ARKANSAS CONFERENCE 2008 JOURNAL
THE NEW SOCIAL CREED LITANY OF 2008
God in the Spirit revealed in Jesus Christ, calls us by grace
to be renewed in the image of our Creator, that we may be one in divine love for the world.
Today is the day God cares for the integrity of creation, wills the healing and wholeness of all life,
weeps at the plunder of earth’s goodness,
And so shall we.
Today is the day God embraces all hues of humanity, delights in diversity and difference,
favors solidarity transforming strangers into friends.
And so shall we.
Today is the day God cries with the masses of starving people, despises growing disparity between rich and poor,
demands justice for workers in the marketplace.
And so shall we.
Today is the day God deplores violence in our homes and streets, rebukes the world’s warring madness
humbles the powerful and lifts up the lowly.
And so shall we.
Today is the day God calls for nations and peoples to live in peace, celebrates where justice and mercy embrace,
exhults when the wolf grazes with the lamb.
And so shall we.
Today is the day God brings good news to the poor, proclaims release to the captives,
gives sight to the blind, and sets the oppressed free.
And so shall we.
SOCIAL CREEDS OF THE PAST
The Social Creed was originally adopted by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1908. “The Methodist Social Creed originated to
express Methodism’s outrage over the lives of millions of workers in factories, mines, mills, tenements and company towns. The Methodist
Federation for Social Service (now named the Methodist Federation for Social Action) immediately took up the challenge of getting the
1908 General Conference to address the social crisis. The key strategy was to secure adoption of a statement on “ The Church and Social
Problems.” Proponents of the Social Creed came up with a list of 11 social reforms the group believed the church should champion,
including the abolition of child labor and an end to the sweatshop system. The Social Creed was continually expanded and revised until,
in 1972, it was completely redesigned and renamed the Social Principles. The Social Creed now follows the Social Principles in the Book
of Discipline.
The Original Methodist Social Creed of 1908
The Methodist Episcopal Church stands:
For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life.
For the principles of conciliation and arbitration in industrial dissensions.
For the protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, occupational diseases, injuries and moral health.
For the abolition of child labor.
For the regulation of the conditions of labor of women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the community.
For the suppression of the “sweating system.”
For the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practical point, with work for all; and for that degree of
leisure for all which is the condition of the highest human life.
For a living wage in every industry.
For the highest wage that each industry can afford, and for the most equitable division of the products industry that can ultimately
be devised.
For the recognition of the Golden Rule and the mind of Christ as the supreme law of society and the sure remedy for all social ills.
The United Methodist Social Creed of 2004
We believe in God, Creator of the world; and in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of creation. We believe in the Holy Spirit, through whom we
acknowledge God’s gifts, and we repent of our sin in misusing these gifts to idolatrous ends.
We affirm the natural world as God’s handiwork and dedicate ourselves to its preservation, enhancement, and faithful use by humankind.
We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage, and the family.
We commit ourselves to the rights of men, women, children, youth, young adults, the aging, and people with disabilities; to improvement
of the quality of life; and to the rights and dignity of all persons.
We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others and in the protection of
their welfare in so doing; in the rights to property as a trust from God, collective bargaining, and responsible consumption; and in
the elimination of economic and social distress.
We dedicate ourselves to peace throughout the world, to the rule of justice and law among nations, and to individual freedom for all
peoples of the world, to the rule of justice and law among nations, and to individual freedom for all people of the world.
We believe in the present and final triumph of God’s Word in human affairs and gladly accept our commission to manifest the life of the
gospel in the world. Amen.
2004 Book of Discipline paragraph 166.vii.
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