I have been looking for a Christian faith, for a church, and the Methodist theology just seems composed of so much love and wisdom. They got me and I love that I found my home.

“If all experienced God in the same way and returned Him an identical worship, the song of the church triumphant would have no symphony; it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note.” -C. S. Lewis

Retired United Methodist pastor here. John and Chares Wesley were the denominations forbearers in England, although both remained Anglican priests to their deaths. I however was raised Baptist and became United Methodist by marriage and then 20 years later became an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. Churches have way more in common than they differ on. We United Methodist have a line we use when someone joins the church, "The Church is of God and will be preserved until that end of time." Christ bridges many denominations.

I’m a Catholic Christian and love Christian unity , ecumenical dialogue is fantastic

I get it. A true person of Christ must be ready to answer at any time and place. Thank you for the series. I like Protestantism because the tent is so broad (by and large). I grew up in the Christian (Disciples of Christ) Church. But have been drawn to different denominations through my 70 years. Bottom line: we are saved by Grace, and we love the Lord our God with all our hearts and minds and our neighbors as ourselves.

I was raised United Methodist. I love them, I maintain a deep, deep respect for John and Charles Wesley. I love that Methodists do see salvation as a process, that there is at least a concept of what I would now call "Theosis" as in many ways I think that prepared me to understand and accept that truth coming into Antiochian Orthodoxy. I'm actually part of Fr. Paul's congregation in SLC. When I left Methodism behind it had nothing to do with the people, it had nothing to do with Methodism's historical teaching. God was leading me theologically and morally in a more conservative and more traditional direction and, at least the strain of Methodism that I was part of growing up, was going the other way.

Matt as one ordained in the Free Methodist church, I just want to let you know how much I appreciate the posture of your heart in all of this. I do feel like a kindred spirit with you, and have done my best to emphasize the areas of commonality and agreement as I've had opportunities to pastor in towns with a number of different "flavors" of Christianity. When teaching in church, or when instructing those who are actively pursuing the idea of becoming a pastor, I've always been sure to teach the difference between 3 basic levels of belief/understanding - dogma, doctrine, and distinctives. I hear you speaking toward a similar idea regarding orders of beliefs, and I really appreciate that. Keep up the good work.

I always appreciate how humble Matt is. He's open about his overall theological framework for the most part, but he never seems to act like he's better or has everything neatly figured out.

Hi Matt! I just found your channel today through another one of your videos, but clicked on your UMC videos because I attend a UMC church. I was raised non-denominational (essentially S. Baptist), and did not expect to find a home at our local UMC church, but I certainly did. I love how you summed this up. I also love how a person with maybe just a slightly different view of salvation is completely welcome in the UMC church, as long as Jesus, the resurrection, and grace are the center of ones belief. None of the people in my Sunday School class were Methodist as children, but as adults, we have all found the UMC church to be where God has called us. You rightly mentioned the pending split. Please keep the church in your prayers. Looking forward to watching more of your videos and using them with my children as we do our Bible studies!

Coming from another bald, mid 40s Christian man, I love what you’re doing. I too, am tired of the division in the body of Christ because of the lack of willingness to dialogue with believers of other denominations. We are called to be unified in Christ, and we can start by interacting with each other and seeking to understand the reasons behind our differences. The world has begun using the divisions in the body of Christ to invalidate the gospel. Now, more than ever, is the time to unify and show the love for each other that Christ demanded of us. I will be following you on your journey. Godspeed!

Hey, Matt. I stumbled across this and really enjoyed it. I'm a United Methodist pastor of 27 years in Mississippi, and I would say that this guy's response is pretty indicative of most UMC churches. Grace would be where'd most of us would start; Grace that looks an awful lot like Jesus. I most definately agree that this would be a grim world without an array of denominations and faith traditions. We need each other, and we can learn from each other, and the stakes are high in how we treat each other and how we love one another (or fail to love one another). Thanks for promoting good will and finding common ground across the universal church. Keep up the great work!

I love this series. Thank you for sharing, as always!

Hi Matt, I would enjoy a video about you visiting your own church and telling us the doctrines/beflies you teach and believe there

i have been excitedly waiting for you to visit a Methodist Church. Can't wait to watch when I get off work!

Hi Matt! These videos, featuring visits to various churches, are what initially interested me in your channel and why I subscribed. I have enjoyed them all, more importantly, I have learned. I hope you will continue to add to this aspect of your efforts going forward. Many Thanks!

Matt, I am so excited about this project, and so thankful for you, and the way you’re going about it. May God continue to bless and prosper your efforts, and may God bring all his people into closer fellowship. Praise the Lord!

I was raised free will baptist and stopped going to church when i became a teenager. I feel that im spritual but ive shifted to a more agnostic view. However, since starting a family, i feel myself longing for a similar community i grew up in and ive been researching UM churches. Your video was very helpful. Thank you.

You did a good job as usual. I’m glad you got such a great interview on this Methodist church in Savannah, Georgia.

I am truly thankful for bringing light to all the different churches and their doctrines and why they are different but the same in many ways.

Love your spirit! Thank you for a great video😇

Once again, I so appreciate the sincere manner in which you seek to learn more about different Christian faith traditions. And once again, I so appreciate the gracious manner in which you are received. I learn a lot through these videos and am challenged in a good way. This is a refreshing corner of the Internet. :)

I love your videos. Thanks. Praise Jesus

Thanx, Matt and Ben. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Well thank you for calling me a kindred spirit. I'm a far-left atheist, so there isn't really any room for ecumenical dialogue with me, but I do enjoy watching what you're doing. I find it important to learn both about the things that I do believe in as well as the things that I do not believe in, and you provide a lot of things to learn, with a good-willed attitude. And I hope your mission will be a success. I play no part in it, but I do want to see more people communicating with each other and less people hating each other. Perhaps if you achieve this goal and we achieve it, perhaps then you and us will someday achieve it too. Exposing oneself to the other sows seeds of wisdom, which in turn cements the destruction of prejudice.

I'm a Catholic and really like learning about the different Christian churches ❤

New subscriber here! (I subscribed immediately after seeing your hilarious Daniel press conference skit) This is a really cool series to just jump in and get to know your perspective on the unity of the True Church! (a perspective that I happen to share) I grew up in a parsonage from what's known as the Conservative Holiness Movement. Sometimes colloquially called the "come-outers" because we are a loose group of small denominations that came out of the Holiness Movement which came out of the Methodist Movement. In doctrine we all share the Methodist theology for the most part, we only differ in practice. I am loving everything I've seen from your channel so far and I just subscribed to the podcast as well. Thank you for your commitment to sharing the Bible and a Biblical perspective of Christianity, with what seems to be your emphasis on reason and discourse in a Christlike manner. I believe it is so needed in the world today! 2nd Timothy 2:15

Thank you for this approach to Christian church unity! It’s incredibly powerful to understand how other people and cultures think and express themselves. It makes us actively decide what we believe, rather than being passive. I appreciate it so much.

This is such an enlightening series. Thanks for doing these. I grew up in many different churches as my dad was in the military and we moved a lot, so I ended up usually attending whichever one had the "JOY bus" come to the neighborhood and pick me up. The bottom line for all and the core message is God loves us, He has a plan for our salvation, belief in Jesus is the only way to get there, and all you have to do is ask and God is already waiting for you.

Thank God there are so many varieties of Christians, and therefore many branches of His church. Thanks for these videos.

As you touched on, there is such a wide spread of "Methodist" right now. the split in the denomination has been... less than well handled. Thank you for your videos as always, your goal for Christian Unity is one of my favorite signals of your character, constantly in pursuit of the holy universal church

Thank you 🙏

Matt: This whole series of explorative Immersions and your methods of expanding analysis, epistemological and conscious historical situational awareness are extremely helpful. Jus sayin... 😊 🎉 🎉 🎉

Hey Matt. This series has always been awesome! Have you ever thought about doing a day in the life of said Christian? Like spending the day or weekend with them and seeing how their beliefs/interpretations of the bible reflect in their daily lives. I think that may be super enriching/enlightening.

Thanks Matt. You are bearing fruit with this ministry. I so look forward to each of these videos. Wish all of us who try our best to follow Jesus Christ could sit back and appreciate our historical differences as different branches of the same tree. Keep spreading what Paul calls the Gospel of reconciliation. God's continued blessings on your ministry!

Savannah and Charleston are great cities for exploring old churches.

I so strongly believe in this whole, church unity project. I love the sort of, taxonomy idea. My personal... ecumenical interest is in how we can be firmly centred and anchored in Christ, without getting distracted by legalistic concepts and sort of... authoritarian church structures. I want people to be able to question big ideas and still be loved and accepted as Christians, even if they have difference in beliefs - like gay marriage, or divorce, male headship, or infant baptism. Loving Christians with different beliefs as a Christian doesn't mean saying "You're going on the path of evil" or anything like that - It means, "I'm a bit worried about you, can we open a conversation as equals?" And being humble to others' points of view. Disagreement even after that sort of conversation can be superseded by loving relationship, I think, through focusing on the corest values of your beliefs. Yes, to a gay person the issue of gay marriage would be of acute importance, but what is most important, through all of that, is that person is treated with love. that means patience, kindness, active avoidance of boasting (that's not good evangelism) and envy. Fundamental and common to all of our faith(s) is Christ and love. Sorry, I went on a bit of a tangent there. Thanks for reading.

that is such a buitiful church, the bright white interior is so awesome

It's interesting since I sort of arrived at the same conclusion through your videos. The denominations that exists are much more like each other than they are to the cultures they exist within. That's something to celebrate. It also is interesting to see things that I think my own church could do better

Props to him. Love this

I love the church unity project videos.

Great stuff Matt. Appreciated this listen

A man of love and faith

I’ve been educating my congregation on non-negotiables or essentials of the faith. God is a God of truth but also a God of variety. For me, one of the biggest issues is our understanding of the Gospel. When I left being a paramedic to be in ministry, I didn’t realize how many people misunderstand how the Bible applies to our lives! That’s why I have centered my channel on helping people understand the Bible in a practical, relevant way that keeps the true Gospel at the heart of every teaching.

Your task of working to find common ground and unity between and among the various traditions and denominations is clearly in accord with the work of Christ. I find it a blessing that God has given us many means of expressing and living the Christian faith and life, thus offering outreach to many different types of people. I find it unfortunate when, on secondary matters, denominational / traditional food fights become the norm. On the flip side, it strikes me that the divide we see politically is also the divide we are moving toward in the Church. Traditional, conservative cultural values - knowingly or not, derived from natural law ethics - on one side vs. liberal and progressive cultural views on the other. This is tearing apart denominations and will continue to do so. It will also likely drive a re-alignment between different denominations.

Totally unrelated, but I'm glad you've discovered Kühl clothing (the sticker and the shirt). Thanks for the channel.

Good job with this.

Best video series on KZfaq.

Matt: I thank you for always hitting at the core of what any and all of this is about: religion/faith/churches are here to help people become transformed people, to receive the free gift of God: love, light, grace. Sadly, so much of what has been taught has been mostly about: keeping rules, "correct behavior", externals, oh, and don't forget to make sure to NOT talk with THEM, or, THEM, or definitely NOT THEM = the "worthiness game" who is in and who is out. Little to nothing has really been taught, at least in many circles, about what 'Religion" is really meant to do: re-connect or tie together again, to use the Latin roots of the word. It is no wonder there are so many atheists. The "god" that so many churches profess and teach about is a mean, small, and small minded, petty jerk and sadly, so are the people.

For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:14

Grace, love, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The charismatic movement which is strong in the world today stems historically from these roots: Anglican church > Methodism > Holiness churches > Pentacostal/charismatic movement From its liturgical roots in the Anglican church, the focus is more on the mystery of God and living out one's faith in Christ among others than in confessing particular theological axioms. Praise be to God that he has fostered denominations that appeal to the intellect and those that appeal to the heart. Many of us have started in one type and moved to another over the years. He provides what we need at the proper time.

Ephesians 5 talks about this struggle between love and morality. Liberal churches tend to over emphasize the love aspect and ignore the morality aspect of living like Christ. Some conservative church’s over emphasize the morality aspect and throw out the love aspect. If we really want to live like Christ, we need both.

I love these videos! It would be absolutely amazing if you could somehow get Al Mohler, Hank Hannegraaff, Robert Barron and Keith Ackerman in a room to discuss the barriers to ecumenical dialogue.

This is my first viewing of any of your content (great so far!) and would like to share. As a US expat that has lived in the EU/UK for a good 15 years, there is an equivalent amount of variances in the Orthodox churches too. The Catholic Church we tend to assume/learn that it is 'the way' because of our upbringing but there is in fact an interesting schism from many centuries ago that means the pop negotiates with Eastern Orthodoxy. Anyways what my point is this, I recently visited Bulgaria and ventured into a monastery in the Rila mountains. There lies a church (Catholic) that holds bones of saints that walked with Jesus. I never before in my entire 30+ years on this earth thought I would be face to face with such a relic (and it is a relic, on a UNESCO site). It changed my relationship with God. It changed my view of the world. And everything I know do I look through a new lens on the world. It is a true pilgrimage like the Holy Land. Thank you for your channel and expanding the understanding of the Good Book!

Hey Brother, I gotta say I love your channel, and especially your videos where you speak with teachers of other denominations. Idk if it’s my place to make a request, but I would love to see you interview a Primitive Baptist minister; they have a very fascinating history.

Matt, bald guy in early 40s with a sense of humor, but prefers bass and cat fishing. Message received bro. Seriously though, these different church visits have a been a blessing. Keep up His work brother.

What I love about Christianity is that there is a sense of community about everyone on Earth, a connection that is not severed in any way.

I was raised Methodist but no longer consider myself to be a member of that denomination. I'm thankful that they gave me my initial exposure to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The reason I no longer consider myself of that denomination is that I simply can not justify living according to some of the scripture and ignoring or downplaying others. It doesn't matter if I like it or not if it is in scripture I must adhere to it to the very best of my ability and that includes all doctrine as laid out in the Bible. It sounds like you and I's version of faith is very close. I mean we have His word why not just follow the instructions as they were given and not according to our own or the groups will. Isn't it His will that should be paramount and above all else? Take care and God Bless...

You really come at this with humility. Your heart is at the right place and it shows. I think your work helps us walk towards unity. Unity through harmony and love. Thank you.

Lowkey, I think part of the reason God brought about the internet is so that Jesus's prayer for unity in John 17 will be accomplished. Great channel Matt

Good afternoon, I want to first say what a joy it is to watch and learn from your videos. It has helped me better understand other denominations around the world and I am also studying why we are so different. So many areas of Christianity. My only question is in the video it appeared that the Book that was sitting at the podium appeared blank? Or was it just the lighting. Again thank you for all you do and God Bless you and your ministry

Cool vid

I would love to see you visit two different Methodist Churches, one on each side of the recent divide and get a take from both sides on what's going on there straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Never heard him say anything about being a sinner and needing a savior. Wow. And Jesus is that savior that gives us eternal life through faith.

There is a great podcast from Ancient Faith Radio with a United Methodist pastor in dialogue with an Orthodox Priest. The Areopagus. The pastor is a good example of a traditional Christian serving in a less traditional denomination.

I believe I commented similarly on the last video, but here goes it again. The UMC, like the pastor mentioned, has many different beliefs under one tent which is the problem with the modern Methodist Church. There is no longer a standard... almost no shared foundation. Some UMC churches preach the inerrant Word of God while other treat the Bible like the Pirates of the Caribbean treat their rule book - just nice guidelines. Without a shared doctrine, a church can not stand united, which is why the UMC is running high speed into a multifaceted split that could possibly happen wide scale as soon as next month (July '22). The UMC is a messy conglomerate. Many churches are incredibly formal; many are extremely relaxed and contemporary; many are straight up concert events; many are essentially Baptist churches filled with former Baptists that wanted to have a little more fun in public. Now, you need to find a representative for the newly found Global Methodist Church as well as the other Methodist denominations such as the Free Methodist and the Bible Methodists.

I've been praying for the unity of believers despite what denomination we might belong to. Peace y'all

It’s funny, I go to a Methodist church, and they had talked about some of the saint’s and what they believed in from their teachings. That’s what got me interested In learning more about the different branches of Christian faith.

Blessed be the peacemakers, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matt, now that you've made new friends and new alias, what impact has your endeavor of visiting various denominations and asking key questions, done to bring unity to the Body of Christ?? Would love for you to do a follow up visit with Pastor Daylan Woodall in Decatur, Alabama. A series between you two to discuss how your series has impacted your view as a Christian, and how would it impact Pastor Woodall in his theological perspective.

I really enjoy this project and I think it is so so useful in presenting all sides. I also like that you are sort of passive in this, not taking sides, just presenting and asking questions and I think that is the best way to have done this. However, I don’t think the idea of us all getting along makes much sense in the context of Christ’s own words and actions. He was not afraid to divide over truth. There are so many examples of His interactions with the Pharisees and with the people that showed this (I think of the healings on the sabbath and the telling people they needed to eat His flesh and drink His blood as good examples). And I totally do agree that we still need to be kind and loving toward one another, but I just think this is more effective to give data to believers and unbelievers for them to be able to discern for themselves what is true (by the grace of God through the Spirit). And I definitely think this will look different in everyone as He absolutely doesn’t work or reveal the same things to everyone, but I just think that it is still important to seek truth from His inspired words and the God inspired words of the writers above all. Unity in truth. And I’m not doing a great job of explaining that but is just slightly different from what you are already doing 😄 overall still enjoy this series quite a lot and I do like the unbiased nature and just presentation of the different ways humans have tried practicing the Way. And no group will ever get it exactly right, I just think that that doesn’t mean we should neglect seeking the truth for unity. Sorry for the rambling 😄 but thank you for this series!

Great series; I hope you get to visit a CCCC church (Conservative Congregational Christian Conference).

matt i'd love if you'd visit another UMC congregation as well, i could coordinate a set up with my church if you were ever in nj on vaca

I just love how religion is addressed in James 1:19-27! Jesus is the one that saves us. Keep being a hearer and a doer of the Word!!!

I see you have a copy of Rock and Sand by Josiah Trenham on your desk. Good read. Highly recommend it.

Our UMC church, that I belong too, would fall on the extreme conservative side of congregations. I feel like the local UMC churches I have visited would all follow on that line. The fracturing between the church is kind of a (unfortunately) protestant mainstay. Feels like every time we get something we break off. I personally would consider myself either a Catholic or an Anglican, but probably leaning more anglican, but my community doesn't have an anglican church (not one for 2-3 hours drive) On a separate note, Wesley never actually created a new church, he always advocated for staying within the Anglican church, but the methodist movement was more of a subsect of the Anglican church. I think Asbury would be considered to be the father of Methodism as a whole. I may be wrong on some of the specifics, but that seems to be the feeling I have from some methodist theologians.

I'm a Moravian. They're not as obscure as you think. Visit Winston-Salem, NC, where there's almost a Moravian church on every corner.

I was raised Methodist, I’m a Lutheran now because there’s a lot within the Methodist church that I have a hard time with and always has since i was a kid. Anyway one thing he didn’t mention was the Wesley’s were part of the trail riders. They ride 100s of miles from town to town preaching the gospel. If the church would’ve stayed with the Wesleyan theology it probably would be a lot better today.

Hi Matt, I saw the Rock and Sand book, is that Father Josiah Trenham's book? Also what are the books on the table that you have? Just curious for some good reads. I see the brown book, the "theocydides", and an open book. If you would be so kind as to let me know that'd be awesome. Blessings

John Wesley was more than a priest he was a teaching scholar, but his early ministry failed because of his chasing God with trying to be perfect and always falling short. He naturally worried about his failure and was always worried about his being saved because of it. It took maturity and those Moravians to teach him that chasing God was not necessary, because God loved him regardless of his failures, that would warm anyones heart to finally understand. He never wanted to form a denomination, all he wanted was to preach the Gospel and help people find God. And that is all Methodists traditionally wanted to do ..... but like most denominations in the last 50 years, they are sidetracked not with their faith in God but in their faith in their own assumptions about God.

I’m all about mere Christianity and If I were to ever join a more liturgical church Like Missouri Synod Lutheran or Episcopal\Anglican etc. my only stipulation would be allowing me to Evangelize or I’m out of There!

Clarification: John Wesley taught total depravity and the inability of man on his own to seek God. He also taught that prevenient grace was extended toward all people giving them the capability to know there is a God and to know right and wrong (Romans chapters 1 & 2). It is Christ who then sends the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin and draw all people to himself.

I think it would be awesome if you could visit an ELCA Lutheran church, so that we can see the differences between it and the LCMS

We need different views and things that appeal to different people. No church or bible verse brought me to Christ. It was a KZfaq channel that attracted me in a way God knew I would have my aha moment.

At the 5:00 mark, keep in mind that the Methodists arose out of a movement to reform / restore the Anglican church. This is why the Methodists have a lot of similarities with their Anglican forebears, including naming churches after saints (though of course not all do).

Have you visited a Moravian church, would like to know more

Hello. I'm a Christian of the reformed (presbyterian) tradition. There were things I agreed with the Methodist Rev. In the original interview video. There were things I disagree with. The interview was concise. Here are my concerns. When we talk about the apostles Creed even that's the basics I agree. They are the foundation of what the bible teaches. Here's the meat of my concerns. Many factions of Christianity didn't happen because a new one arose but rather there was a split from another. So we we don't have two pieces of a puzzle. Let's look at the two that claim to be the original. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. They can't even get along over a theological division on the creeds. Even within protestantism there were attempts of dialogue between ideas of thought that came out a certain church tradition. I mean Luther didn't try to leave the church and start a new one. So how can there truly be unity? We need to ask what the gospel is. The gospel boils down to the good news of particularly how does God interact with man. Do we say there are different gospels for different people? Do we assume they all teach the same thing. Is the doctrine of justification for example worth building bridges or is it with burning down bridges. I think alot of that is our goal of bridges.

I see you have Father Josiah's book there. Would love to get your thoughts on it.

great video! have you thought about visiting a quaker church/meeting house?

I grew up United Methodist and have great memories: Sunday School and covered dishes and choir specials. The reason I left in high school is that never once did I hear seriously about grace and prayer and later my dad wanted to know why Satan was never mentioned (bad manners I’m sure). To me some of the greatest people I’ve ever met but no different than a ymca Or YWCA.

Love your videos if your looking to come visit Amish and Mennonite churches. I work a few church in Iowa that would love to show you around.

I visited a methodist church for the first time recently as a guest pastor during easter and it gave me a distinctly “British” vibe as far as architecture and aesthetics were concerned.

I have friends from all different denominations. Even in my family we’re very diverse

Christ, in HIs high priestly prayer, said" I pay that they will all be one." ..one in the Spirit.

Don't know if you covered this in your prior vids, but the modern "United Methodists" were borne of a unification between the "United Brethren" (an Anabaptist sect) and the Methodist Church in the 1960s. Some of my relatives started out as United Brethren ministers before the merge. And the United Brethren had basically splintered from other Brethren groups like the Grace Brethren. Pretty interesting history. The 1960s merger was the last big gasp of the post-war Eccumenical movement - leading up to that moment there were many different denominations who were trying to see not only if they could reconcile with each other, but in essence solidify a sort of unitary American Protestantism as a kind of national fraternity. They had strong backing from many within the US government (not FROM the government itself I should note). There are 2 people you ought to interview: Alec Ryrie of Gresham College in the UK (he is a devoted scholar of Protestantism), and Tara Isabella Burton (author of the 2020 book Strange Rites, which is an exploration of the atomization of modern religion, and the rise of new cults intertwined with commercialism) - they both have a lot of knowledge of the history of all this.

Wesleyan-Arminianism and Calvinism both say humans are helpless and hopeless (dead) apart from grace (no Natural free will since the fall). The difference is how grace is administered and whether it is resistible. Thanks bro!

Right doctrine in essential to Body of Christ. The three creeds and first seven ecumenical councils and Bible.

Great video, but minor critique on the explanation of Arminianism: At least in Wesleyan Arminianism, there is a doctrine of Prevenient Grace which proceeds Salvation, so it's not that people are capable of doing good works on their own, rather people are capable of responding to the work of the Spirit within them, even if they do not yet know Him.

Still waiting on you to check out a house church movement/expression. :)

Would be cool to see you visit an orthodox or catholic monastery!

They don't believe in the rapture that's sad thanks for showing this video what part of one taken one left in Matthew 24 do they not understand only the Holy spirit can show a person the Truth of Christ