The ‘Four Alls’ of Methodism
The Creeds of the Christian Church set out our beliefs but there is a traditional summary of Methodist teaching that has become known as the ‘Four Alls’.
All need to be saved:
No-one is perfect and without perfection our relationship with god is marred and distorted: so, all need to be saved from the weakness and fault that has traditionally been called sin.
All may be saved
No-one is beyond the reach of God’s redeeming love. Through Christ – his perfect life, death and resurrection – all people have the opportunity to respond to God’s love, finding forgiveness for past errors, peace and strength in the present, and confident hope that reaches through our futures and into eternity.
All may know that they are saved
And because this ‘salvation’ has nothing to do with what we have done for God, but everything to do with what he has done for us in Christ, we can be assured that all is well.
All may be saved to the uttermost
There are no limitations on the work that God can do to reshape and recreate his image in the life of an individual. The potential of God’s Holy Spirit is without bounds. We believe that when an individual places their trust in Jesus Christ as the only way in which the barrier between a person and God can be torn down, God himself makes a home in their lives. God’s Spirit begins a work of transformation, recreation and regeneration in the heart of that person which need never end. The likeness of Jesus grows in persons life; the mind of Christ takes hold; and the love of Christ grows stronger and stronger until we begin to see, speak and serve with the heart of God himself. There are no limits to how God can change a person from the inside out. That’s what we mean when we say a person may be ‘saved to the uttermost’.
[taken from the Methodist Connexional website]
Methodists have always been clear that no-one is beyond the reach of God’s love. Salvation is there for everyone who turns to God, and not just for a chosen few.