Resolutions
Periodically the General Conference passes a resolution on a topic of theological concern that becomes part of the Discipline of the EMC. Similarly the General Council will approve a theological ‘Position Paper’ for the denomination. Our concern is people becoming all they can be in Jesus Christ. We do not focus on the government as the solution to moral issues, although we need to make our voice heard and vote our values. Our efforts are linked to biblical values, not a political party. The government cannot change people, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the transformation of a person’s heart will change society one person at a time.
The EMC is resolute on issues of being ‘pro-life’ and keeping the traditional definition of marriage between a man and a woman. Because we believe the rise and fall of our society is directly linked to the biblical norms for the life of the unborn, homosexuality, and marriage, particular resolutions have been created. We are also concerned about issues such as being good stewards of our environment (Genesis 2:15), assisting people from the entrapment and cycle of poverty (Deuteronomy 15:11-14), and the basic issues of human rights and justice (Isaiah 61:8).
We encourage biblical (Matthew 22:21) involvement in the government by the paying of taxes and participation in public service. The EMC encourages our members to care for people no matter what their beliefs and practices are exhibited in their lifestyle. That is why you will see links to possible resources that will help and assist a person to escape a damaging memory or present lifestyle by experiencing the fullness of God’s grace.
Resolution Concerning Abortion
Whereas the Holy Scriptures clearly teach that life begins at conception, and that the taking of that life is clearly repugnant to God, the Evangelical Methodist Church does not sanction nor condone abortion. We encourage our churches to help women in problem pregnancies by providing understanding, forgiveness, and counseling in a spirit of love. They should be helped morally, spiritually, and financially when possible.
We should do all we can to help unmarried girls to trust in the grace of Christ and lead them to new help in a non-judgmental spirit of love and understanding.
In the same spirit we should help those mothers who have had an abortion to a realization of the redeeming grace of Christ and the complete forgiveness of that sin. We should open our arms of Christian fellowship to those whom Christ redeems, “restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest we also be tempted,”
The above resolution was passed by the General Conference of the Evangelical Methodist Church meeting in Wilmore, Kentucky in July, 1990.
Resolution Concerning Homosexuality
Whereas the Holy Scriptures state that God created male and female and declares sexual union was established exclusively for the male-female relationship (Genesis 2:24) and is consecrated in the marriage relations; and
Whereas the Holy Scriptures also declare that “…a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be united to his wife, and they shall become one flesh…” (Genesis 2:24, 25; Mark 10:7, 8); and
Whereas the Biblical record clearly condemns homosexual activity:
A. Leviticus 18:22, God reveals homosexual practice to be an abomination in His sight.
B. Romans 1:26, 27 declares homosexual activity is a lust of the flesh which is unnatural, degrading, and totally contrary to God’s will.
C. I Corinthians 6:9, 10 reveals that homosexuals are to be denied entrance into the eternal Kingdom of Heaven if they do not repent, receive Christ as their personal Savior, and abolish their homosexual life-style,
Therefore, by the authority of the Holy Scriptures, we, the Evangelical Methodist Church, believe homosexual practices to be sin leading to spiritual death and eternal punishment. Moreover, we agree that no individual who practices homosexual acts shall be permitted to be an official member of any Evangelical Methodist Church; nor shall any known practicing homosexual be a candidate for the licensed ministry of the Evangelical Methodist Church. Therefore, any person who does not positively affirm that he/she is not a homosexual may not become a member of the Evangelical Methodist Church. Every Board of Ministerial Relations and every local church pastor will ask for this affirmation during their respective interviews for licensing of ministers and the confirmation of church leaders.
We, the Evangelical Methodist Church, uphold that all individuals are entitled to certain rights and protection of civil law; nevertheless, we oppose all civil legislation that supports homosexuality as a normal life-style based upon sexual preference. Moreover, the Evangelical Methodist Church opposes all civil legislation which would force us to compromise our religious beliefs on homosexuality. Hence, the Evangelical Methodist Church stands upon its constitutional right, under the first amendment, to oppose homosexual practices according to our religious conscience and Biblical understanding.
Whereas we recognize that the Bible verifies that homosexuality is no greater sin than adultery, murder, stealing, etc., we, therefore, affirm that homosexuals are redeemable according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, we encourage all Evangelical Methodists to present God’s plan of salvation and deliverance from sin to all homosexuals. Moreover, all homosexuals who seek faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and cease to practice homosexual acts, the Evangelical Methodist Church welcomes into the fellowship of the Church.
The above resolution was passed by the General Conference of the Evangelical Methodist Church meeting; in Wilmore, Kentucky in July, 1990.
Resolution Concerning International Day of Prayer
Whereas, many nations are intolerant of Christianity and deny them human rights; and
Whereas, according to the U. S. State Department, the governments of over 60 nations around the world condone the persecution of Christians; and
Whereas, the people called Methodists have traditionally taken the lead in opposing injustice, prejudices, and violation of human rights; and
Whereas, Evangelical Methodists believe in the power of prayer to demolish strongholds and set people free,
Therefore, be it resolved, that the Evangelical Methodist congregations observe an International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on the 15th of each month.
Be it further resolved, that we may grow in our sense of unity with Christians around the globe and become more aware of the needs of our brothers and sisters who suffer because of their Christian faith.
The General Conference of the Evangelical Methodist Church meeting in Arlington, Texas in July 2002 passed the above resolution.
Resolution on “Open Theism”
A recent theological movement that calls itself “Open Theism” has entered the evangelical milieu. Open theology rejects or redefines the classical doctrine of God’s omniscience. Its proponents declare that God is “open” to the future, meaning He does not fully know all events and is bound by time. As one proponent states “. . . if history is infallibly known and certain from all eternity, then freedom is an illusion . . . .I stand against classical theism which has tried to argue that God can control and foresee all things. . .”[1] As a result of this challenge the meaning of “Classical Theology” has come under careful scrutiny. Openness theology claims to be a reaction to “classical” views of God that result in an ultra-transcendent, impersonal, static, and intransigent divine being which arise from a predominantly philosophical theology. Openness theologians have attempted to offer another paradigm for God’s relationship with the world. Openness thinkers over-emphasize the traditional transcendent aspects of God and underscore His immanence and understand Him as more relational.
As with most attempts at ‘correction’ in church history, this new school of thought has produced an unsettling revision — one that has produced great concern among evangelical theologians. At base, this debate comes down to the understanding of “classical theology.”
“Classical theism” can be easily misunderstood in the present theological context. The best of classical theism offers a concept of God who is the creator of time and thus is outside of time but enters into time and knows, without coercion, the implication of all human choices. The eternal Triune God knows all details of future events without manipulation, or the production of any illusion.
The theological tradition out of which the EVANGELICAL METHODIST CHURCH is birthed has found that the crucial issue of God’s omniscience and human free will is best guided by a biblically based Trinitarian theology. The EVANGELICAL METHODIST CHURCH stands in the consensual guidelines of the historic Christian tradition. Orthodox Christian thought has sensitively and adequately dealt with the relation of transcendence and immanence for two millennia. The transcendent God is eternally personal and from creation through eschaton the Three-in-One God has created humans to image that triune life in holy love. The transcendent Holy One has revealed Himself in immanent self-giving love.
A Trinitarian view of God helps us focus on His relationships with humanity. “One of the benefits of a Triune approach to understanding the nature of God is that it holds together the biblical data on both the transcendence and the immanence of God.”[2] The Old Testament prophets consistently upheld God’s understanding of future events in such a way that He would have to know all the details of the future. This is what separates Him from pagan gods and His creation (Is 41:21-24; 44:6-8; 46:9). The Bible has many prophecies concerning future events — many that foretold the coming Messiah (Jesus Christ) and that remain to be fulfilled with His second coming. These events require God’s foreknowledge in detail. God is the Alpha and the Omega, He is “I AM,” implicating that he is eternal, unchanging and timeless.
The EVANGELICAL METHODIST CHURCH stands with the classical formulation of God’s omniscience, as it has historically been understood. God knows all details of the past, present and future.
[1] Predestination and Free Will, ed by David Basinger, 1986. InterVarsity Press. p. 150-151
[2] Trinitarian Theism by Allan Coppedge, unpublished manuscript.
The 28th General Conference of the Evangelical Methodist Church meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, in July 2006 passed the above resolution.
Theological Position Paper
21st Century Spiritual Phenomena in the EMC
We stand in the holiness tradition of original Methodism. The Pentecostal movement has its roots in our tradition, but espouses many forms of spiritual phenomena that we do not validate for our denomination. Our understanding of the evidence of the Spirit-filled life is not speaking in an unknown tongue, being slain in the Spirit, or some other type of required phenomena. It is a heart that is purified by faith (Acts 15:7-9) reflected in a holy lifestyle and an empowerment for witnessing the gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). There are authentic experiences from the Spirit in the glory of His Presence that people experience. Acts 2 describes the disciples on the day of Pentecost as “drunk” in the Spirit. The glory of God filled the Temple and the priests were unable to stand. Today we are the temple of God and a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit can produce laughter, quiet peace, shouting alleluia, or being prostrate before Him. Wesley, Cartwright, Finny, and Moody all experienced in their meetings powerful moves of God that sometimes brought loud outbursts of conviction and people falling prostrate on the floor. The problem is these kinds of experiences can quickly become in the “flesh” or marketed as the “anointing” of God and taught they must occur every time the Holy Spirit is present. If people are not ’slain in the Spirit’ then it is a below par kind of service with people who ‘do not have the anointing’. This is wrong. It produces two classes of Christians of those who ‘have it’ and those who ‘don’t’. John Wesley emphasized the inward dynamics not the outward manifestations of the Spirit in the introduction to the sermon, “Scriptural Christianity”. He said the Spirit was given “to give them… the mind which was in Christ…to endue them with faith, to enable them to crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts, its passions and desires; and, in consequence of that inward change, to fulfill all outward righteousness; to “walk as Christ also walked…”
The following points are for further clarification:
1. The Spirit-Filled life is one lived by faith and not just by sight (i.e., experience/reason) 2 Co. 5:7. Isaiah 55:8-9 indicates the “higher” thoughts and ways of God are beyond our comprehension.
2. The Apostle Paul had several unique experiences, Acts 9 (Damascus Rd), and the “third heaven” experience in 2 Corinthians 12. Peter had ecstatic revelations and experiences in Acts 10. Both Apostles were very careful never to suggest that these were the pattern for others in their search for a deeper life or should be expected as the common every day experiences for believers. These experiences established the foundation for living out ministry beyond the theological and experiential comfort zone in opening the ministry to the Gentiles. Acts 15:8-9 sets the standard of a “heart purified by faith.”
3. The Apostle Paul’s exhortation is to seek the more excellent way of perfect love (1 Co. 13) rather than relying on phenomena and ecstasy to bolster the ministry.
4. We verify with Scripture and experience the praising of God and the glory of God being revealed to such a degree that these mere mortal bodies collapse in His Presence. Those who demand such ’slayings in the Spirit’ as a necessary sign of the ‘anointing’ codify the unusual visitations from God into fleshly demonstrations. The error is taking valid spiritual emotional experiences from God and making them the rule of measurement for spirituality. In fact the salvation of the sinner is what makes the angels sing in heaven, not the phenomena of the Spirit or it’s counterfeit.
5. All spiritual experiences and new understandings must always be subservient and subject to the Scripture based “truths” that have persisted as reliable and orthodox shown through the history of the Church. (2 Peter 2:1-22). There are no new things God is doing but renewing some old things we have forgotten or neglected. If an experience has not been validated by proven teachings of the people of God over the centuries then we must be wary of this “new thing God is doing.”
6. Any insight or experience that diminishes or detracts from the basic tenant of orthodox faith and the primary mission of reaching the lost must be evaluated and guarded against.
7. We must guard against grieving the Holy Spirit (Isa. 63:10; Eph. 4:30), by denying His work or justifying behaviors whose source is the flesh and not the Spirit of God. Some experiences are unique and personally given for the intimacies with the Spirit and not to be required or demanded for everyone to experience. For example: Mary treasuring quietly the intimacies with the Spirit in her heart and the Apostle Paul limiting his sharing of those experiences in 2 Co. 12. The only reason we have a record of Paul’s experiences was that his Apostleship and ministry was challenged.
8. In a service of worship the worshippers will all worship in different modes and styles depending on their God given temperament. Some may shout, some will not, some may become very demonstrative, some will be less demonstrative. The key is this: does everyone love Him intensely and fully whether it is shouted out loud or quietly acknowledged by a bowed head.
The purpose of this position paper is for pastoral assistance and biblical instruction for local church ministires. We acknowledge the different styles of worship in our local churches. When a denomintional leaders is worshipping in a local church they do not attempt to interject their own worship preferences of contemporary and traditional formats, but fit in with the pastor and the local church. As members of the EMC people need to fit in with our understanding of the phenomena of teh Spirit and support the work of Christ in that local church. We do not want to quench the Spirit’s fire, but we do not want wildfire that divides and wounds our local churhes.
Written by Dr. Edward W. Williamson, General Superintendent; edited & recommended by the Cabinet of Superintendents and adopted by the General Council 2000.
