HISTORY AND POLITY
Welcome to our video series on the History and Polity of the Free Methodist Church. This video series is intended for Local Ministerial Candidates in the Free Methodist Church and for ministers transferring into the Free Methodist Church. It is also available to anyone wanting to learn more about the Free Methodist Church.
Below each video, there are recommended supplemental resources. If you are completing this video series as a Local Ministerial Candidate, please include some of the supplemental resources in your study, write your reflections on the questions, and schedule a meeting with your mentor to debrief your experience.
About the presenters: Pastors Soo Ji and Joe Alvarez serve at The Avenue, a Free Methodist Church in Riverside, CA (Southern California Conference).
SESSION 1: Holiness & Salvation: The Wesleyan Roots of Free Methodism
SESSION 2: Holiness & History: The Birth of the Free Methodist Church
SESSION 3: Holiness & Mission: Founding an Institution with a Mission
SESSION 4: Holiness & Justice: Wesleyans and the World
SESSION 5: Holiness & Structure: Polity of the Free Methodist Church
SESSION 6: Holiness and Light: PCJC History and Vision
SESSION 1: Holiness & Salvation: The Wesleyan Roots of Free Methodism
Resources
READ: Book of Discipline, pages 1-22, 37-62
Questions
What are the main components in Wesley’s understanding of salvation?
SESSION 2: Holiness & History: The Birth of the Free Methodist Church
Resources
For further study (not required): History of the FMC of North America, Vol. 1
For further study (not required): History of the FMC of North America, Vol. 2
Questions
How would you communicate the early Free Methodist history and mission to “spread scriptural holiness and preach the gospel to the poor”?
SESSION 3: Holiness & Mission: Founding an Institution with a Mission
Resources
READ: The Free Methodist Way
Questions
Explain which of the five values stands out to you and why. What questions does it prompt for you?
SESSION 4: Holiness & Justice: Wesleyans and the World
Resources
READ: Book of Discipline, pages 46-52 (if not already read)
WATCH: Caring for the Least of These is Every Christian’s Call
For further study (not required): Ordaining Women
Questions
How does holiness and biblical justice help inform us to engage in issues of justice and inequality today? In the Free Methodist church we affirm that both women and men can respond to a call to ministry including ordination as an elder. How is this a fulfilling of our Wesleyan view of scripture?
SESSION 5: Holiness & Structure: Polity of the Free Methodist Church
Resources
READ: Book of Discipline, pages 23-118 (portions not already read)
EXPLORE: FMCUSA Website
EXPLORE: Free Methodist World Missions
EXPLORE: Free Methodist Chaplains Association
EXPLORE: Free Methodist Financial Services (recently renamed from FM Foundation)
Questions
How do you see B. T. Roberts and the early Free Methodist story connecting to our Free Methodist polity today?
SESSION 6: Holiness and Light: PCJC History and Vision
Resources
WATCH: PCJC Vision ONE 2022
EXPLORE: PCJC Website
Questions
How do you see the FM values being lived out in the PCJC?