I have been recently asked by someone in the Global Methodist Church if could answer the 19 questions that John Wesley had his bishops ask those wanting to enter the ministry in regard to the GMC. I believed I could so in taking on that challenge I am going to post my answers. They probably won't be perfect or how you might answer them but they will be mine. Perhaps you might ask yourself how you might answer them.
John Wesley’s Questions
10. Have you studied our form of church disciple and polity?
11. Do you approve of our church government and polity?
12. Will you support and maintain them?
Church disciple and polity are not laid out in scripture therefore they are not infallible or inerrant. This being said, for any organization, group, or government to work effectively there must be agreed-on guidelines for how disciple and polity are handled. Without guidelines, there is confusion, chaos, and anarchy, God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33)
I have studied the discipline and polity of the Global Methodist church and I believe I can live within and support it. I am still learning how they are lived out as they are very different from the framework the Church of the Nazarene uses to conduct its business. As a future member of the Global Methodist Church, I am striving not just to have a general knowledge of the church’s disciple and polity but a living and breathing understanding of how the Global Methodist Church wants to live out its calling when it comes to the business of the church.
Finally, it is my opinion that if someone can not agree to work within the system agreed upon then the person who disagrees should leave. You in the Methodist Church have seen this is not always the case. Sometimes those who want to live by the rules must leave. I can not speak for anyone else, but if there comes a time I feel I can not support and maintain the agreed-on discipline and polity of the Global Methodist Church I will leave.
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