Mavis, W. C.

English

Asbury Theological Seminary

Abiding Values of the Methodist Class MeetingW. C. MavisThe class meeting was one of the invaluable religious discoveries of the Wesleyan movement. John Wesley, with an intuitivesense of genuine values, immediately recognized its worth andmade it a basic element in his system of pastoral care. During thefirst few years of the Methodist movement, its worth was demonstrated to a greater extent than Wesley had anticipated, and hedeclared that it could "scarcely be conceived what advantages hadbeen reaped" from it.^It is amazing that the churchwhich originated the class meetinghas now pretty well abandoned it. Furthermore, many holinesschurches , affirming the great theological and experiential convictions of the early Wesleyan movement, are surrendering the classmeeting also. This surrender is particularly untimely now, inasmuch as the value of the class meeting is better attested than it hasever been before.The validity of the class meeting is now confirmed by a niimberof disciplines including education, sociology, and psychology.These disciplines have attested its value by varied approaches andemphases. Education has confirmed its worth of a statement of theprinciples and a demonstration of the worth of group discussion.Social psychology has attested its validity by its emphasis upon thevalues of social interaction. Clinical psychology has set forth someprinciples of group psychotherapy or "group counseling" that validates religious group counsel in the form of the class meeting. ^For a number of years psycholc^ists have been using groupdiscussion or counseling to meet many types of personal needs.They form, for example, small groups of people with commonillnesses or problems and help these people gain insight by mutualdiscussion. Group counseling is used for persons with basic adjustment problems as well as for people having common needs asin premarital or marital counseling. Such groups meet periodically, and the members of them talk freely about their problemsiLetters, "Standard Edition," volume n, p. 297.^The term "group counseling" has not been used generally until very recently. It is now appearing more and more to suggest agroup situation in which there is a free interchange of ideas aimedat the solution of personal problems.Abiding Values oj the Methodist Class Meeting 21or needs under the guidance of a trained counselor.We purpose here to view the class meeting in the light of someof the principles that have been validated in group counseling. Wedo not approach this task with the idea that the class meeting hasbeen on shaky grounds, and that now it must be attested by psychology which has been considered sometimes unfriendly to evangelical religion. The class meeting has demonstrated adequatelyits worth to people who have observed it. There is value, however,in presenting some collateral evidence which shows clearly that itis a basically sound form of Christian nurture.IWesley proceeded on soimd psychological and spiritual principles when he organized like-minded people into small groups forthe discussion of personal spiritual problems. He anticipatedgroup counseling in setting up these homogeneous groups that permitted a free exchange of experience, problems, and ideas in anatmosphere of understanding and acceptance. He saw clearly thatthese groups provided an opportunity for personal insight andspiritual growth.Being thoroughly convinced that the class meetings should behomogeneous groups of spiritually concerned people, Wesley usedthe ingenious method of issuing tickets to those whom he thoughtqualified to attend. He said that every ticket represented a strongrecommendation of the person to whom it was given; as if he hadwritten, "I believe the bearer hereof to be one that fears God andworks righteousness. "3 Wesley was strict on this matter ofissuing class tickets, and he refused, for instance, to give ticketsto part-time attendants. This attitude grew out of his belief thatone of the dependable signs of spiritual earnestness was regularclass attendance. In September, 1759, for example, he met thesociety at Norwich and discussed the "nature and use of meeting ina class." Upon inquiry, he found that there were about five hundredmembers in the society, but one hundred fifty of those did not"pretend to meet at all" in class meetit^s, "Of those, therefore "he said, "I make no account. Theyhang on by but a single thread."^Wesley realized that spiritual concern on the part of the members was necessary for successful class meetings. In this respecthe was in keeping with modern counseling principles. It is recognized today that a maladjusted person cannot obtain significant helpby either personal or group counseling unless he is really concerned�^Letters, volxmie n, p. 300.Journal "Standard Edition," volume IV, p. 35022 The Asbury Seminarianabout his problem and wants to solve it. Wesley knew that if peoplein class meetings were half-hearted about spiritual matters theywould be half-hearted and listless in their participation in the classmeeting. He knew that such a situation wovild provide no real basisfor solving spiritual problems. He furthermore saw that the presence of unconcerned people would be a distraction to the othersand that the sense of mutuality and understanding of the group as awhole would be greatly diminished.nA number of significant values are realized by the members ofa class when it is comprised of a small group of likeminded Christian people who are under the guidance of a capable, Spirit-filledand broad-minded leader. We shall note a number of these valuesthat are realized primarily in such groups.The acceptance and understanding that a class meeting givessincere Christians helps them attain a sense of spiritual security.The acceptance of a class is like that which a family gives a child.The family accepts, understands, and appreciates the child in spiteof the fact that he has limitations, and that he often fells to live upto adult standard. Attitudes of imderstanding and appreciation helpthe child to accept his limitations and failureswithout developing aninferiority complex, and, other things being equal, he will grow upwith a sense of personal worth and adequacy.The urge to be understood and appreciated is deeply rooted inhuman nature, and is not removed at conversion or in any otherreligious experience. The convert, sometimes sensing that he isrejected by many of his erstwhile worldly friends, needs the imder-standing and fellowship of a group ofwarm-hearted people as muchas he needs instruction and exhortation. Such a group will providea sense of comradeship that will strengthen him and help him tofeel confident. Moreover, surrounded by a group of Christians bywhom he is approved, he can accept himself as an immatureChristian without apology. With the support of such a group, hewill not cast away his confidence readily in an hour of temptationor failure but, like the child in a home, will develop attitudes ofspiritual adequacy and security.The sense of belongingness that a class gives its membershelps diminish feelings of aloneness and uniqueness thatChristiansoften experience. When God's people are hard pressed and severelytempted, they often feel like Elijah once did: "I alone am left. "These attitudes are found in life generally, for psychological counselors know that when people are under tension or when they aremaladjusted, they are likely to think that their problems are unique.This sense of uniqueness often gives them a feeling of isolation.Abiding Values of the Methodist Class Meeting 23When Christians are tempted and pressed in such a manner, theygreatly need the fellowship that is found in a class meeting. Thefree interchange of experiences there will surely convince themthat they are not strangely different from other people and that thetemptations they face are those that will come to them.The fact of belonging to a spiritually select group of Christiansprovides a type of personal spiritual status and recognition that isimportant. This was especially true in Wesley's day when classmembership was highly selective. It has always seemed to methat Wesley was extraordinarily wise in having the early Methodists "earn the right" to belong to these groups. A candidate formembership in a class had to demonstrate attitudes of sincerityand earnestness, and it was a distinct honor to be admitted into thefellowship of a class meeting. Such a degree of spiritual statusand recognition strengthened highly introspective and timid souls.It furthermore brought a sense of responsibility to continue thequality of life or aspiration that had made membership possible.The very fact of belonging to one of these groups tended to put itsmembers imder bond to be true to God and not to violate the confi -dence that had been placed in them.A part of the value of class meetings is seen in the fact thatthey provided an opportunity for personal self-examination. Sincere Christians are able to examine themselves in a healthful andhelpful manner when they are in the atmosphere of understandingand love, but where tiiese conditions are lacking, their introspectionand self-examination might be harmful or possibly damaging. Classmeetings permit a large degree of self-expression in which one'sproblems and failures, as well as spiritual successes, may bementioned without a feeling of either inferiority or superiority.The overt expression of one's personal problems often leads toinsights that could never have been had otherwise. It is importantto note, also, that this type of self-examination is carried on in asituation that takes view of other people's experiences. This factdoes much to save one from becoming a spiritual hermit with manyhindering eccentricities.The practice of the confession of faults and sins is as psycho-Ic^ically sotmd as the latest principle enunciated in tihe mostscientific textbook in psychology. Unconfessed faults and sinscause feelings of inadequacy and guilt with the accompanying emotions of personal rejection and spiritual inferiority. William Jamesrecognized this principle and affirmed it by a uniquely incisivephrase, "exteriorize your rottenness." Carl Jung held that personal confession is necessary on the part of all men, and if a man24 The Asbury Seminarianwill not confess his sins hewill become a"moral exile. Wesley'spsychological and spiritual grasp of this truth was as cedent as thatof any psychologist. He recognized that it was helpful for Christians to "pour out their hearts without reserve, particularly withregard to sin which doth so easily beset them and the temptationswhich were most apt to prevail over them. He viewed theclass meeting as an opportunity when the Biblical injunction couldbe carried best: "Confess your faults one to another and pray onefor another that ye may be healed.""^Wesley observed some actual results of confession and prayerin his class meetings.They prayed for one another that they might be healedof the faults they had confessed; and it was so. Thechains were broken, the Jsands were burst asunder, andsin had no more dominion over them. Many were de -livered from the temptations out of which till then theyfound no way of escape. They were built up in the mostholy faith. ^Another impressive value of the class meeting is realized inthe opportunity it gives to its members to egress j)raise to God.Praise is a tonic to the soul. It helps a discouraged person to gethis eyes off from his problems and to look to God as the source ofhis help. It delivers one from an exaggerated subjectivism thatoften becomes a spiritual morass to a struggling soul. Praise toGod helps deliver one from an overemphasized problem-consciousness to a healthful power-consciousness.The spiritual deliverance that often comes to discouragedpeople when they begin to praise God is graphically symbolized in2 Chronicles 20: 22: "And when they began to sing and to praise,the Lord set ambushments against tiie children of Ammon, Moab,and Mt, Seir (Judah's enemies), which were come against Judah;and they were smitten. "In addition to praise , there is unique value In Christian peoplee3q)ressing their spiritual purpose and resolutions to a group. Suchan expression tends to command spiritual forces for the achievement of it. Hundreds of Christians, hard-pressed and tempted,have been mightily strengthened to do God's will because they havedeclared their determination to be true. Their declaration of purpose put them under bond to both God and their fellow Christians.^cf Bergsten, Gote, Pastoral Psycholc^, p. 736Letters^ H, p, 3017lbid. , p. 301oibid. , p. 302Abiding Values of the Methodist Class Meeting 25In the recent past the writer had an extended conversation withold friends, a hiisband and his wife, who had been brought up inholiness churches andwho had attended class meetings during theirchildhood and youth. Upon graduation from seminary, however,this man became a minister in a liturgical church and they had notattended class meetings for many years. During our conversationI asked my friends what unique and abiding values they now saw inthe holiness movement. They replied that the class meeting hadoutstanding value and the wife told her reason for so believing.The woman said that during her own high school days herChristian mother was burdened by many difficult problems. Themother would often go to the class meeting greatly distressed andheavily burdened, she said. During the meeting her mother wouldhave opportunity to express herself freely in testimony and prayerabout some of these burdens and to declare her determination to betrue to God."I have gone with my mother to those class meetings when shewas greatly discouraged," my friend said, "and I have seen thatdiscouragement and distress leave during the meeting."This widely traveled minister and his thoughtful wife concurredthat the class meeting has suchimique value that it should never beabandoned or surrendered by the churches that have been blessedwith it.

Abiding Values of the Methodist Class Meeting

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Abiding Values of the Methodist Class Meeting

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