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Christian perfection was a core value for John Wesley and the early Methodists. Christian perfection was ultimately about loving God and neighbors. Joel Green points out in Reading Scripture as Wesleyans, which I blogged about yesterday, that … Wesley read Scripture with this aim in mind: to nurture love of God and love of neighbor. … Read more
When Joleen and I came into The United Methodist Church, we knew that the denomination had been in steady decline. But we were young—and hopeful that the denomination would soon experience a turnaround. Thirteen years later (and two months before being ordained in the UMC), we still believe a turnaround is possible, but it’s obviously … Read more
I like history, in general, and specifically Civil War history and Methodist history, so when I learned a few days ago about a project called American Civil War Newspapers (at Virginia Tech), I was very interested. The project, so far, includes scanned images of columns from the Macon, Georgia Daily Telegraph newspapers during the American … Read more
Yesterday, United Methodist leaders gathered in groups around the world in more than 1,000 locations to hear and discuss the Call to Action report as part of the United Methodist Leadership Summit (you can watch the entire video at the site). While the event took place at a convenient hour for many of us, in … Read more
Yesterday, we attended an afternoon seminar in Camp Hill, PA where Rev. Bob Farr (from the Missouri Conference) was the featured speaker. Farr presented material from his upcoming book, Renovate or Die: 10 Ways to Focus Your Church on Mission. (Edited to add link for the book, now published.) Here are a few quotes from … Read more
In the 1784 edition of the Discipline (as well as a number of subsequent editions), which includes the list of Rules for Preachers, also includes a list of “smaller advices which might be of use to us.” Here’s the list (with original, archaic spellings) … Be sure never to disappoint a congregation. Begin at the … Read more
After submitting our work for ordination in mid-January, I wrote 150 Days of Preparation for Ordination in which I listed some things I’d like to do in the months leading up to ordination in June. I put the list together because I want to make the most of this time in our lives. The list … Read more
Early Methodist editions of the Discipline included instructions on how preachers should use their time profitably. The 1784 Discipline offers the following instructions (written in question and answer format, common practice in early Methodism) in a section titled, “Of employing our Time profitably, when we are not travelling [sic], or not engaged in Public Exercises.” … Read more
Today, we learned that we both have been approved by the Board of Ordained Ministry for ordination in The United Methodist Church. This marks the end of one (long) chapter in our lives—and begins a new chapter! The Board’s action will need the approval of the clergy session at annual conference in June. After final … Read more
When I wrote The Historic Questions 2.0 last week, I noticed that one question referenced the “Rules of a Preacher” and specifically highlighted rule numbers 1, 10, and 12 (numbers 1 and 10 are included in the current list of questions). For those who may be curious, here’s the list of rules for a preacher … Read more