Just How Free Are These Methodists

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A TRILOGY ON FREEDOM: Just How Free Are These Methodists
By Dwight A. Moody, Dean of the Chapel
Georgetown College, KY

Jan is my wife and Sharon is her friend. They work together at the Baptist Hospital in Lexington.

When Sharon invited us to her ordination service we decided to go, thus marking our first visit to a Free Methodist gathering. As it turned out, the episode may have given some clue as to the significance of the `Free` part of their name but not necessarily what this might imply about all the other Methodists.

The pastor met us at the door and, like every other religious professional, immediately expressed interest in my name-not simply because of the famed Chicago evangelist who died in 1899, but also because of Pat and Bob Moody (church members whom he introduced). And because the meeting house in which we stood was built, he explained, on the homestead of the old Moody farm on the north side of Wilmore.

All of this made me feel at home, as did the hymn-singing, the gospel-preaching, and the low-key, casual way in which the ordination itself was handled.

She was one of two candidates for the office of elder, and they stood at the altar rail with their spouses while the presiding officers read the prepared litany, calling upon them to be `fervent in prayer, enthusiastic in worship, holy in lifestyle, insistent for justice, caring for the poor, and reaching out locally and globally to bring all people into relationship with Jesus Christ.`

A finer expression of gospel work I have never heard.

When other elders present were invited to join in the laying-on-of hands, I wanted badly to gather with them around the candidates. I held back, uncertain of how free these Methodists were in such matters and fearful that my participation might give grounds for eventual annulment, should our friend Sharon prove an embarrassment to the Methodists.

Which is not at all unlikely, given she is a woman, one with deep convictions and a rather straight-forward, matter-of-fact way of letting you know what they are: which has a way of irritating many men.

These Methodists trace their roots to that nineteenth century grass-roots yearning for piety known as `the holiness movement.`

Women played prominent roles in the early years, as they did later in the Pentecostal movements of the twentieth century, and continued to do so as long as these movements remained secluded on the circumference of the Christian community, without institutions, organizations, or cultural influence.

But a rather predictable transformation occurred: as the movements gained social status-the men took over, assuming their `proper` place in the exercise of institutional and organizational power.

A growing number of scholars are contending (in such books as When Women Were Priests) that this same evolution was a hallmark of the early Christian movement two thousand years ago-that the free and unfettered engagement of women in the work of the Lord was later replaced by regulations and restrictions.

Ordination is, after all, about ministry, but also about power. As long as the focus remains on service, the women are welcome.

But many men are uncomfortable including women in the power equation. In fact, it could be described as fear, even though it is always couched in terms that are biblical, ecclesiastical, and theological.

Whether the Free Methodists have anything to fear from our friend Sharon remains to be seen.

But in that regard, the ordination service ended on an ominous note.

The pastor stood to dismiss the people, saying, `Will the newly ordained and their wives please make their way to the receiving line so all present can greet you.`

Before the words were out of his mouth and from her seat on the front row, Sharon spoke a word of clarification, right there in front of pastor, superintendent, bishop, and all those present, including God Almighty. `I don`t have a wife!`

Her first act as an elder: correcting the pastor, in public, no less.

Perhaps that is what they mean when they call themselves `Free Methodists.`