William Abraham, of Perkins School of Theology, recounts a conversation at a United Methodist church between one of his friends and a couple who had transferred in from the Southern Baptist tradition. The former Baptists shared that where “before, as Southern Baptists, they had to accept a whole system of doctrine, they were now free, as United Methodists, to believe anything they liked.”
This conversation isn’t unusual. There is a pervasive view that United Methodists do not have particular doctrinal standards. Instead, the UMC is known more for its polity—episcopal structure and itinerant pastors—than its theology.
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