OPTIONS CONSIDERED


Option 1: Remain independent

If the congregation wishes to remain independent, there are two paths:

One choice is that we can be truly independent and not affiliate with any formal denomination.

A second choice is we can be “independent” and affiliate with the Association of Independent Methodists.

On a fundamental level, if we are to call ourselves a “Methodist” congregation, we should be affiliated with other similarly minded congregations. More practically, affiliation with a denomination will provide assurances to our staff that employee benefit matters will be taken care of. There is also a great value to be found in peer-to-peer relations for our congregation and our staff.


Option 2: Affiliate with another Methodist denomination

Our primary choices in this area are:

     * Global Methodist Church

     * Free Methodist Church

     * Wesleyan Church

     * Nazarene Church

     * Congregational Methodist Church


In this video, Bishop Scott Jones discusses many of the options we have available:

Bishop Scott Jones (Denominational Options) - YouTube


Each of the above choices is summarized in the chart below, and more details can be found in the tabs below and the individual websites that are linked.  



Please continue to ask God’s guidance during this period of decision.  May God continue to bless the members and mission of Crystal Springs United Methodist Church.


Please continue to earnestly pray and seek the Lord in what you believe He would have us do. Search the scriptures. 


Continue to be gracious to all. Let us seek to honor, respect, and be loving in all interactions throughout this decision period. 

DENOMINATIONAL COMPARISON

An excellent article by Tom Lambrecht that discusses the similarities and differences among these denominations can be found here:

                                       https://goodnewsmag.org/considering-methodist-options/



Please click on the following buttons to read about what each Methodist Denomination has to offer:


  • Global Methodist Church

     

    The Global Methodist Church website can be found here:  GLOBAL METHODIST CHURCH.

     

    It is a church committed to making disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. The Global Methodist Church is filled with warm-hearted, Jesus loving, and Holy Spirit inspired people. They are grounded in Scripture and the life giving confessions of the Christian faith found in the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creeds. 


    The core beliefs of the GMC are that the one God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – has created all things; that Jesus Christ, through the power of his cross and Resurrection, is the Lord and Savior of all the world; and that the Holy Spirit empowers the people of his church to worship and praise God and to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world in word and deed.


    There are many good videos on YouTube regarding the GMC. Among them:


    Rob Renfroe - Where Should We Go? - YouTube


    Bishop Scott Jones (Global Methodist Church) - YouTube


    Bishop Scott Jones - Advantages of the GMC - YouTube

  • Free Methodist Church

     

    The Free Methodist Church website can be found here:  Free Methodist Church USA.

     

    The FMC holds to five values that express the distinctives that set them apart from other faith families in the body of Christ. Those values are:


    GOD’S CALL TO HOLINESS was never meant to be a burden, but a gift that liberates us for life that is truly life by delivering us from the destructive power of sin.


    LOVE IS THE WAY WE DEMONSTRATE GOD’S HEART FOR JUSTICE by valuing the image of God in all men, women, and children, acting with compassion toward the oppressed, resisting oppression, and stewarding Creation.


    THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST — the message He proclaimed, the life He lived, and the ministry He modeled — set into motion a redemptive movement destined to fill the whole earth.


    FROM THE BEGINNING, GOD’S INTENT WAS TO HAVE A PEOPLE FROM EVERY NATION, culture and ethnicity, united in Christ and commissioned to carry out His work in the world.


    WE HOLD UNWAVERINGLY to our conviction that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and our final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

  • Wesleyan Church

     

    The Wesleyan Church website can be found here:  The Wesleyan Church.

     

    Wesleyans “believe in one God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the Savior of all who put their faith in Him alone for eternal life. We believe that those who are made new in Christ are called to be holy in character and conduct, and can only live this way by being filled with the Lord’s Spirit. We believe in the Bible and its sufficiency to establish our faith and conduct. We believe God wills for people everywhere to know Him and be made new in Christ. We believe that the purpose of the Church is to worship God in spirit and in truth, and to reach a lost and fallen world with the gospel of Jesus Christ through its worship, witness, and loving deeds.”  


    Additionally, the WC has these tenets:

    SPIRIT-LED FOCUS REQUIRES PRAYERFUL OBEDIENCE - We choose obedience over personal preference, with prayer as offense, not just defense. The Holy Spirit, not us, starts and leads the movement. Discerning and faithfully following the Spirit’s leading produces the transforming fruit God plans for us.

    GOD’S VISION REQUIRES BIG RELATIONSHIPS  - Big relationships are built on love, collaboration, and forgiveness. We choose trust over tension and mutual voluntary submission in our relationships to unite in pursuing God’s vision.

    THE GOSPEL GAP REQUIRES A KINGDOM FORCE - There is a growing gap between the gospel and our cultures. We must mobilize a multiethnic, multi-generational and multi-economic Kingdom Force of disciples making disciples to close the gap. Our Kingdom Force includes laity and clergy, women and men, from everywhere to everywhere.

  • Nazarene Church

     

    The Nazarene Church website can be found here:  Home - Church of the Nazarene.

     

    The mission of the Church of the Nazarene is to make Christlike disciples in the nations.  


    The core beliefs of the CofN are “the essence of our identity and support the vision of our denomination and help shape our culture.” They can be found in detail here: Core Values | Church of the Nazarene

  • Congregational Methodist Church

     

    The Congregational Methodist Church website can be found here:  Home (cm-church.org).

     

    The mission of the CMC is “to share the message of a heart-warming religion, and organize the people for discipleship. The Church mission is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.


    Our community, our nation, even our world, is our responsibility. As John Wesley stated, ‘I consider all the world as my parish.’ The Church, therefore, is to be the physical manifestation of Jesus to its community and world. This is accomplished by the indwelling Spirit empowering the saints to continue the ministry and publish the message of Jesus.”

     

    The CMC is a denomination made up of individual churches with full autonomy in worship styles and ministry, meaning there are many differences among our churches. 


    In common, 

    “WE BELIEVE IN THE HOLY TRINITY

    WE BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER

    WE BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST

    WE BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

    WE BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE

    WE BELIEVE THAT GOD HAS PLACED SUPREME VALUE ON EVERY PERSON

    WE BELIEVE THAT GOD INSTITUTED MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

    WE BELIEVE IN FREE MORAL AGENCY

    WE BELIEVE IN SALVATION

    WE BELIEVE IN THE ATONEMENT

    WE BELIEVE IN THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH

    WE BELIEVE IN JUSTIFICATION, REGENERATION AND ADOPTION

    WE BELIEVE THAT GOD HAS PREPARED GOOD WORKS FOR EVERY BELIEVER TO ACCOMPLISH

    WE BELIEVE THAT NO HUMAN BEING IS ABOVE THE POSSIBILITY OF SIN

    WE BELIEVE IN SANCTIFICATION

    WE BELIEVE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES GIFTS TO EVERY CHRISTIAN

    WE BELIEVE IN THE CHURCH

    WE BELIEVE IN THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS

    WE BELIEVE IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

    WE BELIEVE IN THE ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

    WE BELIEVE IN THE SACRAMENTS OF BAPTISM AND HOLY COMMUNION

    WE BELIEVE IN ETERNAL LIFE

    WE BELIEVE IN THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST

    WE BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

    WE BELIEVE IN THE JUDGMENT AND ETERNAL DESTINY”