Discipleship and the people called Methodists

Book Review - Discipleship… and the people called Methodists

By Martyn Atkins - General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Britain

This book is a personal account about Christian discipleship from a Methodist perspective, which can be read by individuals or reflected upon in groups. It is intended to encourage, stimulate and challenge, and start conversations. It is split into sections at the end of which questions for discussion are asked and can be used by classes as a study course.

Although I have been connected with the Methodist Church from a very early age I found the book enlightening. It traces how Methodism started as a regular meeting (society) on a Thursday night and how it developed into a new church. It also goes into the original structures of the Methodist Church – from the smallest group called a band through classes and societies (churches) to the Connexion at the top. The book explains the purpose of each group. This is the first time I had come across the term “band”.
The band consisted of about six people and its purpose was to deepen discipleship, particularly through confession, accountability and prayer. The bands tended to be self-selecting and ‘single-sex’ – men meeting with men and women with women.

A particularly striking thing about Methodist societies and classes was the unquestioned assumption that discipleship requires mutual encouragement and help. A Methodist society is “a company of men and women… united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their salvation.” Another significant fact about Methodism was that the great majority of preachers and society and class leaders were laypeople.
 

There was one condition for admission into Methodist society a person must “desire to flee from the wrath to come, and be saved from their sins.” I.e. you join a Methodist society because you desire to become the best Christian disciple you can. There were three simple rules to being a Methodist - Do no harm. Do good. Love God. The ‘Ordinances of God’ were practices that kept the relationship between God and human beings vital and living. These were public worship of God, Holy Communion, prayer, searching the Scriptures, Bible study and fasting. I don’t ever remember a hearing a sermon on the benefits of fasting and Robert was very cagey when I asked him if he had ever preached on fasting.

Martyn Atkins says that today Methodist societies have become ‘local churches’. ‘Classes’ and ‘bands’ have largely disappeared, and with them key elements of disciple-making. For many Methodists the pattern of Christian belonging consists only of attending Sunday worship as a member of a congregation, and doesn’t include belonging to a genuine ‘small group’ designed intentionally to deepen discipleship. This is far removed from the Methodist tradition and contemporary experience concerning the ‘structures’ seemingly best able to make better disciples of Christ today.

Has the present day Methodist Church lost its way? How does Banner Cross Methodist Church compare with the early Methodist Church? If you want to explore these questions further, or find out more about the early Methodist Church, there are a couple of copies of the book on the Banner Cross Bookshelves. Copies are also available from the Circuit Office or can be downloaded from:
www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/pubs-intra-discipleship-120710.pdf