Methodists & the World

John Wesley took "the world as my parish.'' Last week some 2,000 delegates from that parish, representing 18 million Methodists in 44 countries, wound up a meeting that would have pleased Wesley. At Lake Junaluska, N.C., a Methodist resort, the delegates met for twelve days in unsegregated harmony. In hotels and restaurants Methodists from Asia and Africa, as well as U.S. Negroes, were welcomed alongside whites, including U.S. Southerners. The most emphatic influence at the ninth Methodist World Conference was exerted by the British. As new president of the World Methodist Council the conference elected the Rev. Dr. Harold Roberts, dean of the theology faculty at the University of London and president-designate of the British Methodist Church. And at its close, the meeting adopted a 1,500-word "Message to the Churches," drafted primarily by another Briton--the Rev. Walter James Noble, a member of the World Methodist Council. The message set Methodism firmly on record in several areas of division and doubt. Highlights:

Racial Discrimination must be fought everywhere because "the church is committed by its very nature to the establishment of a human society in which discrimination based on race or color will no longer exist." According to the conference's "earnest desire," Methodists should "initiate, contend for and foster, within their own societies, a genuine and allinclusive fellowship."

World Peace depends on attacking the underlying causes of war--in particular, low standards of living, threats to human liberty, greed and the love of power. In addition, Methodists everywhere should earnestly "support every attempt to secure a reduction of the crippling burden of armaments, and in particular the cessation of the development of nuclear power for purposes of war."

The Spread of the Gospel faces serious obstacles. "In spite of some encouragement," there is as yet no "convincing evidence of a widespread revival of religion." And to make evangelism harder, "There is, also, a recrudescence of some of the ancient faiths [i.e., Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Shintoism] often associated with nationalistic fervor, and threatening to put obstacles in the way of the church's work . . . There is the greatest need for the rethinking of missionary strategy, and for devising new methods of cooperation." But while new methods of evangelism are desirable, "the finest, best-tempered and most certain instrument of evangelism is the whole company of the worshiping church."

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