Why I'm a United Methodist: Don't Check Yourself at the Door

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“If your parents make you go to church after this decision, then I will speak up in your defense.”

Shockingly, that came out of the mouth of my pastor. I was 13 and the Rev. Johanna Hills was trying to help me understand what confirmation actually meant.

“Whatever you decide about being confirmed, I will try and help your parents see that after this point faith is your choice.”

My choice? At 13, there wasn’t much that was my choice, which is probably a good thing or my family would be eating macaroni and cheese for every meal, sleeping till noon, and we would have a pony. Actually, come to think of it, maybe I should have been in charge. At 13, with this new freedom I chose to stand up in front of my United Church of Canada and proclaim that, “I, Sarah Heath, have chosen a life of faith in Jesus Christ.”

It also happened to be the same year that our family relocated to the United States and, for the first time, we were faced with the question of what church we would attend. As you can imagine, there aren’t a lot of United Churches of Canada in the United States. We moved to Mississippi and we quickly discovered that what church you attend was a question we would be asked … a lot. Coming from a country where most don’t bring up their faith in opening conversation, this was a totally new concept for us.

We had asked Rev. Hills what denomination was most closely related to the denomination we had been attending. She said a phrase I had, up until that point, never heard: “United Methodist.” The “Methodist” part sounded boring. “United” sounded good. I like Manchester United, the soccer team, so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. I would spend the next four years feeling fairly comfortable in a small local United Methodist Church.

The youth group was formational for me. I learned a lot about scripture and also about how Jesus wanted us to be a caring community. At the same time I returned every summer back to Canada to work at the summer camp that I had gone to as a child. It was an InterVarsity camp. It was there that I first experienced praise and worship. I loved it. As someone who loves music and can be a bit of a music snob, to experience music that sounded like the same music I was listening to outside of church held a lot of appeal. It wasn’t a corny worship band music. It was modern music translating a historic faith.

So when did I choose to become United Methodist? Was it when we walked through the doors at 13? I don’t think so. I think the choice to be a UMCer came much later.

In college, I experimented. (Who doesn’t?) I went to the Baptist Student Union. (They had that trendy music.), Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Wesley Foundation. It was in college that I first began to realize that there were real differences in how each denomination or parachurch organization approached faith. These differences became more and more obvious as I began to feel my call toward ministry. I first felt God leading me toward ministry on a Wesley Foundation beach retreat. My campus minister was amazing. She affirmed my call and told me that she could see God working in my life. I was excited to share the news with the leaders of the Baptist Student Union, and needless to say the news that I, a young lady, was feeling called into ministry didn’t receive the same affirmation. I began to learn more and more that who I was as a “thinking female Christian leader” wasn’t a good match for every group. I often felt like I had to check part of me at the door. It was hard for me because I didn’t always feel socially Methodist (most of my sorority sisters attended the Baptist group.), but my faith seemed to feel more supported in Methodist churches. So, even if I didn’t always get the Methodist culture, I liked the practice and the way faith was lived out. Eventually I would go to a Methodist seminary, but I still wasn’t sold on the denomination.

In seminary I learned the reason why I am a United Methodist: the Quadrilateral. Yup, that’s right. I said it. The Quadrilateral. Not super sexy, but it's true. As we were being taught the Wesleyan theology that there are four ways we look at life – scripture, tradition, reason and experience – suddenly it made sense. I liked Methodism because I never had to check any part of me at the door. In fact I was taught that God made me a thinking person, that my ability to reason is an important part of how God made me. It was OK that scripture didn’t seem to all be consistent, and that sometimes I had real questions. I was using my reason to wrestle with God, and that was ok. In fact, that was encouraged.

I also treasured that I could experience God for myself, and not write it off as emotionalism. I valued that the tradition of those who had gone before was important. I loved feeling as though I was connected by tradition to the faith of the early church. That these three things were weighed with scripture as the primary measure was grounding and gave my faith deep roots.

Learning about the Wesleyan Quadrilateral was just like the day that I was told faith was my choice. I felt freedom. I still don’t fit in at many socially “Methodist” settings, and the music doesn’t always work for me, but I love that I am holistically able to look at life weighing it against four quadrants. I think that these four areas together make up how God is revealing God’s self in the world.

Now as an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, I find that I remain United Methodist to be part of the movement of people who get to share that God’s grace and character mean that we are never supposed to leave any part of ourselves checked at the sanctuary doors.

Image by Flickr user Hery Zo Rakotondramana. Used under Creative Commons License. Cropped from Original.

The Rev. Sarah Heath currently serves Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church in Southern California, where she is the teaching and preaching site pastor for the congregation’s Rancho Santa Margarita site. She also heads up the church’s outreach, mission, GIVE, and worship arts teams.