Andy's Blog: A Personal Word

April 16, 2008

Apr. 16, 2008

We Methodist have sometimes been accused of being “do-gooders.” If by that people mean we believe that faithfulness to the way Jesus calls us to be actively engaged in doing good in the world – then we are guilty as charged. Whether it was feeding the hungry, healing the sick, offering hope to the hopeless, or challenging oppressive power – Jesus went about doing good. 

Ours is not a privitistic faith of just “God and me.” John Wesley insisted there was no Christianity except “social Christianity.” “Whenever religion can be concealed it is not Christianity,” he wrote. It is not surprising then that, of the three “general rules” he laid down for the early Methodist societies, the second was simply to do good.

As a result, we have been busy people. In our history in this nation, Methodists have founded more colleges and universities than any other denomination, and today has more church-related colleges than any other protestant group. We have helped to pioneer work with children as seen in the more than 74 institutions in our nation that provide services to youth and children. In our own state, we have been the largest provider of residential care for children for many years. Beginning in the last century, the church rolled up its sleeves to offer care to the sick, particularly among the poor. This grew into more than 60 Methodist-related hospitals across the country. Methodist people have built more Habitat houses than any other group. We sponsor more scouting groups.  We have one of the largest networks of retirement homes in our state. We provide residential care for mentally challenged adults, and camps for exceptional children. And the list goes on…..

Doing good is part of the Method to Methodism.

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