Another distinctive way that Wesleyans approach God and
God's Word is by "conjunctive theology." Sure, it sounds like something
we might not have a hope of understanding, but it really is not that difficult.
As a reminder, theology is the way we think and talk about God. It is
the way we express our understanding of God. Conjunctive is a fancy way
of saying that we ‘join together' or ‘combine.'
John Wesley, when denied a pulpit
by the Anglican Church of England, was asked by a colleague, "But where will
your parish be?" Wesley showed himself unconcerned and stated, "The world is my
parish." His response has been the Methodist mission challenge down through the
centuries. We've not always lived up to it well, but nevertheless it is who we
are. Wesleyan Methodists agree with John Wesley that the world is our parish.
Our sending companion is the Lord Jesus Christ who unquestionably was
mission-minded.
In this final installation of the series "What Do Methodists
Believe?" I hope to address briefly and more specifically the way in which we
live our faith together as Methodists. This concluding characteristic of
Wesleyan theology and practice is that whatever we do as Wesleyans in the life
and practice of the church we do with the
whole people of God. In fact early Methodism had more lay leaders than
clergy leaders, and many of these leaders were women.
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