Valuing Methodist Attributes

VMA Statement of Faith

It has become apparent that a assumed common understanding of the Doctrinal Clause of the Deed of Union is increasingly hard to determine. Therefore, the Trustees prayerfully and carefully explored more formal statements of Methodist doctrine from various sources and have adopted the following as VMA’s Statement of Faith.

VMA Trust – Statement of Faith

The following Statement of Faith is an affirmation of orthodox Arminian Evangelical belief.

Therefore, it defines and underpins what it means to be a member of VMA

What we Believe About…God:

We believe in the one true, holy and living God, Eternal Spirit, who is Creator, Sovereign and

Preserver of all things visible and invisible. He is infinite in power, wisdom, justice, goodness

and love, and rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of all people, to the

glory of his name. We believe the one God reveals himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.

What we Believe About…Jesus Christ:

We believe in Jesus Christ, truly God and truly human, in whom the divine and human

natures are perfectly and inseparably united. He is the eternal Word made flesh, the only

begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. He

lived, suffered and died on the cross. He was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into

heaven to be with the Father, from whence he shall return. He is the eternal Saviour and

Mediator, who intercedes for us, and by him all people will be judged.

What we Believe About…Holy Spirit:

We believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from and is one in being with the Father and the

Son. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; pours the

love of God into human hearts; leads people through faithful response to the gospel into the

fellowship of the Church; comforts, sustains, and empowers the faithful and guides them

into all the truth.

What we Believe About…the Scriptures:

We believe the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, reveal the Word of God. These

Scriptures reveal all things necessary for salvation. Through the Holy Spirit the Scriptures are

to be received as the supreme rule and guide for faith and practice. Whatever is not

revealed in, or established by, the Holy Scriptures is not to be made an article of faith nor is

it to be taught as essential to salvation.

What we Believe About…the Church:

We believe the Church of Jesus Christ is the community of all true believers under the

Lordship of Christ. We believe it is one, holy, apostolic and catholic. It is the redemptive

fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by those divinely called, and the

sacraments are duly administered. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, the Church exists

for the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers and the redemption of the

world.

What we Believe About…the Sacraments:

We believe the Sacraments of the Gospel, ordained by Christ, are symbols and pledges of

the Christian’s profession and of God’s love toward us. They are means of grace by which

God works invisibly in us, quickening, strengthening and confirming our faith in him. Two

Sacraments are ordained by Jesus Christ our Lord, namely, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

What we Believe About…sin and Reconciliation Through Christ:

We believe humanity is fallen from righteousness and, apart from the grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ, is destitute of holiness and inclined to evil. Except a person repents of their sin

and is born again by The Holy Spirit, they cannot see the Kingdom of God. We believe God

was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The offering Christ freely made on the cross is

the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, available to all people,

redeeming humanity from all sin, so that no other satisfaction is required. By grace through

faith all who repent and place their trust in Christ Jesus receive salvation and assurance as

God’s gift.

What we Believe About…Sanctification and Christian Perfection:

We believe sanctification is the work of God’s grace through the Word and the Spirit, by

which those who have been born again are cleansed from sin in their thoughts, words and

actions. They are thus enabled to live in accordance with God’s will, to demonstrate the fruit

of the Spirit, and to strive for holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Entire sanctification is a state of perfect love, righteousness and true holiness which every

regenerate believer may obtain by being delivered from the power of sin, by loving God

with all the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by loving one’s neighbour as one’s self.

Through faith in Jesus Christ this gracious gift may be received in this life both gradually and

instantaneously, and should be sought earnestly by every child of God.

What we Believe About…Relationships:

We believe all people are called to live in right-relationships with God and with other people

as a sign of redemption, reconciliation and holiness. Therefore, we believe that Marriage Is a

Covenant that was established by God who created us male and female for one another. It

symbolizes the union between Christ and his Church. Sexual relationships are only affirmed

within the covenant of monogamous heterosexual marriage.

What we Believe About…The Judgment and the Future Life:

We believe all people stand under the righteous judgment of Jesus Christ, both now and in

the last day. We believe in the resurrection of the dead and look for the life of the world to

come.

©VMA Trust, January 2025

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THE VOICE OF METHODISM

Our Beliefs

WE BELIEVE that Methodism was raised up by God to ‘spread Scriptural Holiness throughout the land by the proclamation of the Evangelical faith’

This calling is still unfulfilled as is the only remedy for the ills of our nation.

‘I am not afraid that the people called Methodist should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should exist only as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this will surely be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit and discipline with which they first set out’ John Wesley

Valuing Methodist Attributes

The Voice of Methodism Association (VMA) is a body which was formed in the late 1960’s. Negotiations were in progress with the Church of England which would have compromised vital facets of the Methodist movement. People gave sacrificially to ensure that an alternative voice could be heard.

VMA is in favour of working together with other Christians – but we do not believe that Christian unity can be achieved by adopting a common form of high organisation, for example by adopting Anglican style bishops.

VMA is committed to the support of a

Methodist movement true to its origins and dynamic in its present activities for God.

VMA does not believe that when Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples (John 17) he was praying about a unity of organisations. Rather we believe that he was praying for a unity of purpose and a closeness of purpose. These cannot be achieved by forced uniformity,

“ask not, therefore, of him with whom I could unite in love … Are you of my church, of my congregation?

Do you receive the same form of church government, and allow the same church officers, with me? …. my only question at present is this,
“Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?”

John Wesley – Sermon on the Catholic Spirit

Distinctives

The Deed of Union of the Methodist Church states that “Methodism was raised up to spread Scriptural Holiness through the proclamation of the evangelical faith.”

Methodist Christians should rejoice to proclaim the evangelical faith of Christ’s Gospel

The Deed of Union declares that there is no separate ‘priesthood’ in the Methodist Church.

A church which is a true expression of the Methodist movement cannot accept doctrines which create such a priesthood.

John Wesley declared the doctrine of the ‘Historic Episcopate’ to be a ‘vain fable which no man ever did or could prove.’

A church which is a true expression of the Methodist movement cannot assent to be limited by such a fable.

Methodism is concerned with the nurture of converts. In the times of John Wesley much of the Church of England was more concerned with status and power rather than the souls of men and women.

A church which is a true expression of the Methodist movement remains more concerned with people and their needs than with status and rank and the privilege of the few.

While committed to work with all other Christians in mission Methodism has never been part of the ‘Establishment’.

A church which is a true expression of Methodism cannot be yoked to an ‘established’, state church.

The Officers