Hub City Church is proud to be a part of The Free Methodist Church USA. Free Methodists are Christians who are part of the historical Methodist Church founded by John Wesley. Free Methodists affirm the ancient Christian creeds, and believe that God created the world and humanity, Christ resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven, and Christ sent the Holy Spirit to live and work among the community and build God’s kingdom through loving, restorative communities of kingdom-minded people.
Historically, the Free Methodist Church began in upstate New York in 1860. The first bishop of the new church, B. T. Roberts, was kicked out of the Methodist Episcopal Church after a series of conflicts with leadership. A major issue in that conflict was the ME church’s practice of renting pews, and BT protested this exclusion of the poor. The ME Church also believed in owning slaves, and Roberts and the first Free Methodists were abolitionists. He was a champion for equal rights, writing a book to advocate for the ordination of women in 1890. He had a lot to say about the issue of wealth and how it corrupts society and morality.
In 1860, the “free” in Free Methodist emphasized certain basic freedoms found in the Scriptures:
- Human freedom, upholding the right of every person to be free, denying the right of anyone to hold slaves;
- Freedom and simplicity in worship and lifestyle;
- Free seats in church, so the poor will not be kept out or discriminated against;
- Freedom from oaths and openness in loyalties so the truth may always be spoken freely;
- Freedom of lay persons to be fully involved at all levels of decision-making
The biblical principles on which these freedoms are based are as important today as ever.
