An Initiative of The Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church
What does it mean to be Wesleyan Rooted?
It means Knowing Our story.
John and Charles Wesley started the Methodist movement in the 1700s. Its goal? To reignite a faith for real people with real lives, that connected a deep knowledge of faith to a powerful personal experience of God.
To put it simply, following Christ in the Wesleyan tradition means loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength so that our whole lives might be transformed by the Holy Spirit. John Wesley called this “personal holiness”.
A life of faith for early Methodists was not only focused on the personal experience of Christ, but also for the ways following Jesus makes a difference in our world. “Social holiness” is the witness of these practices in action and in community.
We don’t do faith alone. The Spirit is calling us to think deeply about matters of justice and mercy - and taking action to bring them about in our world.
This is our story.
The Gathering Place and First United are anchored deeply to our Methodist tradition. Through this Wesleyan Rooted initiative across the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, we are excited to reclaim and rediscover our roots, to share the story of our faith, and to let it be the driving force for love, hope, service in our community.
We hope you will join us on this path toward deeper knowing, doing, and being as United Methodists.
As a result of taking this journey together, you will gain a renewed understanding of our Wesleyan theology of sanctification (being made whole and new in Christ) and grace.
Your heart will be filled with a rekindled sense of God’s love at work in and through you. And you will have greater motivation to follow the spiritual practices that will lead you to transformation in Christ.
The result will be a clearer and more passionate desire to engage in the missional work of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
