Methodists vs Baptists: Differences Explained

Brothers and Sisters in Christ: A Heartfelt Guide to Baptist and Methodist Beliefs

In the great and beautiful family of God, we find many rooms, each with its own unique character and history, yet all part of the same household of faith. Two of the largest and most familiar of these rooms in the landscape of American Protestantism are the Baptist and Methodist traditions. To the casual observer, they may seem quite similar, and , they are united by a deep love for Jesus Christ and a foundational trust in the authority of the Holy Scriptures.¹ They are, without question, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Yet, like any siblings, they have their own distinct personalities, shaped by different histories, spiritual passions, and ways of understanding God’s work in the world. To explore these differences is not to seek division, but to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for the rich diversity within Christ’s body. It is an act of love to seek to understand a brother or sister more fully.

This journey of understanding will take us through the stories of their beginnings, into the depths of their beliefs about salvation and Scripture, and into the tangible practices of their worship, like baptism and communion. We will explore how they structure their church life and how they approach the challenging questions of our day. Our goal is not to declare one right and the other wrong, but to walk alongside both traditions with a pastoral heart, seeing the beauty in each and celebrating the glorious Lord they both seek to honor.

Where did the Baptist and Methodist traditions begin?

To understand the heart of a person, it helps to know their story. The same is true for our denominations. The distinct characters of the Baptist and Methodist traditions were forged in the fires of their unique origins, revealing two different heart postures from the very beginning: one seeking to reform the family from within, the other seeking to build a new household on a different foundation.

The Methodist Call for Holiness

The Methodist movement was born not as a new but as a passionate revival within the existing Church of England in the 18th century.³ Its founders were two Anglican priest brothers, John and Charles Wesley. While at Oxford University, they started a group with fellow students dedicated to pursuing a more disciplined spiritual life. They were so systematic in their piety—fasting, praying, receiving communion weekly, and caring for the poor and imprisoned—that other students mockingly nicknamed them the “Holy Club” or “Methodists”.⁴ John Wesley, But embraced the name, turning a term of derision into a “title of honor”.⁵

The true spark of the movement came in 1738. After a disappointing mission trip to America left him feeling spiritually empty, John Wesley attended a small religious meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. As someone read from Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans, Wesley felt his “heart strangely warmed”.⁴ He wrote in his journal, “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death”.⁵

This powerful conversion experience launched the Wesleys into a tireless ministry of open-air preaching, taking the gospel to thousands of common people, miners, and others who felt neglected by the formal state church.⁴ Their goal was never to leave the Church of England but to breathe new life into it and, as Wesley famously said, to “spread scriptural holiness over the land”.⁴ The formal separation into a new denomination only occurred after Wesley’s death, driven largely by the practical need to ordain ministers for the growing movement in the newly independent United States.³ This origin as a reform movement within a structured, historic church helps explain why Methodism has always been comfortable with a “connectional” system of conferences and bishops.⁶

The Baptist Quest for a Pure Church

The Baptist story begins a century earlier, rooted in the English Separatist movement of the 1600s.¹ Although the Methodists sought to reform the Church of England, these early Baptists believed it was beyond reform. They were convinced that the only way to be faithful to the New Testament was to

separate from the state church and form new congregations based on a different set of principles.⁸

Influenced by the Anabaptist (“re-baptizer”) movements on the European continent, they championed radical ideas for their time. They insisted that church membership must be voluntary, not something one is born into.⁸ This led to their most defining belief: baptism is only for believers who can make a personal profession of faith. Consequently, they rejected the common practice of infant baptism.⁹

Key figures like John Smyth, who formed an early Baptist church in Holland around 1609, and Thomas Helwys, who brought the movement back to England, laid the groundwork.⁸ In America, the Baptist identity was powerfully shaped by Roger Williams. Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his dissenting views, Williams established a settlement in Providence, Rhode Island, and founded the first Baptist church in America there around 1638.⁸ He was a tireless advocate for what we now call the separation of church and state, believing that the government had no right to compel religious belief and that individual conscience—or “soul liberty”—must be protected.⁶

This origin as a separatist movement, defining itself against the authority of a state is the very DNA of the Baptist tradition. It explains their historic and passionate commitment to the autonomy of the local their aversion to any hierarchy of bishops or priests, and their identity as guardians of religious freedom for all.⁶

How do Baptists and Methodists understand the path to salvation?

At the heart of our Christian faith is the glorious news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Both Baptists and Methodists joyfully affirm that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in our Lord’s atoning death and resurrection.² Yet, flowing from this shared foundation are two distinct streams of thought concerning how God’s grace works and what role we play in our own salvation. This difference is perhaps the most major theological distinction between the two traditions.

The Methodist View: A Journey of Grace and Cooperation

Methodist theology is deeply shaped by the teachings of a Dutch theologian named Jacobus Arminius, which John Wesley championed.⁴ This view, known as Arminianism, can be understood as a journey of grace in three parts.

Methodists speak of prevenient grace. This is the beautiful belief that God’s love and grace are always at work in every person’s life, even before we are aware of it. It is God’s grace that “goes before” us, drawing us toward Him, softening our hearts, and enabling us to freely choose to respond to His love.²

When a person responds to this call with repentance and faith, they receive justifying grace. This is the moment of forgiveness and new birth, where we are pardoned for our sins and restored to a right relationship with God through Christ.¹⁵

But for Methodists, the journey does not end there. The rest of the Christian life is a process of sanctifying grace, where the Holy Spirit works within us to heal us, change us, and make us more and more like Jesus.¹³ Salvation is seen not just as a one-time event of being saved

from sin, but as a lifelong process of being saved to a life of holiness.¹ The ultimate goal, as Wesley taught, is to achieve “Christian perfection”—not a state of being without error, but a state of being made “perfect in love,” where our every thought, word, and deed is motivated by our love for God and neighbor.¹⁶

Because this journey involves our free cooperation with God’s grace, Methodists believe it is possible for a person to neglect that grace, turn away, and ultimately “fall from grace” or lose their salvation.¹⁶ Love, to be true love, must be freely chosen, and that freedom includes the ability to walk away. Therefore, the United Methodist Church officially teaches that salvation is not unconditionally guaranteed once a profession of faith is made.¹⁸

The Baptist View: A Moment of Decision and Eternal Security

The Baptist tradition, while diverse, has been historically influenced by the theology of John Calvin, which places a powerful emphasis on the sovereignty of God.⁷ This leads many, particularly within the Southern Baptist Convention, to a different understanding of how salvation works.

For many Baptists, salvation is anchored in a decisive moment of personal conversion. The focus is on an individual hearing the gospel, recognizing their sinfulness, and making a conscious decision to repent and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.²⁰ This is the moment of regeneration, or being “born again.”

Flowing from this belief in God’s sovereign power to save is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, more popularly known as “eternal security” or “once saved, always saved”.²¹ The reasoning is that if salvation is ultimately God’s work from beginning to end—if He is the one who chooses, calls, justifies, and glorifies—then the salvation He gives cannot be lost. The

Baptist Faith and Message, the confession of faith for the Southern Baptist Convention, states it clearly: “All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by his Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end”.²² From this perspective, a person who appears to “fall away” was likely never truly saved in the first place.

It is important to note, But that the Baptist world is not monolithic. Many Baptist churches, especially those in the “Free Will Baptist” tradition, hold a view that is functionally Arminian, emphasizing human free will in the decision to follow Christ and allowing for the possibility of turning away from faith.¹³ Nevertheless, the strong emphasis on a singular conversion experience and the assurance of eternal security remains a hallmark of the broader Baptist identity in America. This focus on individual decision has become so influential that many American Protestants unknowingly hold Baptist-like beliefs, seeing them simply as “what the Bible teaches”.²¹

How is baptism practiced differently, and what does it mean to each?

Nowhere are the theological differences between Baptists and Methodists made more visible than in the waters of baptism. The questions of who should be baptized, how it should be done, and what it truly signifies reveal their fundamentally different understandings of God’s grace, the and the individual’s place within it.

Methodist Baptism: A Sacrament of God’s Gracious Welcome

For Methodists, baptism is a sacrament. This is a sacred term meaning it is more than just a symbol; it is an outward sign of an inward grace, a tangible means through which God is actively present and at work.²⁰ It is understood primarily as an act of God, not a human act of obedience. It is God reaching down to us.

• Who is Baptized? Because they see baptism as God’s initiative, Methodists joyfully baptize infants, as well as children and adults.¹⁰ They view the act as God’s covenant promise being extended to a child and their family. Just as male infants were brought into God’s covenant with Israel through circumcision, infants are brought into the new covenant through baptism.²⁴ It is a sign that the child belongs to the family of God and is enfolded in the grace of the community. When these children are older, they will have the opportunity to personally affirm these vows for themselves in a ceremony called confirmation.²⁰
• What Does it Mean? Baptism signifies new birth, the washing away of sin, and initiation into the universal Church of Jesus Christ.²⁴ It is the moment God claims a person as His own beloved child. The United Methodist Church does not practice re-baptism because they believe the sacrament is God’s one-time, unbreakable promise. To be re-baptized would imply that God’s first act of grace was insufficient.²⁵ Instead, they may offer a meaningful service of “Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows” for those who wish to recommit their lives to Christ.²⁵
• How is it Done? Methodists believe the mode of baptism is less important than the meaning. They recognize sprinkling, pouring, and full immersion as valid methods, as long as water is used in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.¹⁰ Each mode offers its own beautiful symbolism: pouring reminds us of the Holy Spirit being poured out, and sprinkling reminds us of being consecrated to God.²⁵

Baptist Baptism: An Ordinance of Believer’s Testimony

For Baptists, baptism is an ordinance. This means it is a practice commanded—or ordained—by Christ that the church is to follow.⁷ It is understood primarily as a human act of obedience and public testimony, not a means of receiving saving grace. It is our response to the grace we have already received.

• Who is Baptized? Baptists are defined by their practice of believer’s baptism. They believe that baptism should only be administered to those who are old enough to make a conscious, personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ.¹⁰ They firmly reject infant baptism, arguing that the New Testament provides no clear example of it and that it undermines the principle of a voluntary, regenerate church membership.¹⁰
• What Does it Mean? Baptism does not save a person; rather, it is the first step of obedience for a new Christian.²⁶ It is a powerful and beautiful outward symbol of an inward reality. It pictures the believer’s identification with Christ in His death (going under the water), burial, and resurrection (coming up out of the water).²⁸ It is a public declaration to the church and the world that one has died to their old life of sin and has been raised to walk in newness of life with Jesus.
• How is it Done? Because of this powerful symbolism, Baptists almost exclusively practice baptism by full immersion.¹⁰ They believe this is the only mode that faithfully represents the death and resurrection motif and follows the pattern of Jesus’ own baptism in the Jordan River.¹⁰ Because of their strong convictions on this matter, some Baptist churches may ask a person who was baptized as an infant in another tradition to be baptized again as a believer in order to become a member of their church.²⁶

This core disagreement over baptism reveals something powerful about how each tradition views the church itself. The Methodist practice points to a church as a covenant community into which one can be born, with grace flowing from God and the community down to the individual. The Baptist practice points to a church as a gathered assembly of individual believers who have made a personal choice, with membership flowing up from the voluntary commitment of its people.

Aspect	Typical Baptist View	Typical Methodist View
Origins	English Separatist/Anabaptist tradition (17th C.); emphasis on separating from state church.9	Revival movement within the Church of England (18th C.); emphasis on reforming the church from within.4
View of Scripture	The Bible is the sole authority for faith and practice. Many hold to biblical inerrancy (truth without any mixture of error).31	The Bible is the primary authority, interpreted through tradition, reason, and experience (Wesleyan Quadrilateral).13
Path to Salvation	Emphasis on a decisive conversion experience. Many believe in “once saved, always saved” (eternal security).13	A lifelong process of sanctification (growing in holiness). Believe one can turn away from grace (lose salvation).16
Baptism	An ordinance; a public testimony of faith. Believer’s baptism by full immersion only. Rejects infant baptism.10	A sacrament; a means of God’s grace. Baptizes infants and adults. Accepts sprinkling, pouring, or immersion.10
Holy Communion	An ordinance; a symbolic memorial of Christ’s death. Often “closed” (for members of the local church only).10	A sacrament; a means of grace where Christ is truly and mysteriously present. “Open” to all Christians.17
Church Governance	Congregational. Each local church is autonomous and self-governing. Pastors are called by the congregation.10	Connectional/Episcopal. Churches are connected in a hierarchical structure. Bishops appoint pastors to churches.10

What is a Sunday service like in a Baptist vs. A Methodist church?

Stepping into a worship service is one of the best ways to feel the heartbeat of a church tradition. While both Baptist and Methodist services are centered on worshipping God through Scripture, prayer, preaching, and song, their different histories and theologies create distinct atmospheres and rhythms. A Methodist service often feels like participating in a timeless, corporate ritual, while a Baptist service can feel more like responding to a direct, personal appeal.

The Methodist Worship Experience

Because of its roots in the Church of England, Methodist worship tends to be more liturgical and structured.²⁰ Many traditional services follow an order of worship from

The United Methodist Book of Worship, which gives the service a familiar and reverent flow.¹⁹

A typical service might follow a four-part pattern: The Entrance, Proclamation and Response, Thanksgiving and Communion, and Sending Forth.³⁵ You can expect to participate in responsive readings, where the pastor and congregation read Scripture or prayers back and forth. A central part of the service is often the corporate recitation of one of the historic creeds of the faith, like the Apostles’ Creed, which connects the local congregation to the universal Church throughout the ages.³⁴

Methodist churches also typically follow the traditional Christian calendar, marking the seasons of the year like Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.²⁰ The sermon, hymns, and sanctuary decorations will often reflect the theme of the current season. Music is a cherished part of the Methodist heritage, with a strong emphasis on congregational singing from the hymnal. Charles Wesley, John’s brother, was one of the most prolific hymn writers in history, and his songs continue to shape Methodist worship today.¹³ While this describes a traditional service, many Methodist churches also offer contemporary services with modern worship music to meet the needs of their community.²

The Baptist Worship Experience

Baptist worship is generally less liturgical and more free-form, reflecting their historic aversion to prescribed rituals or prayer books.³⁸ The central and longest part of the service is almost always the sermon.³⁹ Baptist pastors often preach for 40 minutes or more, typically using an expository style where they teach verse-by-verse through a passage or book of the Bible.⁴⁰ The service is built around preparing the heart to receive the preached Word and responding to it.

The music can be incredibly diverse, ranging from traditional hymns accompanied by a piano and organ to a full contemporary Christian music (CCM) band leading modern worship songs.³⁹ Regardless of the style, robust congregational singing is a key element, seen as an act of corporate praise.⁴⁰

A distinctive feature of many Baptist services is the invitation, or “altar call,” which follows the sermon.²⁰ The pastor will invite people to come to the front of the church to make a public decision—to accept Christ for the first time, to join the to rededicate their life, or to seek prayer for a specific need.⁴² This practice is a direct expression of their emphasis on personal, decisive conversion and is rarely found in Methodist churches.²⁰

Who can participate in communion, and what does it represent?

Like baptism, the practice of Holy Communion—also called the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist—is another area where deep theological convictions become visible. The question of who is invited to the table reveals a great deal about how each tradition defines the Church and understands God’s grace.

Methodist Communion: An Open Table of Grace

For Methodists, Holy Communion is a sacrament and a powerful means of grace.¹⁴ They believe that Christ is truly and spiritually present in the bread and wine (or grape juice). This belief in the

real presence is held as a holy mystery, distinct from the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation but affirming that something sacred and real is happening.²

Because of this understanding, the Methodist communion table is famously an open table.¹⁰ All who “love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another” are invited to receive communion. Participation is not restricted by age or by membership in a particular church or denomination.¹⁰ The belief is that Christ Himself is the host at His table, and He welcomes all who come to Him in faith. This practice reflects the Methodist emphasis on the universal Church; if baptism makes one a member of Christ’s one then they are welcome at His table anywhere in the world.

Baptist Communion: A Closed Ordinance of Remembrance

For Baptists, the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance, a symbolic act of remembrance and obedience commanded by Christ.⁷ It is primarily viewed as a memorial, a time for believers to remember Christ’s sacrificial death and to proclaim it until He comes again.²⁰ While deeply meaningful, it is not typically seen as a means of conveying saving grace in the same way a sacrament is.

This understanding leads many Baptist churches to practice closed communion or “close communion”.¹⁰ This means that participation is often restricted to members of that specific local church who are in good standing and have been baptized as believers by immersion.¹⁰ This is not meant to be an act of exclusion or judgment against other Christians. Rather, it flows from the Baptist conviction that the local church is the primary expression of Christ’s body on earth. Communion is seen as a “family meal” for that particular covenanted body, an expression of their unity, purity, and discipline. To partake is to affirm one’s covenant with that specific congregation.

How are local churches run and pastors chosen?

The way a denomination governs itself, known as its polity, might seem like an internal administrative detail, but it has a powerful impact on the life of the local its pastor, and how the entire tradition navigates conflict and change. Here, Baptists and Methodists could not be more different.

Methodist Governance: The Connectional System

Methodist churches operate under a connectional or episcopal system.¹⁰ This means that every local church is connected to all other Methodist churches in a structure of conferences and oversight. Local churches do not operate in isolation; they are part of a larger whole and do not, for instance, own their own church property.⁶

A key feature of this system is the role of bishops. Pastors are not hired or “called” by a vote of the congregation. Instead, they are appointed to serve a particular church by the bishop of their regional conference.¹⁰ It is common for Methodist pastors to be moved to a new church appointment every few years.²⁰

The entire denomination is governed by a foundational document called The Book of Discipline, which outlines church law, doctrine, and administrative procedures.⁴³ This book is revised every four years at a worldwide

General Conference, where elected delegates vote on matters that affect every church in the connection.¹⁰ This centralized structure allows for a unified mission and shared resources, but it also means that major theological debates become high-stakes, denomination-wide conflicts, as seen in the recent schism within the United Methodist Church.²¹

Baptist Governance: The Autonomous Congregation

Baptist churches are fiercely committed to congregationalism.¹⁰ This principle holds that the final authority rests with the members of the local church itself. Each Baptist church is

autonomous and self-governing, free from any external hierarchy or control.⁷

In a Baptist the congregation votes on all major decisions, from the annual budget to the calling of a new pastor.¹⁰ The pastor is an employee of the local hired by the members to lead them. While many Baptist churches choose to cooperate with larger bodies like the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) or American Baptist Churches USA, these conventions are voluntary associations for the purpose of pooling resources for missions and education. They hold no authority over the local church and cannot dictate its policies, pastor, or beliefs.³

This structure champions local control and liberty of conscience. It allows for great diversity among Baptist churches, even those just down the street from one another. But it can also lead to a sense of fragmentation and a lack of broader accountability. Conflict is typically contained within the local church rather than becoming a systemic, denominational crisis.

How do the two denominations approach challenging social issues?

In our complex modern worldes are often faced with challenging social and ethical questions. How Baptists and Methodists approach these issues often reveals their fundamental differences in interpreting Scripture and understanding the church’s role in society. Generally, Methodists tend to be more socially progressive or centrist, while Baptists tend to be more conservative, but the root of this difference lies in their hermeneutics—their method of biblical interpretation.

The Methodist tradition famously uses the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, which filters the truth of Scripture through the lenses of tradition, reason, and experience.¹³ This allows for more flexibility, as modern understandings of science, justice, and human experience are brought into conversation with the biblical text. The Baptist tradition, by contrast, holds more strongly to the principle of

Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) and often a more literal or inerrantist view of the Bible.²⁰ For many Baptists, the plain reading of the text is the final authority, regardless of shifting cultural norms.

This foundational difference plays out in their stances on several key issues:

• Ordination of Women: The United Methodist Church has formally ordained women as pastors since 1968, seeing the Spirit’s gifting as not limited by gender.¹⁷ Most Baptist churches, particularly within the Southern Baptist Convention, do not ordain women to the office of pastor, believing that a literal reading of passages like 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 reserves that role for men.³¹ They see this not as a matter of value, but of God-ordained roles.
• Homosexuality: This has been a deeply painful and divisive issue for both traditions. For decades, the official position of the United Methodist Church was that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching,” though a large and vocal progressive movement within the church long challenged this.³¹ This long-simmering conflict recently resulted in a major schism, with thousands of conservative churches leaving the denomination. Subsequently, the 2024 UMC General Conference removed the restrictive language from its Book of Discipline.⁴⁵ The vast majority of Baptist churches, in contrast, maintain the traditional view that the Bible clearly defines marriage as between one man and one woman and forbids homosexual practice, while also calling for love and compassion toward all people.³¹
• Abortion: Reflecting their commitment to the sanctity of life from conception, most Baptist churches hold a clear and firm pro-life position.³¹ The United Methodist Church has a more nuanced and complex stance. Although It expresses sorrow over the tragedy of abortion, it also supports the legal right to abortion and was a founding member of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, an organization that advocates for abortion access.³¹

What is the Catholic Church’s view of Baptist and Methodist believers?

For many Protestants, the view of the Roman Catholic Church can seem distant or unclear. Yet, in our interconnected world, understanding how the world’s largest Christian body views its “separated brethren” is an important part of the ecumenical landscape. The Catholic position reveals a careful tension between firm, unchanging doctrine and a genuine, modern desire for pastoral friendship and unity.

The official teaching of the Catholic Church was clarified in a 2000 Vatican document titled Dominus Iesus.⁴⁸ This document states that the one, true Church founded by Jesus Christ “subsists in the Catholic Church”.⁴⁸ Because Protestant denominations like the Baptists and Methodists have not preserved apostolic succession (an unbroken line of bishops from the apostles) and what the Church considers the “genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery,” they are not referred to as “Churches in the proper sense.” Instead, the Vatican uses the term

“ecclesial communities”.⁴⁸

This language can sound harsh, but it is not a judgment on the faith of individual believers. In fact, the Catholic Church teaches that any person baptized in the name of the Trinity—as Baptists and Methodists are—is truly incorporated into Christ and therefore exists in a “certain, albeit imperfect, communion” with the Catholic Church.⁴⁸ It also affirms that these communities can be used by the Holy Spirit as “means of salvation” for their members.⁴⁸ But the Church believes that the grace and truth found in these communities ultimately derive their power from the “fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church”.⁴⁸ So, while salvation is possible for Baptists and Methodists, it is understood to be through Christ and His one even if that connection is not fully visible.

Despite these strict doctrinal definitions, the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) has been deeply committed to ecumenical dialogue—the work of fostering understanding and unity among all Christians.⁵¹ The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has participated in formal dialogues with both Methodist and Baptist leaders for many decades.⁵² These conversations focus on finding common ground, clarifying misunderstandings with charity, and working together on shared concerns like social justice, Bible translation, and defending the family.⁵³

A recent joint publication between Catholics and United Methodists, for example, celebrated their shared recognition of baptism and found deep commonality in the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.⁵² This shows the dual approach of the Catholic Church: it holds firmly to its unique doctrinal claims while simultaneously reaching out in genuine friendship, recognizing Baptists and Methodists as true brothers and sisters in Christ with whom they share a common mission.

A Family of Faith: Personal Stories and Blurred Lines

Theological charts and historical timelines can only tell us so much. The true heart of these traditions is found in the lives of the people who call them home. The reasons people sometimes move from one denomination to another are rarely simple; they are deeply personal quests for a spiritual home that aligns with their most cherished convictions about God, Scripture, and how to live a faithful life.

Journeys into Methodism

When people raised in the Baptist tradition find a home among Methodists, their stories often echo common themes. Many are drawn to what they experience as a greater intellectual openness. One pastor, who moved from a Southern Baptist background to the United Methodist celebrated that Methodism “maintains a balance between faithful obedience to the canon of Scripture… And freedom from the extremism and fundamentalism”.⁵⁵ Another convert appreciated the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, which encourages the use of tradition, reason, and experience to illuminate Scripture, finding that it reconciled science and faith.⁴⁶

For women called to ministry, the move can be one of liberation. One woman, raised in a non-denominational world with Baptist influences, found the United Methodist Church to be a “liberating place to live out my faith and call” because of its strong and unequivocal support for women in ministry.⁵⁶ Others are drawn to the Methodist emphasis on social holiness and action. One person who left the Southern Baptist Convention cited a growing “disheartenment with the internal politics and greed” and a desire for a church that would “stand up for everyone”.⁵⁷

Journeys into the Baptist Faith

The path also runs in the other direction. When Methodists become Baptists, they are often seeking what they perceive as stronger biblical clarity and conviction. One former Methodist pastor, Rev. Eugene Carter, wrote in 1903 that after years of study, he “never saw any common sense nor Scripture in favor of baptizing infants” and could not abide the “daring lordship that bishops exercise over the ministers and churches”.²⁹ His journey was a search for a church polity and practice that he believed was more faithful to the New Testament.

More recently, some have left the United Methodist Church because they feel it has become too theologically liberal and has lost its focus. One woman made the difficult decision to leave the UMC for an Alliance of Baptists congregation because she felt her Methodist tradition was unwilling to “face head-on the threat of Christian nationalism” and that the autonomous structure of Baptist life better protected prophetic voices from being silenced by a hierarchy.⁵⁸ These stories show a deep desire for a church that is seen as courageously holding to biblical truth in a challenging culture.

Blurred Lines and Common Ground

Despite these clear theological distinctions, many people in the pews experience a much more blurry reality. Especially in the American South, where the two denominations have lived side-by-side for centuries, many laypeople would say there “wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference” between them, aside from how they baptize babies and who runs the church.²¹

In fact, a fascinating trend has emerged where many conservative Methodists have been so shaped by popular evangelical authors, radio programs, and Bible study materials—most of which come from a Baptist theological perspective—that they have unknowingly adopted a functionally Baptist theology. They may believe in “once saved, always saved” and be skeptical of infant baptism, all while sitting in a Methodist church.²¹ This shows how, on the ground, the shared culture of American evangelicalism can sometimes be stronger than historic denominational distinctives.

United in the Most Important Way

Our journey through the beliefs and practices of our Baptist and Methodist brothers and sisters reveals a vast web of faith, woven with different colors and patterns, yet part of the same beautiful whole. We have seen how their different origin stories—one of reform, one of separation—shaped their very DNA. We have explored their different understandings of salvation, seeing one as a lifelong journey of cooperation with grace and the other as a decisive moment of conversion secured by God’s sovereignty. We have stood by the waters of baptism and at the Lord’s table, witnessing how these sacred acts reflect deep convictions about the nature of the Church and God’s grace.

Yet, for all these differences, the common ground they share is vast, foundational, and infinitely more important. Both Baptists and Methodists worship the one true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Both proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, fully God and fully man, whose atoning death and glorious resurrection are the only hope for humanity. Both hold the Holy Bible as the inspired and authoritative Word of God, the guiding light for our faith and life.¹ Both share a commitment to the Great Commission—to spread the good news of Jesus and serve a world in need.²

They are family. They may have different traditions, different ways of organizing their households, and even different answers to some of life’s most powerful questions. But they belong to the same Father, have been saved by the same Elder Brother, and are indwelt by the same Holy Spirit. In a world so often torn apart by division, may we, as members of Christ’s body, look upon one another not as rivals, but as beloved family. May we learn from one another’s strengths, bear with one another’s differences in love, and work together to shine the light of Christ, united in the one faith that truly matters.