Why Am I A United Methodist?
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. John 10
Why Am I a United Methodist?
Someone asked me why I sometimes call our church The Pendleton Center Church instead of The Pendleton Center United Methodist Church. They wondered if I had a problem with the United Methodist Church. Sometimes I shorten it up because it’s a mouthful to say our full name. (Many people who write a check to church just write PCUMC for the same reason.)
I am a United Methodist because I am most comfortable with our theology and practice. I like a church that encourages people to make a choice to follow God and bases their beliefs in the Bible. I support a church that earnestly believes we need to grow in our faith and one that expects people to express that faith in actions showing the love of God to the world. I also appreciate a church that can hold together people of differing ideas and values in a loving community. I also value that we are allowed to express our worship with God in differing ways with different people. And I like being a part of a global church, larger than our congregation, that will care for our church after we are gone.
However, to be honest, I am largely a United Methodist because my parents were. It was more natural to embrace the ideals and beliefs taught to me before I even knew I was learning them. I did make a choice. My father was a Lutheran. I attended a Free Methodist college and was a Free Methodist pastor for a short time. I have attended churches of many different persuasions and practices. The seminary I attended was Baptist, Episcopalian and Roman Catholic. And I appreciate some of the things other churches do. But in the end, I returned to the United Methodist church for the reasons I stated above. However, I also carried some traditions of other churches to our congregation because our United Methodist Church allows us to do that.
Some of you chose our church because of the attributes United Methodists share. Others are here because you liked the worship, or programs for your children, or because someone invited you. Some are United Methodists because you always have been. And that’s ok. It is a good church. We have been blessed by it. We won’t be the only Christians in heaven. Jesus will draw people from many different tribes to create one flock. There will even be some that disagree with us on dearly held things and we will work that out. As Christians, we all share the same Lord, the same Bible and the same hope of eternal life. But being United Methodist is our tribe, it is who we are, and I am glad to have found Christ in her midst.
Pastor Tom