Disclaimer: Feel free to read the answers and use them for guidance. Please don't plagiarize. It's likely your BOOM knows how to use Google. That's the basic amoral reason to not copy. The moral reason is that plagiarism is lying. The more important reason is you need to answer these questions. The Board needs to know what you believe. Even more so, you need to know what you believe.
This post contains links to all the questions.
Note: Because of plagiarism concerns I have included only the opening sentences of each answer. Good luck with your paperwork.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Describe the nature and mission of the Church. What are its primary tasks today? Part III of the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, titled “The Ministry of All Christians,” explains the responsibility of all Christians to share the love of Christ. The section opens with a statement of the mission of the church. “The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world” (Discipline ¶120). On the surface, the mission statement seems straightforward, if not self-evident. It is also a mission that drove the church at its inception and for many decades afterward, despite not being stated explicitly before 1976 (Frank 162).
The mission of “making disciples” seems to be a simplistic view of the church’s mission. It also, arguably, is problematic in light of the Church’s Wesleyan roots...
11. Discuss your understanding of the primary characteristics of United Methodist polity.
The polity that governs the United Methodist Church is a unique combination of polity characteristics. Thomas Frank states, “The UMC is an amalgam of ecclesial polities – Catholic, Anglican, Reformed, pietistic, and evangelical” (320). This combination can best be summed up as connectionalism. “Connectionalism in the United Methodist tradition is multi-leveled, global in scope, and local in thrust. Our connectionalism is not merely a linking of one charge conference to another. It is rather a vital web of interactive relationships (Discipline ¶131). This connection is expressed in a variety of ways that make our connectional polity unique.
The polity that governs the United Methodist Church is a unique combination of polity characteristics. Thomas Frank states, “The UMC is an amalgam of ecclesial polities – Catholic, Anglican, Reformed, pietistic, and evangelical” (320). This combination can best be summed up as connectionalism. “Connectionalism in the United Methodist tradition is multi-leveled, global in scope, and local in thrust. Our connectionalism is not merely a linking of one charge conference to another. It is rather a vital web of interactive relationships (Discipline ¶131). This connection is expressed in a variety of ways that make our connectional polity unique.
How long was your document and how many sources did you use beside Frank's polity and the discipline?
ReplyDeleteMy provisional membership Theology & Doctrine paper (a total of 18 questions in the North Alabama Conference a couple of which are unique to the NAC) was a little over 13,000 words. 41 pages.
DeleteI had about 13 sources total in addition to teh two you mentioned - the Book of Worship, Jones "UM Doctrine", Willimon - UM Beliefs, Wesley's sermons (Original Sin, Working Out Our Salvation, Circumcision of Heart, One Thing Needful), Burtner & Chiles "John Wesley's Theology" and a few other minor sources....
I now realize you were probably asking specifically about these questions. In that case, they were about 600 words each (NAC requirement) and BoD & Frank were the only two sources used in these responses.
Delete