Freedom An introduction to the Free Methodist Church in UK and Ireland Contact us 0117 336 5298 FMCUK Conference Office [email protected] 47 High Street Kingswood Bristol BS15 4AA Free Methodist Church UK Charity Number: 518173 Contents Introduction 5 Chapter 1 What Really Matters 7 Set Free 8 Living Free 9 Bringing Freedom 11 Multiplying Healthy Lives, Leaders and Churches 12 Chapter 2 How Do We Find Our Place in the Free Methodist story? 17 Connecting with a Great Story 17 Belonging to a Great Community 23 Engaging in the Life of the Church 34 Mission Statement “To love God, love people, and make disciples.” Vision Statement “To bring wholeness to the world through healthy biblical communities of holy people multiplying disciples, leaders, groups and churches.” 3 4 INTRODUCTION Free Methodists are passionate about life in the Spirit. We uphold Biblical teaching in a world of shifting values and social change. We love to engage in God’s mission to see lives transformed through God’s grace, knowing His truth, and being anchored by hope in Christ. In 2019, God gave the Free Methodist Church leaders a mandate to grow to 100 churches and more by 2034. This booklet is for anyone interested in the calling, values and beliefs of the Free Methodist Church. Whether you are an individual interested in knowing more about your local Free Methodist Church, or you are a church group considering affiliating with us, this introduction has been designed to help you. All Free Methodist churches have three basic elements which define them: 3. Some means by 2. Values which corporate 1. A shared that shape decisions are belief found in behaviours made and health statements of which may be in the church in its faith or Articles written down life, mission and of Religion. or sometimes organisation is are unspoken. maintained and strengthened. These have been recorded in writing so everyone can know where we stand. Ultimately, prayerful decisions and commitments to belong (or not) can be based on a full understanding of the facts. 5 Set Live FREE Bringing FREEDOM 6 1. WHAT REALLY MATTERS? “We want this church to promote the Kingdom of God.” B.T. Roberts, 1890 Howard Snyder (1940-present, Professor of Wesley Studies at Tyndale Seminary, Toronto) “The church gets into trouble whenever it thinks it is in the church business rather than the Kingdom business. In the church business, people are concerned with church activities, religious behaviour and spiritual things. In the Kingdom business, people are concerned with Kingdom activities, all human behaviour and everything God has made. Church people think about how to get people into the church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world.” We are Free Methodists The central value of Free Methodism is freedom. This is explained in three inclusive statements known as “The Freedoms.” These are Set Free, Live Free and Bringing Freedom. The Freedoms underpin the absolute conviction that Jesus Christ died and rose again to offer life for all people everywhere. Men and women are encouraged to respond to God’s call to minister the Freedoms. In freedom, people choose to live holy lives, to lead others to God, to engage in Holy Spirit-led worship in diverse languages, cultures and styles, to work for social justice, and to engage in the transforming mission of God to the world. 7 The Freedoms ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ Not one of us walks through this ________________________ broken world untouched by its ________________________ consequences. From our own wrong decisions, to attitudes that ________________________ trap our minds, to the way we’ve ________________________ been treated by other people, ________________________ we are all affected in ways we ________________________ didn’t want to be. ________________________ Some religious groups think that ________________________ by living a life around a group ________________________ of rules we can rise above this, ________________________ but we believe that there is no way we make ourselves free, no ________________________ matter want we do. ________________________ ________________________ Instead we believe in a God who ________________________ loves us so much that He himself bought our freedom. He gave ________________________ His own life so that we could ________________________ know His healing power in our ________________________ lives and no longer be trapped ________________________ by sin, fear or regret. ________________________ Because this salvation only comes through Jesus, this is 8 Good News! It is not dependent on who we are, what we have ________________________ done or where we come from. It ________________________ means that no one is excluded ________________________ from receiving this freedom. ________________________ Those who find faith in Christ are Set Free to live for Him. ________________________ ________________________ The Gospel is the Good News ________________________ about the love of God to bring ________________________ freedom to all people regardless of background, race, gender and ________________________ socio-economics. ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ Being set free from the past is ________________________ only the start of what we believe ________________________ God has for us. ________________________ ________________________ We believe the Word of God has power to change the trajectory of ________________________ a person’s life and to transform ________________________ their mindset. It calls us to live life _______________________ beyond the ordinary trappings of _______________________ this world and into the freedom God originally intended for us. ________________________ ________________________ By prioritising His will above our own, we are given access to 9 His insight, His power and His ________________________ purposes for our lives. ________________________ ________________________ Through His great help we aim ________________________ high for how we live. This means we throw off everything that ________________________ holds us back from His perfect ________________________ peace and joy. We believe all this ________________________ is experienced more fully when ________________________ we live them out together, so we build churches that connect and ________________________ build one another up. The FM ________________________ Churches become family, where ________________________ we celebrate together, support ________________________ one another and find our place in the mission God has given us ________________________ to change the world. ________________________ ________________________ The Holy Spirit transforms us so ________________________ that however troubled our past may have been, we can Live ________________________ Free. By Christ’s Spirit, all ________________________ who trust in Him can start to live ________________________ with a new passion and purpose. ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ Bishop Matthew ________________________ Thomas, Bishop, Free Methodist Church (1955 to present) “Everything excellent. That’s the way it was once, in the beginning. Nothing broken. Right now, God is working to make everything whole again. We are a part of his people, working under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to restore the world — making people and all creation whole. As a result, we see outbreaks of God’s glory. 10 Bringing ________________________ Freedom ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ We have found something so ________________________ incredible we do not want to keep it just for ourselves. Just ________________________ as Jesus stepped down from heaven to bring us freedom, we ________________________ want to go beyond our place ________________________ of comfort and bring this Good News to as many people as ________________________ possible. ________________________ We believe that no one is beyond ________________________ the saving power of Jesus and this freedom is available to all ________________________ people everywhere. Part of the ________________________ freedom we have found is to be His hands, His feet and His voice ________________________ to this hurting world. ________________________ We are a worldwide movement ________________________ that relentlessly plants and resources churches in as many ________________________ locations as possible. Through ________________________ building communities of family and purpose, we display God’s ________________________ love in ways that are infectious. ________________________ Through Christ and the power of His Spirit we encourage ________________________ and equip the church to bring freedom to all people in more ________________________ ways than we can imagine. 11 Multiplying Healthy Lives, Leaders and Churches Free Methodists are keen to emulate the call of the first Methodist preachers DEVELOPING who engaged in the BUILDING LEADERS COMMUNITY breathtaking work of God that swept the living holiness that impacts lives nation at that time. Like and communities across the UK and them, we are eager to Ireland rediscover a living MULTIPLYING RESOURCING holiness CHURCHES MINISTRY that impacts lives and communities across