Setting out the priorities for Methodists in Guisborough
Guisborough Methodist Church (GMC) is a vibrant space of caring people who are making God’s love real. In practical, concrete terms, “love” at GMC means:
Pursuing social justice for all as commanded in both Testaments of the Bible;
Respecting and accepting differences of belief.
Setting aside our own convenience, comfort, and interests to seek the flourishing of others.
We centre our faith on our Christ-like actions instead of a laundry list of beliefs. We seek to exhibit grace and kindness in all our interactions.
Grace upon grace upon grace is a core quality of Methodists, as we see God’s grace all around us because God is active in the world and we want to work alongside God.
Grace Upon Grace Upon Grace
God’s unlimited love for everyone, every creature, the entire world – for all, absolutely no exceptions – is not only real but always present to us and active around us. For Methodists, this grace is the starting truth of the spiritual journey, as we wake up to the reality that God has loved us before we breathed our first breath or had our first opinion.
But grace is more than just the beginning. It’s more than a one-time, turn-over-a-new-leaf decision: it’s also the total energy for faith development and change throughout life.
It’s the main thing the Bible is trying to get across to us about the Living God known in Jesus Christ through the radiance of the Holy Spirit.
God’s grace is what names us, encounters us, calls us, saves us, heals and transforms us.
Justice-Seeking
Methodists have a long history of working for social change as an integral part of living out the Gospel of Jesus. That DNA makes us natural partners in the work for justice today – justice with, not only justice for.
We are called to face and dismantle the root causes of systemic injustices including poverty, food and housing insecurity, racism and white supremacy, knife crime, the climate emergency, and more.
We are called to practical, organised, holy action – not just preaching a sermon about it or signing a petition about it, but showing up, heart, mind, body, soul.
To let our yes be yes, and our no be no. we are all humans made in the image of God, not machines constructed in the image of the market, our commitments to justice should be through-lines of God’s grace, take account of the need for rest and recovery, and be infused with prayer and increasing spiritual stability.
Small Groups
Growth and change aren’t possible by yourself alone. We need others. “How is it with your soul?”
We believe that asking and being asked deep questions like this – and exploring them honestly, lovingly, and consistently with trusted companions on the journey – is at the heart of faith exploration and practice.
Whether through sharing testimony, committing to mutual accountability, searching for meaning and purpose, or sharing struggles and celebrations and prayer together, small groups are an anchor place for relationship, vulnerability, and genuine belonging in world motivated by appearance and performance.
Both/and Theology
In an age of hyper-divided polarities and embattled groups across the human spectrum, Methodism’s catholic spirit, multi-source theology, emphasis on grace and responsibility, and practical teaching of holiness and the scripture way of salvation offer pathways that honour difference but hold us together in a common journey towards transformation.
Methodists explore spiritual questions by joining: belief and action, contemporary thought and ancient truth, personal experience and community wisdom.
This approach keeps us all on the faith journey, softens rigid false binaries, find companions in unexpected places, and searches for pragmatic ways forward together through entrenched conditions.
Church Without Walls
We can’t serve at a distance. Beyond simply welcoming and including new people who come in our doors, we’re ready to walk out of our doors to go where people actually are. Our experience of God makes us want to share the love of Jesus with others, not shove it down their throats.
We love making new friends and new communities and new ways of “being church” together – in the local pub, in someone’s lounge, on forest hikes, and even in an old church building.
Leaders All Around Us
We have a deep, historical commitment to lay leadership and a belief that anyone can be called to lead. We value collaboration with a bias for action. Whether you are lay or ordained, being a bold leader also requires staying a humble follower – a follower of Jesus, a follower of others who are different, a follower of contextual changes that may influence mission and ministry.
** Based on Methodist Church of Britain Evangelism and Growth Team (2021), Rooted and New: Exploring a Mixed Ecology of New Places for New People, London: Methodist Church of Britain.
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