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Methodist theology is based on the teachings of John Wesley, emphasizing grace, repentance, faith, good works, and missions. It centers on faith in the triune God and the concept of repentance as turning away from a life of selfishness to serving God and mankind. The church adheres to ancient creeds and traditional beliefs on social issues. Methodist theology has remained largely unchanged since its formation in the mid-1700s.
Methodist theology is largely the biblical teachings of the founder John Wesley of Great Britain in the mid-1700s. Methodism began as a zealous club of religiously passionate young men studying theology at Oxford University in England, led by John Wesley. After experiencing God’s forgiveness of sins and His saving grace, Wesley set standards of doctrines that later formed the backbone of the Methodist Church: grace, repentance, faith, good works toward mankind, and missions to spread the gospel. .
Essential to Methodist theology education is faith in the triune God: God, the Son of God Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. As a holy and merciful Being, God sent his Son as an atonement for mankind’s sins. God graciously gives sinful mankind the desire and ability to receive this atonement and to experience his peace and presence in their lives. John Wesley defined God’s acts of atonement, mercy, and presence as the triune grace of God: prevenient grace, justifying grace, and sanctifying grace. It is through God’s grace and his undeserved gifts that people understand, receive, and grow in fellowship with God and with each other.
Repentance is the act, or turning away, of moving away from one thing to another. In Methodist theology, repentance is what happens when a person moves from a life of selfish fulfillment and moral inadequacy to a life dedicated to God and serving mankind as God would require of them. Along with grace, repentance is the key to what Methodists call a “new life in Christ.” This doctrine reflects the testimonies of New Testament people and of John Wesley himself. Rather than striving to earn God’s favor through good deeds or religious devotion, true repentance accepts God’s grace and performs good deeds, which spring from a renewed heart.
In Methodist theology, the concept of faith extends far beyond a mental ascent or a form of thinking in a certain way. Based on the many teachings of the New Testament, belief in God evokes action. Religious devotion and personal holiness do not earn God’s grace, but rather devotion and holiness blossom from the inner source of God’s grace in people’s lives. Methodism teaches that a person touched by God’s grace will naturally serve society. John Wesley and the early Methodists fervently served their communities by distributing to the poor, preaching to the lost, building orphanages, and maintaining a form of personal holiness that strongly appealed to others.
Even as of 2011, Methodist theology has not changed much in its core doctrines since the church was formed. The Methodist Church adheres strongly to the ancient Apostles’ Creed and refers to Wesley’s many sermons and notes. In 1968, the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to become the United Methodist Church. While other types of theology in various churches have changed dramatically over the centuries, much of Methodist theology remains intact. The church supports traditional beliefs that abortion, homosexuality, pornography, gambling, and alcohol use are incompatible with scripture and the tenets of Methodist theology.
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