WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE A PART OF HISTORY DATING BACK TO THE EARLY 1700’S? WHY DO WE HAVE A BISHOP? WHAT ARE THE DUTIES OF A CLASS LEADER? WHAT DOES JOHN WESLEY, H. H. LOWERY AND ISAIAH LOCKLEAR HAVE IN COMMON? HOW DID THE LUMBER RIVER CONFERENCE GET HERE? WANT TO KNOW MORE FEEL FREE TO ATTEND THE FOLLOWING COURSE BEING PROVIDED BY: New Bethel Holiness Methodist Church The Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church: An Intro Guidelines for Church Membership CLASSES WILL BEGIN FEBRUARY 6TH, 2011 AT 6:00 PM AT NEW BETHEL HOLINESS METHODIST CHURCH EVERYONE IS INVITED TO ATTEND. Dwayne Lowry 2 An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference I. An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church A. History B. Doctrine II. Church History and Development A. Christianity 1. Three histories 2. Three Distinct Theologies B. Catholicism East-West 1. Roman Catholicism (Latin Speaking) a) the largest single Christian body b) composed of those Christians who acknowledge the supreme authority of the bishop of Rome, the pope, in matters of faith. c) The word catholic (Greek katholikos) means “universal” and has been used to designate the church since its earliest period, when it was the only Christian church. 2. Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox (Greek Speaking) a) Constantine/Constantinople (330 A.D.) b) First Christian Emperor of Roman Empire c) Survived the breakup of the Roman empire in the 5th century 3. Protestant Reformation a) Huldreich Zwingli or Ulrich (1484-1531) 12/15/2010Dwayne Lowry | Confidential Dwayne Lowry 3 An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference (1) Swiss theologian, leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. (2) educated at the universities of Vienna and Basel b) Martin Luther (1483-1546) (1) 1517- placed his 95 theses on Wittenburg’s Castle Church (2) Doctrine of Justification by Faith-sola fide (3) 1521-translated New Testament from Latin to German c) John Calvin (1509-1564) (1) French Theologian (2) Followers came to be called Puritans (3) Doctrines of the Presbyterian Church d) Church of England/Anglican Church (1534) (1) Established under Henry VIII (2) Under Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth Thirty-nine articles of religion (3) Samuel Wesley priest and father of John/Charles Wesley e) John Wesley (1703-91) (1) English theologian, evangelist, and founder of Methodism. (2) Wesley was born in the rectory at Epworth, Lincolnshire, on June 17, 1703, the 15th child of the British clergyman Samuel Wesley. 12/15/2010Dwayne Lowry | Confidential Dwayne Lowry 4 An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference (3) He was educated at Charterhouse School and Christ Church, University of Oxford. (4) Ordained deacon in 1725 and admitted to the priesthood of the Church of England in 1728. (5) There he joined the Holy Club, a group of students that included his brother Charles Wesley and, later, George Whitefield, who was to become the founder of Calvinistic Methodism. (6) The club members adhered strictly and methodically to religious precepts and practices, among them visiting prisons and comforting the sick, and were thus derisively called “methodists” by their schoolmates. (7) In 1735 Wesley went to Georgia as an Anglican missionary. Wesley's American experience was a failure. (8) On his return to England in 1738, he sought out the Moravians; while attending one of their meetings in Aldersgate St., London, on May 24, 1738, he experienced a religious awakening that profoundly convinced him that salvation was possible for every person through faith in Jesus Christ alone. (9) In March 1739, George Whitefield, who had met with great success as an evangelist in Bristol, urged Wesley to join him in his endeavors. (10) Wesley preached an open-air sermon on April 2, and the enthusiastic reaction of his audience convinced him that open-air preaching was the most effective way to reach the masses. 12/15/2010Dwayne Lowry | Confidential Dwayne Lowry 5 An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference (11) Few pulpits would be open to him in any case, for the Anglican church frowned on revivalism. (12) Wesley attracted immense crowds virtually from the outset of his evangelical career. (13) His success also was due, in part, to the fact that contemporary England was ready for a revivalist movement; the Anglican church was seemingly unable to offer the kind of personal faith that people craved. Thus Wesley's emphasis on inner religion and his assurance that each person was accepted as a child of God had a tremendous popular appeal. (14) On May 1, 1739, Wesley and a group of his followers, meeting in a shop on West St., London, formed the first Methodist society. Two similar organizations were established in Bristol the same month. Late in 1739 the London society began to meet in a building called the Foundry, which served as the headquarters of Methodism for many years. (15) In 1742 the societies were divided into classes, with a leader for each class. These class meetings contributed greatly to the success of the movement, but equally important were their leaders, many of whom Wesley designated lay preachers. (16) Wesley called the first conference of Methodist leaders in 1744, and conferences were held annually thereafter. (17) In 1751, at the age of 48, Wesley married Mary Vazeille, a widow with four children. The marriage was not successful, and she finally left him; Wesley had no children of his own. 12/15/2010Dwayne Lowry | Confidential Dwayne Lowry 6 An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference (18) An indefatigable preacher and organizer, Wesley traveled about 5000 miles a year, delivering as many as four or five sermons a day and founding new societies. (19) Wesley parted with the Moravians in 1740 because of doctrinal disagreements, and he rejected the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, thus breaking with Whitefield. (20) He also discarded many tenets of the Church of England, including the doctrine of the apostolic succession (the maintenance of an unbroken line of succession of bishops of the but he never voiced any intention of establishing the movement as a new church. His actions made separation inevitable, however. (21) In 1784 he issued the deed of declaration, which provided rules and regulations for the guidance of the Methodist societies. The same year he appointed his aide Thomas Coke, an Anglican clergyman, a superintendent of the Methodist organization in the U.S., empowering him to administer the sacraments. (22) Ordination represented the biggest step in the direction of a break with the Anglican church. Separation did not take place, however, until after Wesley's death. (23) Wesley was deeply concerned with the intellectual, economic, and physical well-being of the masses. He was also a prolific writer on a wide variety of historical and religious subjects. His books were sold cheaply, so that even the poor could afford to buy them; thus he did much to improve the reading habits of the general public. He aided debtors and those trying to establish businesses and founded medical dispensaries. He opposed slavery and 12/15/2010Dwayne Lowry | Confidential Dwayne Lowry 7 An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference was interested in social reform movements of all kinds. (24) Wesley compiled 23 collections of hymns, edited a monthly magazine, translated Greek, Latin, and Hebrew works, and edited, under the title The Christian's Pattern, the noted medieval devotional work De Imitatione Christi, generally ascribed to the German ecclesiastic Thomas à Kempis. His personal Journal (1735-90) is outstanding for the frank exposition of his spiritual development. (25) In the latter years of his life the hostility of the Anglican church to Methodism had virtually disappeared, and Wesley was greatly admired. He died March 2, 1791, and was buried in the graveyard of City Road Chapel, London. In Westminster Abbey is a memorial plaque inscribed with his name. 4. Methodism in America a) Francis Asbury (1745-1816) (1) first Methodist bishop ordained in America, born in Handsworth, Stafford County, England, and largely self-educated. (2) At the age of 18, he became a local preacher, and three years later was received by the evangelist John Wesley into the itinerant Methodist ministry. (3) In October 1771, a few years after the establishment of the first Methodist church in America, Asbury came to Philadelphia as a missionary. (4) In 1784 the several Wesleyan societies in the United States were organized into the Methodist Episcopal church 12/15/2010Dwayne Lowry | Confidential Dwayne Lowry 8 An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference (5) Asbury and the British missionary Thomas Coke were elected joint superintendents. (6) The next year Asbury assumed the title of bishop and devoted himself to preaching and supervising Methodist organization. (7) It is estimated that during his ministry Asbury traveled more than 270,000 miles, visiting every part of the country (8) He preached more than 16,000 sermons (9) He ordained more than 4000 ministers (10) he established a number of churches in North Carolina (11) 1806-1811 established Providence Church in Elrod, NC (12) This church burned in 1850 it was relocated and renamed in his honor Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church (13) This original building is located at Raynham, NC along side Hwy 301 b) Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) (1) Methodism was brought to the U.S. before the American Revolution by emigrants from both Ireland and England. (2) The earliest societies were formed in about 1766 in New York City, in Philadelphia, and near Pipe Creek, Maryland. (3) At the Christmas Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church was formally organized as a body separate from the English Methodist structure. 12/15/2010Dwayne Lowry | Confidential Dwayne Lowry 9 An Introduction to the Lumber River Conference (4) Asbury and Thomas Coke were given the title bishop and became heads of the new church.