Tagged: unity

Polity as basis for United Methodist unity?

This week’s contender for possible source of unity for The United Methodist Church (or other denominations, with the appropriate caveats made) is polity.  Polity means the rules and structures that define the formal organization of the church.  It includes things like membership vows, definitions of ordained ministry (and the rules for becoming and remaining an […]

History as basis for United Methodist unity?

Last week, I began looking at the question of what constitutes the basis of unity for The United Methodist Church (and by extension, other denominations as well).  I examined whether theology could serve as a useful basis for unity and concluded it couldn’t.  This week, I’d like to examine another answer which serves better than […]

Theology as basis for United Methodist unity?

The last two weeks, I’ve written to raise the question of what the basis for Christian unity is.  I’ve talked about it mainly on a broad level, looking at Christianity as a whole, though I’ve indicated that this is a question for individual denominations as well.  Starting this week, and for the next several weeks, […]

Andrew Walls on Christian commonalities

Last week, I wrote a post in which I encouraged Christians to think about what binds us together.  What binds us together is different, however, than what we have in common, and I hope to demonstrate that in this week’s post by using the work of the great missiologist Andrew Walls.  I think Walls has […]