Gorham, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Roger Sherman, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
William Samuel Johnson, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Oliver Ellsworth, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Alexander Hamilton, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
John Lansing, Dutch Reformed (Calvinist)
Robert Yates, Dutch Reformed (Calvinist)
William Patterson, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
William Livingston, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Jonathan Dayton, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
David Brearly, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
William Churchill Houston, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Benjamin Franklin, Christian in his youth, Deist in later years, then back to his Puritan background in his old age (his June 28, 1787 prayer at the Constitutional Convention was from no "Deist")
Robert Morris, Episcopalian, (Calvinist)
James Wilson, probably a Deist
Gouverneur Morris, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Thomas Mifflin, Lutheran (Calvinist-lite)
George Clymer, Quaker turned Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Thomas FitzSimmons, Roman Catholic
Jared Ingersoll, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
John Dickinson, Quaker turned Episcopalian (Calvinist)
George Read, Episcopalian, (Calvinist)
Richard Bassett, Methodist
Gunning Bedford, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Jacob Broom, Lutheran
Luther Martin, Episcopalian, (Calvinist)
Daniel Carroll, Roman Catholic
John Francis Mercer, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
James McHenry, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Daniel of St Thomas Jennifer, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
George Washington, Episcopalian (Calvinist; no, he was not a deist)
James Madison, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
George Mason, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Edmund Jennings Randolph, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
James Blair, Jr., Episcopalian (Calvinist)
James McClung, ?
George Wythe, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
William Richardson Davie, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Hugh Williamson, Presbyterian, possibly later became a Deist
William Blount, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Alexander Martin, Presbyterian/Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr., Episcopalian (Calvinist)
John Rutledge, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, III, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Abraham Baldwin, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
William Leigh Pierce, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
William Houstoun, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
William Few, Methodist
NOTE: Historic Protestant, Episcopalian doctrine is Reformed and Calvinistic. The Episcopalian church that adheres to its historic doctrine is still Reformed in the United States.
"Calvinism prevailed in England since it was the theology behind the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) of the Church of England" (Paul Enns, *Moody Handbook of Theology*. Chicago: Moody Press, 1989), p. 476.
The Episcopalians held as their subordinate standards the 39 Articles of Religion. This confession is Calvinistic in emphasis.
During that historic period, not only the 39 Articles of Religion ("Episcopalians"), but whenever you read of the Waldensians, the Bohemian Brethren (in Poland), the Huguenots, you're reading of churches that were Calvinistic.
Ohio Annie| 6.30.09 @ 11:05AM
The Anglicans and Methodists are most decided NOT Calvinist. They are Arminian.
DonB| 1.9.10 @ 12:36PM
Uh.. no we're not. Many Anglicans are Calvinist.
Pingback| 6.30.09 @ 11:07AM
Tale of Two Churches | Informations from foreign links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Jay| 6.30.09 @ 11:32AM
As a former Episcopalian who left and went to an independent church for fifteen years, I have now returned to embrace the new Anglican Church of North America. I believe we have some unique opportunities before us. 1. To embrace and embody the true catholic and evangelical faith "once delivered to the saints." 2. To evangelize the unchurched free of the post-modern straight jacket of "Episcopalianism." 3. Employ contemporary vehicles for accomplishing all of this. God willing,
exciting and productive times lie ahead.
Big Leo| 6.30.09 @ 11:54AM
Well, Mark. We beat 'em again. The IRD and the Good News movement have stopped the coup to take the US UMC out of the church. Thank you for your leadership in this. The Methodist Church is still divided, but the statistics show that it is the liberal part of it that is shrinking. Alone of the mainline denominations, we are winning the battle against the liberal agenda. Unfortunately, we are winning it too slowly, and the public face of Methodism is too often its liberal boards and high leadership. However, I don't know anyone forty years ago who would have predicted that we would be winning this struggle or even breaking even.
Matchett-- I don't think the Anglican or Lutheran churches can be considered Calvinist, although Calvinist theology has influenced most Protestants. By the same token, the free will beliefs of Methodism have had a strong influence on the Calvinist churches in the United States.
Tony in Central PA| 6.30.09 @ 11:57AM
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the outspoken bishop Shelby Spong a key figure on the liberal side of the American Episcopalian divide ? I seem to recall he wrote a book several years back that said something like " Why Christianity Must Change or Die ". I know the media seized upon it with breathless anticipation as they always do when they connect Christianity with failure. Maybe Spong should have paying more attention to what was happening in his own parish.
Avtomat| 6.30.09 @ 1:30PM
Ohio Annie: there are many evangelical and reformed Anglicans (i.e., Calvinist). In fact, the 39 articles establishing the Church of England was very reformed in nature.
Whistle Pig| 6.30.09 @ 2:39PM
Indeed, despite the author's cheerleading to illustrate his perception of difference in canon law and thus current day outcomes, as Ryan has noted, it seems generally, U.S. Methodism is on the fast-track to fossilization, no doubt because of the point made almost left-handedly in this article: Others have embraced the notion of evangelicalism and the sacred message of the Word, while this hallmark of the Methodist circuit-riders has been abandoned for the feel-good, anything goes, sin is what people used to do theology of the culture.
And as noted, who needs church to embrace hedonism, although it's available in a great many of them, it seems.
Whistle Pig| 6.30.09 @ 2:43PM
And in the end, these denominational gigs are being exposed as the withering, man-manufactured power bases for a bunch of ministers who could not minister but needed bully pulpits. And quite often those bully pulpits are accompanied by loads of cash, too, much of which is spent on anything and everything but the Lord's work.
Alan Brooks| 6.30.09 @ 4:51PM
another reason why it is best to turn to the true Church, the one headed by Benedict.
Alan Brooks| 6.30.09 @ 4:53PM
Whistle,
I'll take the cash-laden bullies over the alternative.
ccd| 6.30.09 @ 10:44PM
Churches schism all the time. It's just a bit of fun, look at the reformation. Some sects will be pro gay somee will be against. It doesn't matter, either way in 50 years people will wonder what all the fuss was about.
Aussie| 7.1.09 @ 12:04AM
Jesus established ONE church a restoration of laws that aplied to Adam and Eve . A thousand churches can all be wrong only one can have the authority of Jesus Christ. Only one man [to the best of my knowledge ] has ever claimed the direct authority to restore the Church in these latter days . Joseph Smith jnr. As with the current debate the devil gained a lot of followers and the true church was split and only a small number still adhering to the true Church of Jesus Christ, aka The Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ , Even now the church has an apostate leadership , the usual satinic suspects homosexual s women exceding their authority . etc . One thing you can all count on is that time is very short dont be so blind that you dont see the han d of God in u. s. a. history very soon.
sophie | 7.1.09 @ 5:27AM
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Lee| 7.1.09 @ 2:46PM
I have several Methodist brothers in Christ. I find them to be theologically strong, spirit filled, conservative, and evangelistic. When I ask them why they are still in the Methodist denomination, they reply; 'the Methodist church is their mission field.'
Many current day Methodist are truly borned- again and are making a difference. I see the liberal upper leadership being thrown out in the not too distance future.
Bryan| 7.2.09 @ 3:53PM
I can assure you that both Methodists and Episcopalians are not Calvinists. All one needs to do is take a look at the writings of John Wesley - a classically trained ordained Anglican minister and father of the Methodist movement - to get a sense of how distasteful reformed theology was to him, and us. We are decidedly Armenian believing wholly and completely in the gift of free will.
Matchett-PI, next time do your homework.
Pingback| 11.6.09 @ 4:07PM
Dorothy Day was almost a Methodist… « The New Methodists links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: