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Malton Methodist Circuit

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Thought for the Month - September 2010

‘Four Alls’

Travelling on the A64 in the direction of York (sometimes by car, sometimes by Coastliner) I am amused by the name of a large inn on the way: ‘The Four Alls’. I wonder why it is called that: are there Methodist links somewhere? The so-called ‘Four Alls’ of Methodism are often thought to come from the time of John Wesley: in fact, they date from the early twentieth century as a helpful summary of the beliefs of the people of God known as Methodists. The wording of modern versions varies slightly, but in essence they are:

All need to be saved

All can be saved (sometimes ‘by grace through faith’ is added)

All can know they are saved

All may be saved to the uttermost

Many today will want to ask precisely what those statements mean! Basically, they point to the fact that all of us are flawed and do wrong and need to turn to God – in Jesus - to receive forgiveness, new life and power; that this good news (‘Gospel’) is freely available for all people to receive; that we can be at peace and absolutely assured that God loves us and we belong to Him for ever; and that we should never place limits on what God can do for us – in this life as well as the life to come. God’s intention is to complete what has been begun in us!

This is, of course, a life to be lived out in a world of desperate need. Countless millions do not know of the new life God offers us through Jesus; as I write we are seeing the consequences of the dreadful floods in Pakistan and China and the heat wave which has afflicted Russia, and hearing of casualties in war and acts of terrorism and abuse of the vulnerable daily on our news bulletins. Ours is a liberating faith, and a practical one: we are ‘saved’ by God so that we can reveal God’s love – in word and in deed – to a world and society around us which is desperately hungry in every sense of the word.

May God richly bless you all – and may you all be a blessing to others.

Geoff