About Spiritual Life

Maybe you're not sure yet about living a spiritual life. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for 50 years. And maybe you just invited God into your life 5 minutes ago. The information on the next few pages is important. Spend some time here. It is not exhaustive but it tells you some of what is Central to being a Methodist Christian.

There are two kinds of believing, and both are essential for Christian life. They're closely related and influence each other, but they're different. One is belief and the other, beliefs. One is faith and the other, doctrine or theology.

Faith

Faith is the basic orientation and commitment of our whole being - a matter of heart and soul. Christian faith is grounding our lives in the living God as revealed especially in Jesus Christ. It's both a gift we receive within the Christian community and a choice we make. It's trusting in God and relying on God as the source and destiny of our lives. Faith is believing in God, giving God our devoted loyalty and allegiance. Faith is following Jesus, answering the call to be his disciples in the world. Faith is hoping for God’s future, leaning into the coming kingdom that God has promised. Faith-as-belief is active; it involves trusting, believing, following, hoping.

Theology

Theology or doctrine is more a matter of the head. It's thinking together in the community of believers about faith and discipleship. It's reflecting on the gospel. It's examining the various beliefs we hold as a church. Some may say that theology is only for professional theologians. This is not true. All of us, young and old, lay and clergy, need to work at this theological task so that our beliefs will actually guide our day-by-day actions and so that we can communicate our belief to an unbelieving world.

The World

Most importantly, The United Methodist Church believes God's love for the world is an active and engaged love, a love seeking justice and liberty. We cannot just be observers. So we care enough about people's lives to risk interpreting God's love, to take a stand, to call each of us into a response, no matter how controversial or complex. The church helps us think and act out of a faith perspective, not just respond to all the other "mind-makers-up" that exist in our society.

No information is truly neutral. This is true even of the most "hard scientific" data secured from the most advanced technology. These resolutions do strive for objectivity, not neutrality. There are usually more than "two sides" in important social controversies. Dialogue between different sides is critical in taking a stand. Faithfulness requires favoring what best demonstrates God's love and being willing to change when new perspectives or data emerge.(Excerpt from United Methodist Member’s Handbook, Revised by George Koehler (Discipleship Resources, 2006), pp. 61.)

Where do I begin?

Read the Bible - start with the New Testament books of John, Acts, and Romans.

Read the News - start with the front page and ask yourself - how might I respond with love?

Talk to people - especially those who display a genuine relationship with God - those who obviously live by spiritual practices.

Spend time in nature, observing and experiencing God's creation.

Question things everybody seems to take for granted - be a lover of truth.

Recognize that following God must make sense: truth may go beyond reason, but not against it.

Write down your questions as you read the Bible and the newspaper and take them to knowledgeable Christians who respect your seeking.

Know your presuppositions - the things you already believe - and hold them with care as you ask new questions.

Know your personal issues: your past may profoundly influence your present.

Remember that you don't have to know everything to know something.

Determine to seek for a specific period of time, and continually evaluate your progress. Then try to reach an appropriate conclusion.

Act on what you decide: "Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; he who seeks, finds: and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, verses 7,8).