"What is a Methodist?"

Methodism stands firmly within the Protestant tradition of the worldwide
Christian Church.

When John Wesley was asked "What is the character of a Methodist", part of his detailed answer went thus:-
"A Methodist is one who has the love of God shed abroad in his love by the Holy Ghost given unto him. One who loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength. God is the joy of his heart and the desire of his soul."

When the Methodist Church united in 1932 the Deed of Union was drawn up, part of which reads as follows:-
"The Methodist Church claims and cherishes its olace in the Holy Catholic Church which is in the Body of Christ. It rejoices in the inheritance of the Apostolic Faith, and loyally accepts the fundamental principles of the historic creeds and of the Protestant Reformation. It ever remembers that, in the Providence of God, Methodism was raised up to spread scriptural Holiness through the land by the proclaimation of the Evangelical Faith, and declares its unfaltering resolve to be true to its Divinely appointed mission.

The Doctrines of the Evangelical Faith which Methodism has held from
the beginning and still holds, are based upon the Divine Revelation recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The Methodist Church acknowledges this revelation as the supreme rule of faith and practice."

Within these very broad guidelines, there stand four particular emphases
which began with John Wesley and remain part of the Methodist Tradition:-
All need to be saved - the doctrine of original sin
All can be saved by grace through faith - Universal Salvation
All can know that the are saved - Assurance
All can be saved to the uttermost - Christian Perfection

Methodism is well aware of the importance of personal religious experience.
The Methodist Church owed its origin, under God, to the profound change which came in the religious experience of John and Charles Wesley at Whitsuntide 1738.

Religious experience is personal, but it is also shared.

It is a fact of life - it comes from God and points to him. Through his experience the Christian knows that his redemption is the work of God's grace(Ephesians 2:1-10). Through his experience, the Christian recieves assurace that he has been forgiven and is a child of God (Romans 8:12-17). The Christian's experience is shared by men and women of all races.

God's love is given to all and the Christian is committed to offer Christ and his love to all people.