Faith and Order
The Faith and Order Committee has offered a theological document on the nature of the church. (Council of Bishops Photo)
Sent in Love: A United Methodist Understanding of the Church. This document is being sent to the 2020 General Conference for review and adoption as an official teaching statement of The United Methodist Church. If adopted Sent in Love will take its place alongside other documents such as By Water and the Spirit and This Holy Mystery, both of which will be up for renewal in the Book of Resolutions at the upcoming General Conference.
Sent in Love is the culmination of several quadrennia of discernment, study, and a denomination wide review and feedback process. The General Conference of 2016 received an initial study text entitled Wonder, Love, and Praise: Sharing a Vision of the Church and commended it to the wider church for study and feedback. This study process took place throughout 2017. Many United Methodists from a variety of quarters, as well as representatives from ecumenical partner churches, engaged the document and submitted surveys, blog posts, papers, and detailed notes expressing their concerns and hopes related to such a statement on United Methodist ecclesiology.
This new document, Sent in Love: A United Methodist Understanding of the Church, incorporates many aspects of Wonder, Love, and Praise but represents a substantial revision of this initial text based upon the feedback received. It is the hope of the Committee on Faith and Order that Sent in Love will receive wide reception throughout the church and that it might provide theological grounding for The United Methodist Church as we continue to reform the shape of our common life.
If adopted Sent in Love will be published in the Book of Resolutions. The Committee on Faith and Order will also then begin work on a study guide version of the text to aid in the teaching and reception of the document.
Click here to read the Sent in Love document.