In the Yorkshire West District, we have made a commitment to encouraging members and congregations to develop their use of A Methodist Way of Life. A Methodist Way of Life is a set of 12 commitments for intentionally living out the Christian faith based on ‘Our Calling’. As a district we believe that building our Christian Faith around an intentional rhythm is one of the best ways to live out our discipleship in worship and mission.
The 12 commitments of a Methodist Way of Life can be seen on this commitment card:
This video tells you more about a Methodist Way of Life.
There are many resources for A Methodist Way of Life available, including the commitment card, in many different languages. These can be downloaded from the Methodist Church Website or ordered from Methodist Publishing.
In 2021 the district appointed Revd David Goodall as the Missional Communities Enabler. A key element of David’s work is to help churches and circuits to develop their use of A Methodist Way of Life.
David is able to run small group sessions, retreat days, introductory sessions and much more to help people learn about A Methodist Way of Life and begin using it. David is very happy to prepare sessions just for your church or circuit, so please do contact him to discuss how he can help.
David can be contacted by email: communities@ywmethodist.org.uk or phone: 07854 308513.
As part of his work David is developing more resources for a Methodist Way of Life and these can be downloaded below.
Five Step Guides
One of the questions David is asked frequently is, “how do we get going with A Methodist Way of Life?” In response to that question these two guides help you to start A Methodist Way of Life Reflection Group in five steps, or to introduce A Methodist Way of Life to a small group, eg Bible Study or House Group, that you are already part of.
Click here to download the guide for new groups.
Click here to download the guide for existing groups.
Discerning Your Rhythm
The twelve commitments of A Methodist Way of Life are understandably broad rather than specific. One of the best ways to use A Methodist Way of Life is to spend time discerning the discipleship practices which will enable you to live out the commitments and to think about the frequency with which you are called to practice each of them. The Discerning Your Rhythm resource offers a template for this along with a model sharing agreement for A Methodist Way of Life group. This resource is available to download here but is best used with a workshop David has developed, so please get in touch with him to discuss him leading the workshop in your church/circuit to get the best use of this resource.
Discerning Your Rhythm worksheet
If you would like hard copies of these resources, please contact David who will be happy to post them to you.