Beginning in the 1700s, early Methodists carried small paper “class tickets.” These tickets weren’t proof that someone was saved, nor were they certificates declaring, “Congratulations! You’re holy now.” They connected people to the larger Methodist societies.
The ticket showed that you belonged to a small community of people trying to follow Jesus together. Methodists met regularly to pray, encourage one another, care for each other, and ask how their faith was actually showing up in everyday life.
We often make faith very personal. We ask, “Do I believe?” or “Did I go to church?” But John Wesley and the early Methodists asked a deeper question: What difference is your faith making in the way you live?
Their three General Rules, do no harm, do good, and stay connected to the practices that keep you close to God, guided their responses to that question. Then they gathered with others who would help them live that way.
The class ticket didn’t mean they had arrived. In fact, the ticket had to be renewed every quarter. This temporary nature aligned with John Wesley’s sense of faith formation. That following Jesus wasn’t something they had completed. They were still being formed.
And so are we.
Now, we don’t need to bring back little paper tickets. But we do need what they represented.
We need people who know more than whether we showed up on Sunday. People who can ask how it is with our souls. People who encourage us when we’re growing, challenge us when we’re drifting, pray with us when we’re struggling, and remind us who we are becoming.
The old class tickets remind us today that holiness is a life we keep learning to live, both with God and with each other.
Stay blessed...john
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