As a Baptist with a Methodist wife, I assure you the distinctions aren’t that impressive. And therein lies the rub. Original Methodism did not mirror Baptist theology, it was more inclined to Anglican belief but with feeling. It was liturgical, Communion was weekly instead of monthly, the Nicene Creed was said...it more resembled the American Episcopalian services of my youth.
The Methodist Church of my youth changed drastically. In some places it is as Baptist as any Baptist Church and in some places they might as well call it the Human Secularist Church, I call them the Methodist Social Club. I've found very few Methodist Churches in my adulthood that even resemble the Methodist Churches I attended in my youth. My SIL attends one, so I know they are out there but her minister is past retirement age too.
And if you doubt what I'm saying I could dig out my old hymnal that gives the Order of Worship.
In my own Methodist Church, we went from liturgical, to kind of liturgical, to the ministers could just as well have been on Broadway, to Human Secularism.
You know, live a good life, do good, do community service, care about the environment, blah, blah, blah. It is the same thing with those Catholics who preach and teach "Social Justice" that liberal Catholics have grasped with both hands. It takes the focus off of Jesus and puts it on the individual and what they can do.
The Baptist Churches I was raised in were fairly formal -- suits, hymnals, etc. But, even then, Baptist Churches have been the churches with the least pomp & circumstance. They're simple services -- worship, communion, ministry and teaching, personalized prayer, Sunday School, Bible Study, etc. Personally, that's why I like them -- they're not pretentious.
We split our time between Second Baptist Church (a Houston mega-church) and a small Vineyard (non-denominational) Christian Fellowship. Both use somewhat contemporary music -- ranging from classic hymns to Christian rock, and neither is particularly formal dress -- "come as you are to worship the Lord" type churches.
But, we've been quite careful to avoid "social club" type secular "prosperity" churches. For instance, Joel Osteen's church (Lakewood Church, where the slogan is literally "Discover the Champion in You" ...) -- where there isn't even a cross on the stage, and there is a big globe behind the preacher (yikes). Osteen never went to divinity school, inherited the church from his father. And there is a big "O" (for Osteen) around the church emblem ... which has the traditional Methodist flame, but no cross whatsoever.
The teachings at both of our churches are heavily Biblical, and Sunday School classes are quite intensive. Dr. Ed Young, the Pastor at 2nd Baptist, isn't afraid to make the generally white upper-middle-class congregation uncomfortable (as he did with a recent sermon on tithing ... a touchy subject).
He isn't afraid to take a political stand, either (as with the upcoming July 4th celebration of God and Country, and accompanying salute to the military).
H
