PENN FREE

METHODIST CHURCH

OUR STANCE & APPROACH

Sadly, confusion abounds today about what the Christian faith actually teaches. In many churches Biblical Christianity is supplanted by a 'user-friendly', politically correct message in accordance with the teachings of fashionable liberal humanism. The Christian Gospel, however, must not be watered down to suit the received wisdom of the day. Gospel proclamation is not an exercise in marketing. Instead of the true Gospel, which proclaims that each individual must repent of sin before a holy God, we so often hear a 'one world' message of social improvement, which is no different from the message of the secular politicians. What ought to be proclaimed, however, is the unique revelation of God in holy Scripture.

Penn Free Methodist Church starts from the premise that every word of the Bible is breathed out by God for our instruction. The Scriptures are God's complete and final revelation to man. Here, and here alone, is the path to salvation and everlasting life, for in both Old and New Testaments we learn of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the world's only Saviour.

As a matter of conviction, and in a pursuit of an appropriate reverence, we have felt no need to 'update' our worship, choosing rather the restrained, thoughtful, dignified approach of previous generations, and in line with the inherited principles of the Protestant Reformation. Worship must not be 'theatre', nor a display of creative talent, nor must it degenerate into chat-show style entertainment. The manipulation of emotions by means of music is not an appropriate way to foster Christian joy, nor to encourage serious thinking about one's soul. The joy which God desires us to have can only occur if there is true work of the Holy Spirit within the heart, as a man uses his mind to think through the implications of the Gospel.

So we make no attempt to prove how 'lively' and 'relevant' we are by adopting contemporary worship styles. The Gospel calls upon men to separate from the world and its culture, not to imitate it. The format of our Sunday services is simple, yet structured, and it is easily accessible to the total newcomer. We actually dare to say that worship should be serious and formal. Previous generations were well able to understand that seriousness and joy can happily coexist.

The exposition of Scripture is central to all our worship, for the Bible is the word of God. We use the hymns from the great and profound tradition of English hymnody as represented by men such as Isaac Watts & Charles Wesley. The glory of God simply does not lend itself to all-pervasive 21st century dumbing-down. There are concepts in the Christian faith which cannot always be reduced to basic monosyllabic English. Youngsters interested in computers have no difficulty learning the technical words associated with that medium. Likewise, those of any age who wish to learn about the deep things of God will gladly make the effort to get to understand the occasional difficult word and concept.

The words of Scripture are all given by direct inspiration of God. These God-given words do not adopt politically correct, gender-inclusive forms, but male terms are rather used by the Holy Spirit to refer to Almighty God, and also to refer to the human race, both male and female. Accordingly, no concessions whatsoever are made by Penn Free Methodist Church to the fashions of the moment regarding inclusive language.

If you are a non-Christian reading this, please may we encourage you with the following Scripture quotation (God is speaking these words) : "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).