wfn.org | Methodists plan 'conversation' with Holiness churches

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 8, 1999	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-21-71B{010}

  
By United Methodist News Service

United Methodists will meet in conversation with representatives of some
churches within the Wesleyan Holiness tradition Feb. 18-20 in Dallas.

Organized by the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and
Interreligious Concerns, the meeting will take place on the Perkins School
of Theology campus and at Highland Park United Methodist Church. Perkins is
host for the event.

The commission has long thought about having such a conversation, according
to the Rev. Elisabeth Gamble, associate general secretary. "We've done very
well through our history in keeping touch with our Anglican roots, but we
haven't done so well keeping touch with our Holiness roots," she said.

The churches in the Wesleyan Holiness tradition split from the Methodist
Episcopal Church in the 19th and early 20th centuries for a variety of
reasons. Those who formed the Methodist Wesleyan Church of America in the
1840s, for example, thought mainstream Methodists were moving too slowly on
the slavery issue, she said.

Other groups departed from the denomination, according to Gamble, "because
they didn't want to be an institution. They wanted to stay a movement."

Despite the separations, some elements from the Holiness traditions - such
as the concept of personal testimony -- still exist within United Methodism,
she said.

In addition to United Methodists, the 30 participants in the February
meeting will represent the Church of the Nazarene, the Church of Christ
Holiness, the Korean Holiness Church, the Wesleyan Church, the Free
Methodist Church, the Church of God (Anderson) and the Salvation Army.

The goals are to celebrate common roots, look together at crucial points in
history when decisions were made to separate and decide "what steps we may
want to take together in the future," Gamble said.

Worship drawn from the common tradition will begin and conclude the daily
program. The six topics to be discussed in plenary sessions are history and
tradition; sanctification/perfection; women's issues; racial issues;
ecumenism and future steps.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/