In 2022, the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church turned 50 years old. Yet for most of that time, they have been primarily known (if they are known at all) as the battleground of ideological disagreements among the people called Methodists. While most laity and clergy in the United Methodist Church know the Social Principles exist, few can clearly articulate what the Social Principles say outside of a few hot button topics.
Much of what is written about the Social Principles is similarly lacking and focuses disproportionately on one or two of these hotly debated issues and effectively ignores the rest of the SP. But the Social Principles, “expressing convictions about various social issues in historic continuity with earlier Methodists,”[1] remain the primary contemporary attempt by United Methodists to inspire practices of personal and social holiness in all areas of life.
Methodism is a Social Religion
In this way, the Social Principles are part of the narrative of the Methodist tradition. Despite only being around for 50 years, the DNA of the Social Principles stretches at least as far back as the childhood of Methodism’s founders John and Charles Wesley, who grew up learning scripture from their mother Susannah around the kitchen table and later founded a religious movement that spread globally and was equally concerned with works of piety and mercy. Studying the Social Principles connects United Methodists with our historical tradition of living our faith in public.
The Social Principles reflect what is colloquially known as “Big Tent Methodism,” as they acknowledge and appreciate differences in theological positions while seeking common ground. The introduction to a separately printed version of the Social Principles reminds the readers of their purpose—not to dictate church teaching from on high, but rather to express a public position as a conversational starting point about the moral life to which Christ calls us all.
“It may be helpful to look at each social principle as an expression of a public position that reflects a set of personal convictions. While you may not agree with each of the Social Principles, they are a solid starting point for further dialogue.”[2]
The History and Polity of the Social Principles
The Social Principles exist because the United Methodist Church exists. The 1968 merger between the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church required a harmonizing of doctrine and polity. Each denomination had its own statements on social issues, and the Social Principles were presented and adopted in 1972 as an attempt to bring these distinct sets of statements together into a single document.
The Methodist statement, then known as the Social Creed, was first written and adopted in 1908 by General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, arising from the Social Gospel movement of the early 20th century amid mass migration, rapid industrialization, and unchecked corporate greed—particularly but not exclusively in the United States. In decades to follow, the Methodist Episcopal Church (South), Methodist Protestant Church, and the Evangelical United Brethren Church adopted similar statements.
Social Principles: The first 50 years
In 1972, the first Social Principles of the United Methodist Church included six major sections plus a Social Creed which congregations were asked to read aloud regularly in worship and other settings.
Since 1972, the Social Principles have been incrementally revised and updated every four years through the legislative process of the United Methodist Church called General Conference. General Conference is a representative democracy of delegates, in equal numbers laity and clergy from around the world, who make decisions on behalf of the whole denomination. This body is also given the task of reviewing, revising, and updating the Social Principles.[4]
Although the Social Principles are not church law—meaning neither laity nor clergy are required to agree with everything contained therein—they are considered to be the official position of the United Methodist Church on many social issues, and “they represent the prayerful and earnest efforts of the General Conference to speak to issues in the contemporary world from a sound biblical and theological foundation that is in keeping with the best of our United Methodist Traditions.”[5]
Faithful Witness in a Changing World
Rev. Dr. Darryl Stephens says that the Social Principles reflect evolving ethical and moral beliefs and the desire to proclaim faithful witness in a changing world. In other words, they provide a narrative history of how United Methodists have wrestled with moral and ethical questions.
“How a Christian community deals with social change and evolving morals,” he says, “is as significant as what it may say about specific issues of morality at any particular point in time.”[6]
This can be deduced from tracking the way this legislated document has been debated, amended, and edited over five decades “by laity and clergy with an array of interests, beliefs, and backgrounds as wide as this church.”[7] The United Methodist Church is a large and diverse denomination, and at their best the Social Principles help to maintain a shared narrative and sense of belonging while allowing space to negotiate the differences which are always present.
Revising the Social Principles
In other words, the Social Principles are a living document, meant to be reviewed and amended as needed—a responsibility given to the General Conference. In 2012, recognizing a need “to increase their theological grounding, succinctness and global relevance,”[8] the GC mandated revisions to the Social Principles.
Using input from initial consultations in all five US Jurisdictions and a majority of the Central Conferences, six writing teams reflecting the broad diversity of the church drafted the Revised Social Principles. An editorial revision team “perfected additional drafts, based on feedback received via online surveys, extensive consultations with central and annual conferences, and comments solicited from United Methodist scholars, bishops, church bodies and leaders across the denomination.”[9]
These Revised Social Principles were prepared for the 2020 General Conference, which has been postponed multiple times and is now scheduled to meet April 23-May 3, 2024 in Charlotte, N.C.
Next week, we look at basic theological foundations of the Social Principles.
[1] Stephens, Methodist Morals (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2016), 5.
[2] Social Principles of the United Methodist Church 2017-2020 (Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 2017), 12.
[3] A major revision and reorganization of the Social Principles was drafted prior to General Conference 2020, but since GC was not held in 2020 and subsequently cancelled, the Social Principles approved in 2016 remain in effect.
[4] The revisionary process is detailed in Thomas Frank’s Polity, Practice, and the Mission of the United Methodist Church, 2006 Edition (especially pp. 255-67), and The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church.
[5] UMRSP preface
[6] Stephens, Methodist Morals, 2-3.
[7] Stephens, Methodist Morals, 5.
[8] UMRSP preface
[9] UMRSP preface
Faith working by love 
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