Mitch Lewis

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the value of Methodist culture. By "culture," I mean something less tangible and more dynamic than what some would might call Methodist "distinctives." By culture, I’m not talking about doctrinal formulas, organizational structure or the formal elements of the Methodist tradition. I'm describing something much fuzzier than that.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. I attended a bi-lingual worship service today with the Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche in Germany. Wesley's name was never mentioned. The small congregation doesn't have class meetings, love feasts or any of the elements of the historical Wesleyan revival. The sermon was in German with a printed English translation. It was an excellent sermon, faithful to the text and informed by biblical scholarship. It didn't, however, use any of the specifically Wesleyan catch-phrases. Still, it was recognizable within the wide stream of Methodist preaching. I wouldn't mistake it style or substance for a Baptist sermon or a Pentecostal sermon or a law-and-gospel Lutheran sermon.

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