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The
doctrinal standards of the BTCI Conference are set forth in
its Articles of Incorporation in the Constitution of the M.C.C.A.
and that of the British Methodist Church.
The
Methodist Church claims and cherishes its place in the Holy
Catholic Church which is the Body of Christ. It rejoices in
the inheritance of the Apostolic Faith and loyally accepts
the fundamental principles of the historic creeds and of the
Protestant Reformation. It ever remembers that in the Providence
of God Methodism was raised up to spread Scriptural Holiness
through the land by the proclamation of the Evangelical Faith
and declares its unfaltering resolve to be true to its Divinely
appointed mission. The Doctrines of the Evangelical faith
which Methodism has held from the beginning and still holds
are based upon the Divine revelation recorded in the Holy
Scriptures. The Methodist Church acknowledges this revelation
as the supreme rule of faith and practice. These Evangelical
Doctrines to which the Preachers of the Methodist Church both
Ministers and Lay persons are pledged are contained in Reverend
Wesley's Notes on the New Testament and the First four volumes
of the sermons.
It
is the universal conviction of the Methodist people that the
office of the Christian Ministry depends upon the call of
God who bestows the gifts of the Spirit, the grace and the
fruit which indicate those whom He has chosen. Those whom
the Methodist Church recognizes as called by God and therefore
receives into its Ministry shall be ordained by the imposition
of hands as expressive of the Church's recognition of the
Minister's personal call. The Methodist Church holds the doctrine
of the priesthood of all believers and consequently believes
that no priesthood exists which belongs exclusively to a particular
order or class of persons, but in the exercise of its corporate
life and worship, special qualifications for the discharge
of special duties are required and thus the principle of representative
selection is recognized. The preachers, itinerant and lay,
are examined, tested and approved before they are authorized
to minister in holy things. For the sake of Church Order and
not because of any priestly virtue inherent in the office,
the Ministers of the Methodist Church are set apart by ordination
of the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments.
The
Methodist Church recognizes two sacraments, namely Baptism
and the Lord's Supper, as of Divine Appointment and of perpetual
obligation of which it is the privilege and duty of members
of the Methodist Church to avail themselves.
The
doctrinal standards are unalterable.
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