What Does The Methodist Church Mean by Being a Growing, Inclusive, Evangelistic and Justice-Seeking Church?

The Methodist Church describes its calling with four linked words: growing, inclusive, evangelistic and justice-seeking. On methodist.org.uk these are not four separate programmes but one identity statement — the Church says it is "called to be" all four at once. The site explains each mainly through the values and activities it highlights, so the clearest way to understand the phrase is to see how the homepage and its linked sections unpack it.

The four descriptors as the site presents them

Growing

"Growing" appears first in the calling statement and frames the Church as moving forward rather than static. The site's news and stories sections show this in practice: reports on a carbon footprint pilot for churches, work on tackling homelessness, and participation in the "Time to Act" walk in Liverpool for peace in the Middle East. Growth here is presented as growth in witness and action, not only in numbers.

Inclusive

The site is explicit: "Everyone is welcome." It grounds this in the belief that "every person is made in God's image and is of equal value," and connects it to the Church's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work under the heading "Justice, Dignity and Solidarity." The invitation is stated plainly in the site's own words: "God loves you unconditionally, no strings attached."

Evangelistic

"Evangelistic" is paired on the page with the phrase "That's good news" and "A new way of life." The emphasis is on sharing a message rather than on recruitment tactics — the good news of unconditional love is presented as something to be passed on, which is why the calling statement places evangelism alongside welcome rather than in tension with it.

Justice-seeking

Justice is the most heavily illustrated of the four on the site. Examples include:

• The Housing Memorial Group and Connexional Economic Justice Working Group work on reducing homelessness
• A blog from the Methodist Liaison Officer in Jerusalem on the demolition of a family home in the West Bank
• The Just Peace Coalition walk attended by Methodists during the Labour Party Conference weekend
• A commitment to net zero carbon emissions, described as "Action for hope" in response to the climate emergency

How the biblical framing holds the four together

The site anchors the calling in two passages. John 13:34 — "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" — sits directly above the welcome and EDI section. Genesis 1:31 — "God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good" — introduces the net zero commitment.

Read together, these verses explain why the four descriptors belong in one sentence: love of neighbour motivates inclusion and justice, and care for creation follows from the goodness of what God made. Evangelism and growth are the outward expression of the same love.

What this means if you are exploring the site

The site presents these as a single calling rather than a menu, so the four words are best read as one description of what The Methodist Church says it is trying to be.