My impression was that Free Methodists are evangelical (although obviously not non-denominational)[1]. Overall it seems like denominational evangelicals fall somewhere in between the non-denominationals and the mainlines. They’re more likely to require a seminary degree and have more of a hierarchy. Could you say more about what makes you categorize Free Methodists as non-evangelical?
Evidence: they explicitly call themselves evangelical in this doc, and I’m sure they showed up in one of my podcasts, although damned if I can find which one now.
It may be that the denomination as a whole is classified evangelical, but our specific church definitely doesn’t feel like it (Speaking as someone with experience). All the pastors went to seminary, even the youth pastor and the social justice pastor and there is less of an established hierarchy than most evangelical churches. The pastor is not in charge of the church, rather the elected board is, and there is less emphasis on spreading the bible and more on caring for the community that the church is in.
Very interesting, thank you.
My impression was that Free Methodists are evangelical (although obviously not non-denominational)[1]. Overall it seems like denominational evangelicals fall somewhere in between the non-denominationals and the mainlines. They’re more likely to require a seminary degree and have more of a hierarchy. Could you say more about what makes you categorize Free Methodists as non-evangelical?
Evidence: they explicitly call themselves evangelical in this doc, and I’m sure they showed up in one of my podcasts, although damned if I can find which one now.
It may be that the denomination as a whole is classified evangelical, but our specific church definitely doesn’t feel like it (Speaking as someone with experience). All the pastors went to seminary, even the youth pastor and the social justice pastor and there is less of an established hierarchy than most evangelical churches. The pastor is not in charge of the church, rather the elected board is, and there is less emphasis on spreading the bible and more on caring for the community that the church is in.