Lois is one of the most organized and efficient people I have ever met. She gets things done! She gave of herself and her means, often personally meeting people’s expenses or giving them something extra, because she knew they ‘needed’ it. She genuinely loved and lived out her love in her own way. And, the people knew it. The kingdom is better off in Africa, Lois, because you have been there.
Henry Church, Africa Area Director, FMWM
Lois Meredith has served Free Methodist World Missions for 37 years, primarily in Christian education and bookkeeping in Burundi, Rwanda, and most recently, Kenya. Throughout her ministry, Lois has endeavored to help equip people to better serve God, which she’s carried out through training national bookkeepers and Sunday school teachers. She officially retired as a long-term missionary, May 31, 2007.
Lois grew up near Wallaceburg, in southwestern Ontario, on the farm of her parents, Don and Eva Meredith. She attended a one room school with her siblings, Betty, Bill and Donna. Their whole family attended the Charlemont Free Methodist Church.
In 1959 Lois graduated from London Teacher’s College and accepted a teaching position at an elementary school in Brantford, Ontario. While living in Brantford she attended North Park Free Methodist Church (now Freedom Christian Community) where she taught Sunday School. Lois still has her membership at Freedom and she has maintained connections there over many years.
Lois began her missionary work under the VISA program in 1969 when she served as teacher of missionary children, in addition to bookkeeper, in Burundi. After three years in Africa she returned to Canada and taught in London, Ontario. During that year, however, she realized her calling was not to teach privileged children in Canada, so in 1973 she returned to Central Africa as a long-term missionary.
Over the years Lois has assumed various areas of responsibility, caring for mission visitors and
personnel, women’s ministry, bookkeeping, auditing financial records, arranging conferences, mentoring indigenous leaders, and so on.
In 1994, Lois was living in Rwanda when the genocide took place. She lost everything but her life. After this she moved to serve in Kenya, based in Nairobi, a city of 4 million people.
Although retiring from career missionary service, she is not retiring from God’s work. Lois has plans to serve as a short-term missionary in Ethiopia, helping with International Child Care Ministries.
written by Betty Humphrey and Dan Sheffield
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Discovering the joy in sharing your faith
"I’ll tell the world how great and good you are, I’ll shout Hallelujah all day, every day." Psalm 35:28 [The Message]
One of my favourite elements of the Methodist ethos is that we have a passion for evangelism. John Wesley exemplified what it meant to possess a zeal for saving the lost. He boldly preached "The Good News" unashamedly wherever he went. Sharing our faith is essential.
Charles Spurgeon in answering a student’s question, ‘Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?’ remarked " It is more a question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved." This is true and yet evangelism shouldn’t be something that we do begrudgingly out of divine obligation. Instead it should flow from our experience of having met Jesus.
One of my best-loved biblical pictures is that of the formerly demon-possessed man turned evangelist. Following his encounter with Jesus he is charged with the following task: "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." And so we are told, that this is what he did.
"The man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him." Luke 8:39 (NIV) Scripture doesn’t tell us how much God accomplished through the testimony of this man, but I can imagine that it was significant.
May we likewise be prepared to joyfully tell how much God has done for us.
Andrew Brown, Student Ministries Director andrew@fmdog.ca www.fmdog.ca
______________________________________________
In my Christian life, I have always felt a bit different. Ever since I first became a follower of Christ at the age of 12, I had this huge passion to share Jesus with everyone I met so that they could experience the fullness of knowing Him too. It did not matter where I was or even if I knew the person or not. It was effortless and easy to talk to people about Jesus. For years I never fully understood the depth of my passion and the intensity that drove my desires to share the Gospel. About fourteen years ago I completed a spiritual gift assessment offered through my church. Through this assessment, I discovered that one of my strongest spiritual gifts was evangelism. This totally put things into perspective for me. I now understood that this was a gift from God and He wired me up to share Jesus with everyone. It was in His plan all along and I played one small part in this master plan. This plan included the body of believers as a whole; a team united together, each using their individual spiritual gifts to complement each other to bring glory to God and further His kingdom.
A few years ago, I remember sitting in a hospital waiting room — my husband’s grandmother was passing away after devoting a long and faithful life to our Father. While I was in the waiting room, I noticed this woman sitting alone and quite distressed. I remember praying to God asking Him to use me in any way to help her. Before I knew it, I was sitting beside her; praying with her and seeing her accept Jesus back into her life. Over the next few months that followed, I thought about her and prayed for her many times, really wishing I would have gotten her telephone number so I could follow up with her to see how she was doing. As time went on, a close friend of mine was shopping at a grocery store and was waiting in line to pay for her purchases. A woman standing in line behind started a conversation with her. She commented on the unique cross necklace my friend was wearing. She then asked my friend if she knew of a church called Northview and if she knew a woman named Belinda. My friend said that she attended Northview and that Belinda was a friend of hers. It turns out that this woman was the person I had a conversation with many months ago in that hospital waiting room. As a result of that conversation, she became on fire again for God, went back to her home church and was living a life that glorified God. I was blessed to get a glimpse of how God used me in His overall plan. One of my favorite verses I love is from Matthew 7:7-8 "ASK and it will be given to you; SEEK and you will find; KNOCK and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, The Door Will Be Opened" Matthew 7:7-8
My journey today has taken me into the role of Pastor of Young People at our church. For quite a few years, we have hosted annual ‘all-nighter’ events at our church that are an outreach to the youth of our church and surrounding neighborhoods This year’s event theme was called ‘MySpace’ which by the end of the night turned into ‘GodSpace’. There were approximately 68 teens attending and by the next morning, eight teens gave their lives to Christ (one of them being a former Jehovah’s Witness). One boy, who is in my son’s grade eight class at school, attended this event. He comes from a dysfunctional home life which lacks direction. That night, he gave his life to Christ while talking and praying with one of the youth leaders. He later asked if I could pray with him in the Prayer Room, which I did. When I finished praying, he immediately prayed for me. The following week, we presented him with a Bible.
God is at work in my life daily. Understanding how He has wired me up has changed me. My desire is not only to see people come to Christ, but I want them to get hooked up with Him for the rest of their lives.
Belinda Leibel, Pastor of Young People
Northview Community Church, Regina, SK
One of my favourite elements of the Methodist ethos is that we have a passion for evangelism. John Wesley exemplified what it meant to possess a zeal for saving the lost. He boldly preached "The Good News" unashamedly wherever he went. Sharing our faith is essential.
Charles Spurgeon in answering a student’s question, ‘Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?’ remarked " It is more a question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved." This is true and yet evangelism shouldn’t be something that we do begrudgingly out of divine obligation. Instead it should flow from our experience of having met Jesus.
One of my best-loved biblical pictures is that of the formerly demon-possessed man turned evangelist. Following his encounter with Jesus he is charged with the following task: "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." And so we are told, that this is what he did.
"The man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him." Luke 8:39 (NIV) Scripture doesn’t tell us how much God accomplished through the testimony of this man, but I can imagine that it was significant.
May we likewise be prepared to joyfully tell how much God has done for us.
Andrew Brown, Student Ministries Director andrew@fmdog.ca www.fmdog.ca
______________________________________________
In my Christian life, I have always felt a bit different. Ever since I first became a follower of Christ at the age of 12, I had this huge passion to share Jesus with everyone I met so that they could experience the fullness of knowing Him too. It did not matter where I was or even if I knew the person or not. It was effortless and easy to talk to people about Jesus. For years I never fully understood the depth of my passion and the intensity that drove my desires to share the Gospel. About fourteen years ago I completed a spiritual gift assessment offered through my church. Through this assessment, I discovered that one of my strongest spiritual gifts was evangelism. This totally put things into perspective for me. I now understood that this was a gift from God and He wired me up to share Jesus with everyone. It was in His plan all along and I played one small part in this master plan. This plan included the body of believers as a whole; a team united together, each using their individual spiritual gifts to complement each other to bring glory to God and further His kingdom.
A few years ago, I remember sitting in a hospital waiting room — my husband’s grandmother was passing away after devoting a long and faithful life to our Father. While I was in the waiting room, I noticed this woman sitting alone and quite distressed. I remember praying to God asking Him to use me in any way to help her. Before I knew it, I was sitting beside her; praying with her and seeing her accept Jesus back into her life. Over the next few months that followed, I thought about her and prayed for her many times, really wishing I would have gotten her telephone number so I could follow up with her to see how she was doing. As time went on, a close friend of mine was shopping at a grocery store and was waiting in line to pay for her purchases. A woman standing in line behind started a conversation with her. She commented on the unique cross necklace my friend was wearing. She then asked my friend if she knew of a church called Northview and if she knew a woman named Belinda. My friend said that she attended Northview and that Belinda was a friend of hers. It turns out that this woman was the person I had a conversation with many months ago in that hospital waiting room. As a result of that conversation, she became on fire again for God, went back to her home church and was living a life that glorified God. I was blessed to get a glimpse of how God used me in His overall plan. One of my favorite verses I love is from Matthew 7:7-8 "ASK and it will be given to you; SEEK and you will find; KNOCK and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, The Door Will Be Opened" Matthew 7:7-8
My journey today has taken me into the role of Pastor of Young People at our church. For quite a few years, we have hosted annual ‘all-nighter’ events at our church that are an outreach to the youth of our church and surrounding neighborhoods This year’s event theme was called ‘MySpace’ which by the end of the night turned into ‘GodSpace’. There were approximately 68 teens attending and by the next morning, eight teens gave their lives to Christ (one of them being a former Jehovah’s Witness). One boy, who is in my son’s grade eight class at school, attended this event. He comes from a dysfunctional home life which lacks direction. That night, he gave his life to Christ while talking and praying with one of the youth leaders. He later asked if I could pray with him in the Prayer Room, which I did. When I finished praying, he immediately prayed for me. The following week, we presented him with a Bible.
God is at work in my life daily. Understanding how He has wired me up has changed me. My desire is not only to see people come to Christ, but I want them to get hooked up with Him for the rest of their lives.
Belinda Leibel, Pastor of Young People
Northview Community Church, Regina, SK
Finding the right funding partner
Have you ever wanted to start a new ministry or expand an existing one but have been limited due to lack of finances? I think I just heard a very loud collective "yes" across our movement. Every church has faced this situation, for some perhaps many times.
New and expanded ministries usually require additional funds. To increase the possibility of funding opportunities, The Free Methodist Church in Canada has purchased a subscription that provides us access to thousands of Canadian foundations. Through this subscription we are able to conduct searches of over 9,000 foundations that may be interested in providing funding to your project.
Obtaining a grant from a foundation is not an easy process – it requires time to find the right foundation, research the foundation, develop a proposal and a relationship with the foundation. While we can’t help with every step of the process, we can certainly help at the critical point of identifying which foundations would be most receptive to your proposal.
When we receive a Search Request Form from a church, we are provided with details about the project that enable us to narrow our focus and exclude foundations that don’t make a good match with the project. The criteria we look for includes:
New and expanded ministries usually require additional funds. To increase the possibility of funding opportunities, The Free Methodist Church in Canada has purchased a subscription that provides us access to thousands of Canadian foundations. Through this subscription we are able to conduct searches of over 9,000 foundations that may be interested in providing funding to your project.
Obtaining a grant from a foundation is not an easy process – it requires time to find the right foundation, research the foundation, develop a proposal and a relationship with the foundation. While we can’t help with every step of the process, we can certainly help at the critical point of identifying which foundations would be most receptive to your proposal.
When we receive a Search Request Form from a church, we are provided with details about the project that enable us to narrow our focus and exclude foundations that don’t make a good match with the project. The criteria we look for includes:
- Geography – where does the foundation provide funding?
If a project is located in Saskatchewan but the foundation only funds projects in British Columbia, they are excluded
Many foundations fund projects across Canada - Funding Interests – what types of projects does the foundation fund?
If a project is focused on meeting the needs of children, then foundations that don’t fund projects for children will be excluded - Application Guidelines – is the foundation accepting proposals?
Some foundations do not accept proposals and therefore would be excluded - Funding History – what has the foundation done in the past?
We examine what organizations have received funding in the past, how much have they received and when?
If a foundation has not given grants to similar organizations we may exclude them
If a foundation has not given out grants in recent years, they may be excluded
If the grant sizes are not close to what the project requires, the foundation may be excluded
Our goal is to provide you with the best possible chance at success in approaching foundations that will be receptive to your project. The more detail you can give us about your project, the better the information we provide to you.
I want to encourage each church to consider taking advantage of this service. For more information about the foundation search service and to obtain a request form, visit the generous stewards website at www.generoussteward.org. Click on the Leaders link and then go to Project Funding.
Joanne Bell, Stewardship
Development Director
bellj@fmc-canada.org
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens
How do Christians see the world? With what lens?
"I see the world biblically," some will say. "I have a Christian worldview."
But "Christian" worldviews vary widely. Not all lenses are the same. Some are clearer than others; some distort more than others; some block out part of the biblical vision, filtering out part of the spectrum.
There is a particularly Wesleyan way of looking at the world and everything in it. The strength of the Wesleyan lens is its comprehensiveness.
Seven aspects of Wesley’s wide-angle way of seeing the world are especially important. Together they give us a broad biblical view of the world—a more comprehensive view than we commonly find today. Wesley no doubt had his blind spots, but his large vision was remarkable.
Several unique advantages elevated Wesley’s vision beyond that of most figures in Christian history. John Wesley was blessed with a well-informed Christian upbringing, especially with a wise mother who helped him think deeply. He had a both/and rather than an either/or mind, both rational and poetic, fascinated by language, alert to metaphor and paradox, yet interested in logic and in scientific discovery (both right-brained and left-brained, we would say today). He was a voracious reader with broad and eclectic tastes. His grounding in the Anglican via media of Scripture, reason, and tradition, gave him historical and theological breadth. He studied at Oxford during the rediscovery of early Christian sources. He lived at the height of the Age of Reason, but also at the beginning of new interest in human experience and emotion or "enthusiasm." He read of the discoveries coming from the "New World" and England’s far-flung empire. He experienced the Industrial Revolution. Through the influence of the Pietist Movement, particularly the Moravian Brethren, his heart was "strangely warmed" by God, igniting a deeper spirituality and a new passion for evangelism and church renewal. Finally, Wesley was physically vigorous and lived a long life (1703 to 1791), his mind alert, inquiring, and deeply devout to his last hours.
This rare combination is found in no one else in church history. Wesley viewed these advantages as testimony to the active providence of God.
For all these reasons, Wesley’s way of looking at the world, and God’s purposes within it, has lasting significance. So we examine the Wesleyan way of looking at the world, highlighting especially his accents on Scripture, the image of God, the wisdom of God in creation, salvation as renewal of God’s image, audacious hope, a renewed church, and the restoration of all things.
I. The Lens of Scripture
John Wesley was, famously, "a man of one book." Of course he was a man of thousands of books, not to mention newspapers, journals, and pamphlets. But he was clear about biblical authority.
For Wesley, the Bible was the touchstone of authority on all matters of faith and practice. It was in fact his lens for viewing reality; his worldview (as we would say today); the revealed, authoritative narrative of what God had accomplished, promised to accomplish, and surely would yet accomplish. This is absolutely key, and we misunderstand Wesley if we fail to grasp this. We may debate Wesley’s interpretations on specific points, but his conviction and intent were clear.
Wesley viewed and used Scripture in a particular way. The Bible is the authoritative narrative of salvation. It is not primarily a compendium of doctrine but the story of creation, sin, and redemption through Jesus Christ.
Wesley said the Bible should be interpreted according to the "analogy of faith" (Rom. 12:6), comparing Scripture with Scripture. This was Wesley’s key principle—"the agreement of every part of [Scripture] with every other," as he put it (Sermon 62, "The End of Christ’s Coming," III.5). Grasping this overall biblical "agreement" requires, of course, a master narrative—a story line by which every passage is interpreted. Wesley was increasingly clear throughout his life as to that story line: God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is reconciling the world to himself, restoring "all things."
Wesley’s sermons illustrate this. His 151 published sermons often don’t exposit Scripture systematically, but typically a third or more of a Wesley sermon is either paraphrase or direct quotation from Scripture.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means seeing everything—our lives, the church, and God’s kingdom plan—through the authoritative lens of Scripture, interpreted in the light of God’s redemptive work in Jesus Christ.
II. Seeing the Image of God
Viewing the world in a Wesleyan way means seeing the image of God in every person. The Wesleyan worldview is marked by this positive note: Every human being, man or woman, is God-imaged, a God-bearer.
Wesley saw how defaced the image of God had become in human beings and society because of sin. But for Wesley, sin has neither the first nor the last word. Wesley’s sermons "On the Fall of Man" and "The Mystery of Iniquity" detail the disfiguring effects of sin. But Wesley believed also in "God’s Approbation of His Works" in creation, a "General Deliverance," and "The New Creation" (to cite some key sermon titles).
The Wesleyan lens starts with good news: A good God created good people in a total creation that God pronounced "very good." In the Wesleyan telling, the gospel story moves from the good news of creation in God’s image, to the bad news of sin and distortion, to the even better news of redemption and new creation through Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit.
This is not uniquely Wesleyan, of course. It is biblical and should be true of all faithful Christianity. In the Wesleyan understanding, however, three points are especially important:
First, creation in God’s image means that all people reflect God’s character and human capacity for goodness, wisdom, creativity, justice, and holy love. This is why bad people can sometimes do good things; why parents, though "evil, know how to give good gifts to [their] children" (Mt. 7:11).
All human beings bear something of the character of God. This is our glory; our potential; the inherent possibility that God’s grace grasps when we turn to Jesus Christ and by the Spirit open ourselves to God’s transforming power.
Second, this is a social image. God is Trinity, and humankind is compatibly male and female, made for family and community. We don’t find our true identity as isolated "individuals" any more than Jesus Christ found his true identity separate from the Father and the Spirit. To be God-imaged is to be social, communal. The person and character of God is Triune. Sociality and community form the nature of personhood—first in God, and hence in humankind.
Third, in Wesley’s view the image of God connects us to, rather than separates us from, the rest of creation. Here the Wesleyan view clashes with much popular Christianity.
It is important to understand Wesley here, because his comprehensive view of salvation hinges upon it. Creation in the image of God means we are both like and unlike God, and it means we are both like and unlike the rest of creation. God is infinite; we are not, and we have been marred by sin. Like God’s other earthly creatures, we are finite and we exist in a space-time world, this good earth. Like other creatures, we are dependent on food, water, air, and earth. God made us this way: Interdependent, all sharing the same earth ecology.
Wesley understood this. That’s partly why he was so interested in gardens, all earth’s creatures, and in how we treat animals.
Wesley saw human beings as reflecting God’s image in a primary sense, and all creation as reflecting God in a secondary sense. Humans are unique because of their unique capacity to respond to God self-consciously, willingly, and responsibly. Therefore they have a unique calling as stewards of all creation. Men and women are "capable of God" (as both Wesleys said) in ways that God’s other earthly creatures are not. Yet the horse, the dog, the bird, the tree, the flower, even rocks of the field and pebbles of the seashore reflect the image of God in a more remote sense. They depend upon God for their existence and preservation. Their design, order, intricacy, and interdependence all reveal something of God. All fits into the larger ecology of God’s creative and redemptive work.
Like his contemporaries, John Wesley used the ancient idea of a "great chain of being" descending in near-infinite gradation from God to the minutest particle to express this interconnectedness. But Wesley understood this "chain" biblically, not philosophically. He was clear about God’s sovereignty, human uniqueness and sinfulness, and the need for redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. He saw the whole scheme of salvation, however, in this interconnected way. God will redeem the whole creation, not only the human part of it, because God has vested interest in the whole creation.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens, then, means seeing every person and the whole creation as bearing, in appropriate degree, the image of God.
III. The Wisdom of God in Creation
Wesley liked the phrase "the wisdom of God in creation" so much that he issued a whole book on the subject, A Survey of the Wisdom of God in Creation (abridged from another author). God’s wisdom in creation has practical meaning: Worship, certainly, but also moral instruction and the call to stewardship. Wesley said in one sermon, "God is in all things, and . . . we are to see the Creator in the glass of every creature; . . . we should use and look upon nothing as separate from God, which indeed is a kind of practical atheism; but with a true magnificence of thought survey heaven and earth and all that is therein as contained by God in the hollow of his hand, who by his intimate presence holds them all in being, who pervades and actuates the whole created frame, and is in a true sense the soul of the universe" (Sermon 23, "Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse III," I.11).
In his Survey Wesley wrote, "Life subsisting in millions of different forms, shows the vast diffusion of [God’s] animating power, and death the infinite disproportion between him and every living thing. . . . Even the actions of animals are an eloquent and a pathetic language. . . . Thus it is, that every part of nature directs us to nature’s God."
God’s image in human beings, and more remotely in the whole creation, displays his wisdom in creation and so lays the basis for God’s wisdom in redemption and new creation. It is all of one piece, one story, for Wesley.
Seeing the wisdom God in creation moves us not only to praise but also to care and to understand God’s intent and the breathtaking breadth of redemption. In keeping with the Great Tradition of Christian teaching, Wesley affirmed that what God had created, preserves, and cares for is being redeemed through Jesus Christ whom God has "appointed heir of all things" (Heb. 1:2).
IV. Salvation as the Restoration of God’s Image
Jesus Christ is the perfect living, loving image of God, and salvation is the restoration of that image. This was a consistent and insistent theme in Wesley’s approach. Through Jesus Christ Christians are "restored to the image of God" (Sermon 85, "On Working Out Our Own Salvation," II.1).
Wesley described "true Christianity" as having the mind of Christ, being renewed after Christ’s image, and walking as Jesus walked. Real Christianity is practical Christlikeness enabled by the Holy Spirit. Wesley preached justification by faith and the necessity of the new birth. But the goal of salvation is more than justification; it is sanctification—thorough transformation into the image and mind of Christ.
So the new birth is entrance into a new, relational way of living. It establishes a new love relationship with God the Trinity; with the Christian family, the church; with our neighbors, near and far; and in fact with all creation. Growth in holiness is growth in Christlikeness, not only individually but together in community as the whole church grows up into the "fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12–16).
This is hugely practical. Wesley understood that believers can help each other come to know Jesus Christ deeply through the infilling of the Spirit and through life together in Christian community. This is the spring then for redemptive, Christ-like mission in the world. Wesley spoke of "all inward and outward holiness"—loving God with heart, strength, soul, and mind, and our neighbors (near and far) as ourselves.
Since the image of God is social and relational, salvation means the restoration of true community. Wesley called this "social Christianity" or "social holiness." He meant not primarily social justice but rather that salvation itself is social. True faith is social because God is Trinity, because his image in humankind is social, and because God’s plan is the restoration of healthy community, shalom, throughout his whole creation.
The image of God uniquely present in humankind but also more remotely present in all creation gives Wesley the theological basis for salvation as the "restitution" (KJV) or "restoration" of all things (cf. Mt. 17:11, Acts 3:21). Salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ, and especially through his resurrection, means that God is creating a new heaven and earth. God is bringing a total restoration of creation that is more glorious and flourishing than the original prototype.
For Wesley, this is a present reality and a present mission, not just a future expectation. Restorative salvation means that men and women can now, by the Spirit, fulfill their original calling as stewards. In "The Good Steward" Wesley wrote, "no character more exactly agrees with the present state of man than that of a steward... This appellation is exactly expressive of his situation in the present world, specifying the kind of servant he is to God, and what kind of service his divine master expects of him."
If salvation means "walking as Jesus walked," this has immense ethical meaning for our discipleship. God’s people are not only the recipients of God’s restoration but also, joined to Jesus by the Spirit in his body, the agents of this restoration, this plan of God to "reconcile . . . all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven" (Col. 1:20).
V. Audacious, Gracious Hope
John Wesley’s understanding of what God is up to in the world is thus audaciously optimistic. Albert Outler spoke of Wesley’s "optimism of grace." Commenting on Wesley’s sermon "The New Creation," Outler cites Wesley’s "unfaltering optimism, . . . an optimism of grace rather than of nature."
Wesleyan theology is saturated with hope, expectancy, optimism of grace and the grace of optimism. This hope is based not on human intelligence or technology but on Jesus’ resurrection, God’s promise, and the present work of the Spirit.
In Wesley’s view, God’s "economy" of salvation is rooted in the personal, loving character of God and in the correspondence between the divine nature, human nature, and the created order. In contrast to Augustine and Calvin, Wesley balanced the emphasis on original sin with a dynamic optimism about the possibilities of God’s loving grace in human experience and in society.
Perhaps the frequent failure of the church to transform the world through the power of Jesus’ gospel is above all a failure of hope—a failure really to believe that God will keep his promises and thus a failure to act in hope so that God’s will may be done on earth as in heaven.
Romans 8:20-21 reminds us that "The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." If "the creation waits in eager expectation" (Rom. 8:19), so should we. If Satan convinces us the world is hopeless, we become hopeless in our witness and ministry. Or we reduce hope unbiblically, expecting only the salvation of souls for a disembodied eternity in heaven. We forget God’s plan through Jesus Christ "to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Col. 1:20).
That divine plan defines our mission. And that mission is irrepressibly one of hope—the audacious, gracious hope that comes not from self-confidence or technology or money but from God’s promises.
Here Wesleyan theology clashes sharply with contemporary North American (or at least U.S.) evangelicalism. The optimism of grace gets undermined in two ways: By a discontinuous, disjunctive eschatology that makes too sharp a break between this age and the age to come (the kingdom of God in its fullness), and by a dualistic worldview. Many Christians see life on earth as an inferior, lower plane, and view disembodied spiritual existence on a higher, totally other plane. They see no real link between the two except through prayer and occasional miracles (or through tongues-speaking, if one is Pentecostal or charismatic).
This was not Wesley’s view. It isn’t the biblical view. "All things . . . in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible" (Col. 1:16), things present and things to come (Rom. 8:38, 1 Cor. 3:22), are part of the one world (and one worldview) that the Bible reveals and describes. This one God-created world is the stage upon which God is bringing to fulfillment the great drama of redemption and new creation.
If we don’t believe—don’t have the audacious hope—that God’s will really can be done on earth as it is in heaven in all dimensions of life, society, and culture, we won’t act with the audacious hope that God uses as a key means in fulfilling Jesus’ prayer, "may your kingdom come" on earth now. And so we will fail to see, at least in our time and place, the visible realization of God’s "intent . . . that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies" (Eph. 3:10). For lack of faith we fail effectively to be God’s mission in the world.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens and acting in the world in a Wesleyan way means living the audacious, gracious hope that we experience through the powerful resurrection of Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:18-23).
VI. A Renewed, Missional Church
Methodists trace their beginnings to John Wesley’s heart-warming experience at Aldersgate on May 24, 1738. But long before Aldersgate, Wesley yearned for the renewal of the church. The question was how. Touched by God’s Spirit at Aldersgate, Wesley found the power, and then the vital means, for the renewal he had long envisioned.
Wesley saw the depths into which much of his beloved Church of England had fallen. He longed to see it become vital and missional (as we say today), a church that would transform England and then the world. Wesley’s intent was always church renewal for the sake of mission. He saw Methodism itself as a renewal movement. The mission of Methodism was to be God’s instrument for returning the church to the vitality God intended—the vitality of earliest Christianity.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means a vision for church renewal; an expectancy for a vital, missional church. In the Wesleyan perspective, virtually no church is beyond hope for renewal. God intends to renew his church—from the local congregation to denominations everywhere; the whole people of God worldwide.
Wesley believed a renewed church is more than a congregation where people have faith and live pious lives. A renewed church is marked by a potent combination of worship, evangelism, loving discipleship, and a witness of justice and mercy in the world. A renewed church is God’s instrument for renewing society. A renewed church is a vital community that practices the New Testament "one another" passages, building up one another, encouraging and equipping one another, and growing up into Jesus (Eph. 4:11-16). It is a discipling community that by the Spirit exhibits and practices a range of spiritual gifts through which the church fulfills its mission of justice, mercy, and peace in the world.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means never giving up on the church. We know that dry bones can live again; that resurrection is possible; that even the deadest-looking tree trunk may still have life deep in its roots. Renewal can come if people return to their first love and center their lives and witness in Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit.
VII. The Restoration of All Creation
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means seeing the New Creation that God is bringing through Jesus Christ.
God’s promise to "restore everything" was a key element of John Wesley’s theology. Wesley’s hopeful certainty was based not on a few scattered biblical references but on the whole thrust of the biblical story, beginning to end. His sermons "The New Creation," "The General Deliverance," and "The General Spread of the Gospel" highlight key Scriptures: Romans 8:19-22 on the liberation of the whole creation being from its "bondage to decay," Isaiah 11:9 on the earth being full of the knowledge of the Lord, and Revelation 21:5, "Behold, I make all things new."
For Wesley, salvation was all about restoration. Salvation is healing from the disease of sin. The true "religion of Jesus Christ" is "God’s method of healing a soul" that is diseased by sin. "Hereby the great Physician of souls applies medicines to heal this sickness, to restore human nature, totally corrupted in all its faculties" (Sermon 44, "Original Sin," III.3). As he grew older, Wesley increasingly emphasized salvation as the healing of the whole created order.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means seeing the New Creation now, through eyes of faith, based on Holy Scripture, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb. 11:1). By the eyes of faith, we see "a new heaven and a new earth." We foresee the fulfillment of the promise, "God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God" (Rev. 21:1-3). By faith we now see, anticipate, and hope for the New Creation, the "reconciliation of all things." And we have now received the Holy Spirit, the anticipatory present experience of the final new creation (Eph. 1:13-14). When we come to know God through Jesus Christ, we experience the firstfruits of that total restoration that Paul describes in Romans 8, Isaiah pictures, and that the Book of Revelation shows us so movingly.
Conclusion
Our television and computer screens, our billboards and newspapers, our movie theatres and magazines incessantly offer us ways of viewing the world. They present a vision of reality. But it is distorted reality; a twisted worldview and a suicidal narrative, "the path that leads to destruction."
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means an expansive, audacious vision. More than a worldview, this is a way of living out God’s plan in the world and engaging in the mission of the one who said, "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you" (John 20:21).
A Wesleyan worldview means living in "eager expectation" of God’s full salvation, the time of "general restoration," the time when all things are brought to fulfillment and the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is glorified in all things forever. With that vision and expectation, we seek to "live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:10). Filled with the Spirit, we become agents of the reality we see through the gift of faith.
Dr. Howard A. Snyder serves as the Chair of Wesley Studies at Tyndale Seminary. Visit his website at wineskins.net
"I see the world biblically," some will say. "I have a Christian worldview."
But "Christian" worldviews vary widely. Not all lenses are the same. Some are clearer than others; some distort more than others; some block out part of the biblical vision, filtering out part of the spectrum.
There is a particularly Wesleyan way of looking at the world and everything in it. The strength of the Wesleyan lens is its comprehensiveness.
Seven aspects of Wesley’s wide-angle way of seeing the world are especially important. Together they give us a broad biblical view of the world—a more comprehensive view than we commonly find today. Wesley no doubt had his blind spots, but his large vision was remarkable.
Several unique advantages elevated Wesley’s vision beyond that of most figures in Christian history. John Wesley was blessed with a well-informed Christian upbringing, especially with a wise mother who helped him think deeply. He had a both/and rather than an either/or mind, both rational and poetic, fascinated by language, alert to metaphor and paradox, yet interested in logic and in scientific discovery (both right-brained and left-brained, we would say today). He was a voracious reader with broad and eclectic tastes. His grounding in the Anglican via media of Scripture, reason, and tradition, gave him historical and theological breadth. He studied at Oxford during the rediscovery of early Christian sources. He lived at the height of the Age of Reason, but also at the beginning of new interest in human experience and emotion or "enthusiasm." He read of the discoveries coming from the "New World" and England’s far-flung empire. He experienced the Industrial Revolution. Through the influence of the Pietist Movement, particularly the Moravian Brethren, his heart was "strangely warmed" by God, igniting a deeper spirituality and a new passion for evangelism and church renewal. Finally, Wesley was physically vigorous and lived a long life (1703 to 1791), his mind alert, inquiring, and deeply devout to his last hours.
This rare combination is found in no one else in church history. Wesley viewed these advantages as testimony to the active providence of God.
For all these reasons, Wesley’s way of looking at the world, and God’s purposes within it, has lasting significance. So we examine the Wesleyan way of looking at the world, highlighting especially his accents on Scripture, the image of God, the wisdom of God in creation, salvation as renewal of God’s image, audacious hope, a renewed church, and the restoration of all things.
I. The Lens of Scripture
John Wesley was, famously, "a man of one book." Of course he was a man of thousands of books, not to mention newspapers, journals, and pamphlets. But he was clear about biblical authority.
For Wesley, the Bible was the touchstone of authority on all matters of faith and practice. It was in fact his lens for viewing reality; his worldview (as we would say today); the revealed, authoritative narrative of what God had accomplished, promised to accomplish, and surely would yet accomplish. This is absolutely key, and we misunderstand Wesley if we fail to grasp this. We may debate Wesley’s interpretations on specific points, but his conviction and intent were clear.
Wesley viewed and used Scripture in a particular way. The Bible is the authoritative narrative of salvation. It is not primarily a compendium of doctrine but the story of creation, sin, and redemption through Jesus Christ.
Wesley said the Bible should be interpreted according to the "analogy of faith" (Rom. 12:6), comparing Scripture with Scripture. This was Wesley’s key principle—"the agreement of every part of [Scripture] with every other," as he put it (Sermon 62, "The End of Christ’s Coming," III.5). Grasping this overall biblical "agreement" requires, of course, a master narrative—a story line by which every passage is interpreted. Wesley was increasingly clear throughout his life as to that story line: God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is reconciling the world to himself, restoring "all things."
Wesley’s sermons illustrate this. His 151 published sermons often don’t exposit Scripture systematically, but typically a third or more of a Wesley sermon is either paraphrase or direct quotation from Scripture.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means seeing everything—our lives, the church, and God’s kingdom plan—through the authoritative lens of Scripture, interpreted in the light of God’s redemptive work in Jesus Christ.
II. Seeing the Image of God
Viewing the world in a Wesleyan way means seeing the image of God in every person. The Wesleyan worldview is marked by this positive note: Every human being, man or woman, is God-imaged, a God-bearer.
Wesley saw how defaced the image of God had become in human beings and society because of sin. But for Wesley, sin has neither the first nor the last word. Wesley’s sermons "On the Fall of Man" and "The Mystery of Iniquity" detail the disfiguring effects of sin. But Wesley believed also in "God’s Approbation of His Works" in creation, a "General Deliverance," and "The New Creation" (to cite some key sermon titles).
The Wesleyan lens starts with good news: A good God created good people in a total creation that God pronounced "very good." In the Wesleyan telling, the gospel story moves from the good news of creation in God’s image, to the bad news of sin and distortion, to the even better news of redemption and new creation through Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit.
This is not uniquely Wesleyan, of course. It is biblical and should be true of all faithful Christianity. In the Wesleyan understanding, however, three points are especially important:
First, creation in God’s image means that all people reflect God’s character and human capacity for goodness, wisdom, creativity, justice, and holy love. This is why bad people can sometimes do good things; why parents, though "evil, know how to give good gifts to [their] children" (Mt. 7:11).
All human beings bear something of the character of God. This is our glory; our potential; the inherent possibility that God’s grace grasps when we turn to Jesus Christ and by the Spirit open ourselves to God’s transforming power.
Second, this is a social image. God is Trinity, and humankind is compatibly male and female, made for family and community. We don’t find our true identity as isolated "individuals" any more than Jesus Christ found his true identity separate from the Father and the Spirit. To be God-imaged is to be social, communal. The person and character of God is Triune. Sociality and community form the nature of personhood—first in God, and hence in humankind.
Third, in Wesley’s view the image of God connects us to, rather than separates us from, the rest of creation. Here the Wesleyan view clashes with much popular Christianity.
It is important to understand Wesley here, because his comprehensive view of salvation hinges upon it. Creation in the image of God means we are both like and unlike God, and it means we are both like and unlike the rest of creation. God is infinite; we are not, and we have been marred by sin. Like God’s other earthly creatures, we are finite and we exist in a space-time world, this good earth. Like other creatures, we are dependent on food, water, air, and earth. God made us this way: Interdependent, all sharing the same earth ecology.
Wesley understood this. That’s partly why he was so interested in gardens, all earth’s creatures, and in how we treat animals.
Wesley saw human beings as reflecting God’s image in a primary sense, and all creation as reflecting God in a secondary sense. Humans are unique because of their unique capacity to respond to God self-consciously, willingly, and responsibly. Therefore they have a unique calling as stewards of all creation. Men and women are "capable of God" (as both Wesleys said) in ways that God’s other earthly creatures are not. Yet the horse, the dog, the bird, the tree, the flower, even rocks of the field and pebbles of the seashore reflect the image of God in a more remote sense. They depend upon God for their existence and preservation. Their design, order, intricacy, and interdependence all reveal something of God. All fits into the larger ecology of God’s creative and redemptive work.
Like his contemporaries, John Wesley used the ancient idea of a "great chain of being" descending in near-infinite gradation from God to the minutest particle to express this interconnectedness. But Wesley understood this "chain" biblically, not philosophically. He was clear about God’s sovereignty, human uniqueness and sinfulness, and the need for redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. He saw the whole scheme of salvation, however, in this interconnected way. God will redeem the whole creation, not only the human part of it, because God has vested interest in the whole creation.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens, then, means seeing every person and the whole creation as bearing, in appropriate degree, the image of God.
III. The Wisdom of God in Creation
Wesley liked the phrase "the wisdom of God in creation" so much that he issued a whole book on the subject, A Survey of the Wisdom of God in Creation (abridged from another author). God’s wisdom in creation has practical meaning: Worship, certainly, but also moral instruction and the call to stewardship. Wesley said in one sermon, "God is in all things, and . . . we are to see the Creator in the glass of every creature; . . . we should use and look upon nothing as separate from God, which indeed is a kind of practical atheism; but with a true magnificence of thought survey heaven and earth and all that is therein as contained by God in the hollow of his hand, who by his intimate presence holds them all in being, who pervades and actuates the whole created frame, and is in a true sense the soul of the universe" (Sermon 23, "Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse III," I.11).
In his Survey Wesley wrote, "Life subsisting in millions of different forms, shows the vast diffusion of [God’s] animating power, and death the infinite disproportion between him and every living thing. . . . Even the actions of animals are an eloquent and a pathetic language. . . . Thus it is, that every part of nature directs us to nature’s God."
God’s image in human beings, and more remotely in the whole creation, displays his wisdom in creation and so lays the basis for God’s wisdom in redemption and new creation. It is all of one piece, one story, for Wesley.
Seeing the wisdom God in creation moves us not only to praise but also to care and to understand God’s intent and the breathtaking breadth of redemption. In keeping with the Great Tradition of Christian teaching, Wesley affirmed that what God had created, preserves, and cares for is being redeemed through Jesus Christ whom God has "appointed heir of all things" (Heb. 1:2).
IV. Salvation as the Restoration of God’s Image
Jesus Christ is the perfect living, loving image of God, and salvation is the restoration of that image. This was a consistent and insistent theme in Wesley’s approach. Through Jesus Christ Christians are "restored to the image of God" (Sermon 85, "On Working Out Our Own Salvation," II.1).
Wesley described "true Christianity" as having the mind of Christ, being renewed after Christ’s image, and walking as Jesus walked. Real Christianity is practical Christlikeness enabled by the Holy Spirit. Wesley preached justification by faith and the necessity of the new birth. But the goal of salvation is more than justification; it is sanctification—thorough transformation into the image and mind of Christ.
So the new birth is entrance into a new, relational way of living. It establishes a new love relationship with God the Trinity; with the Christian family, the church; with our neighbors, near and far; and in fact with all creation. Growth in holiness is growth in Christlikeness, not only individually but together in community as the whole church grows up into the "fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12–16).
This is hugely practical. Wesley understood that believers can help each other come to know Jesus Christ deeply through the infilling of the Spirit and through life together in Christian community. This is the spring then for redemptive, Christ-like mission in the world. Wesley spoke of "all inward and outward holiness"—loving God with heart, strength, soul, and mind, and our neighbors (near and far) as ourselves.
Since the image of God is social and relational, salvation means the restoration of true community. Wesley called this "social Christianity" or "social holiness." He meant not primarily social justice but rather that salvation itself is social. True faith is social because God is Trinity, because his image in humankind is social, and because God’s plan is the restoration of healthy community, shalom, throughout his whole creation.
The image of God uniquely present in humankind but also more remotely present in all creation gives Wesley the theological basis for salvation as the "restitution" (KJV) or "restoration" of all things (cf. Mt. 17:11, Acts 3:21). Salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ, and especially through his resurrection, means that God is creating a new heaven and earth. God is bringing a total restoration of creation that is more glorious and flourishing than the original prototype.
For Wesley, this is a present reality and a present mission, not just a future expectation. Restorative salvation means that men and women can now, by the Spirit, fulfill their original calling as stewards. In "The Good Steward" Wesley wrote, "no character more exactly agrees with the present state of man than that of a steward... This appellation is exactly expressive of his situation in the present world, specifying the kind of servant he is to God, and what kind of service his divine master expects of him."
If salvation means "walking as Jesus walked," this has immense ethical meaning for our discipleship. God’s people are not only the recipients of God’s restoration but also, joined to Jesus by the Spirit in his body, the agents of this restoration, this plan of God to "reconcile . . . all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven" (Col. 1:20).
V. Audacious, Gracious Hope
John Wesley’s understanding of what God is up to in the world is thus audaciously optimistic. Albert Outler spoke of Wesley’s "optimism of grace." Commenting on Wesley’s sermon "The New Creation," Outler cites Wesley’s "unfaltering optimism, . . . an optimism of grace rather than of nature."
Wesleyan theology is saturated with hope, expectancy, optimism of grace and the grace of optimism. This hope is based not on human intelligence or technology but on Jesus’ resurrection, God’s promise, and the present work of the Spirit.
In Wesley’s view, God’s "economy" of salvation is rooted in the personal, loving character of God and in the correspondence between the divine nature, human nature, and the created order. In contrast to Augustine and Calvin, Wesley balanced the emphasis on original sin with a dynamic optimism about the possibilities of God’s loving grace in human experience and in society.
Perhaps the frequent failure of the church to transform the world through the power of Jesus’ gospel is above all a failure of hope—a failure really to believe that God will keep his promises and thus a failure to act in hope so that God’s will may be done on earth as in heaven.
Romans 8:20-21 reminds us that "The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." If "the creation waits in eager expectation" (Rom. 8:19), so should we. If Satan convinces us the world is hopeless, we become hopeless in our witness and ministry. Or we reduce hope unbiblically, expecting only the salvation of souls for a disembodied eternity in heaven. We forget God’s plan through Jesus Christ "to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Col. 1:20).
That divine plan defines our mission. And that mission is irrepressibly one of hope—the audacious, gracious hope that comes not from self-confidence or technology or money but from God’s promises.
Here Wesleyan theology clashes sharply with contemporary North American (or at least U.S.) evangelicalism. The optimism of grace gets undermined in two ways: By a discontinuous, disjunctive eschatology that makes too sharp a break between this age and the age to come (the kingdom of God in its fullness), and by a dualistic worldview. Many Christians see life on earth as an inferior, lower plane, and view disembodied spiritual existence on a higher, totally other plane. They see no real link between the two except through prayer and occasional miracles (or through tongues-speaking, if one is Pentecostal or charismatic).
This was not Wesley’s view. It isn’t the biblical view. "All things . . . in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible" (Col. 1:16), things present and things to come (Rom. 8:38, 1 Cor. 3:22), are part of the one world (and one worldview) that the Bible reveals and describes. This one God-created world is the stage upon which God is bringing to fulfillment the great drama of redemption and new creation.
If we don’t believe—don’t have the audacious hope—that God’s will really can be done on earth as it is in heaven in all dimensions of life, society, and culture, we won’t act with the audacious hope that God uses as a key means in fulfilling Jesus’ prayer, "may your kingdom come" on earth now. And so we will fail to see, at least in our time and place, the visible realization of God’s "intent . . . that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies" (Eph. 3:10). For lack of faith we fail effectively to be God’s mission in the world.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens and acting in the world in a Wesleyan way means living the audacious, gracious hope that we experience through the powerful resurrection of Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:18-23).
VI. A Renewed, Missional Church
Methodists trace their beginnings to John Wesley’s heart-warming experience at Aldersgate on May 24, 1738. But long before Aldersgate, Wesley yearned for the renewal of the church. The question was how. Touched by God’s Spirit at Aldersgate, Wesley found the power, and then the vital means, for the renewal he had long envisioned.
Wesley saw the depths into which much of his beloved Church of England had fallen. He longed to see it become vital and missional (as we say today), a church that would transform England and then the world. Wesley’s intent was always church renewal for the sake of mission. He saw Methodism itself as a renewal movement. The mission of Methodism was to be God’s instrument for returning the church to the vitality God intended—the vitality of earliest Christianity.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means a vision for church renewal; an expectancy for a vital, missional church. In the Wesleyan perspective, virtually no church is beyond hope for renewal. God intends to renew his church—from the local congregation to denominations everywhere; the whole people of God worldwide.
Wesley believed a renewed church is more than a congregation where people have faith and live pious lives. A renewed church is marked by a potent combination of worship, evangelism, loving discipleship, and a witness of justice and mercy in the world. A renewed church is God’s instrument for renewing society. A renewed church is a vital community that practices the New Testament "one another" passages, building up one another, encouraging and equipping one another, and growing up into Jesus (Eph. 4:11-16). It is a discipling community that by the Spirit exhibits and practices a range of spiritual gifts through which the church fulfills its mission of justice, mercy, and peace in the world.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means never giving up on the church. We know that dry bones can live again; that resurrection is possible; that even the deadest-looking tree trunk may still have life deep in its roots. Renewal can come if people return to their first love and center their lives and witness in Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit.
VII. The Restoration of All Creation
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means seeing the New Creation that God is bringing through Jesus Christ.
God’s promise to "restore everything" was a key element of John Wesley’s theology. Wesley’s hopeful certainty was based not on a few scattered biblical references but on the whole thrust of the biblical story, beginning to end. His sermons "The New Creation," "The General Deliverance," and "The General Spread of the Gospel" highlight key Scriptures: Romans 8:19-22 on the liberation of the whole creation being from its "bondage to decay," Isaiah 11:9 on the earth being full of the knowledge of the Lord, and Revelation 21:5, "Behold, I make all things new."
For Wesley, salvation was all about restoration. Salvation is healing from the disease of sin. The true "religion of Jesus Christ" is "God’s method of healing a soul" that is diseased by sin. "Hereby the great Physician of souls applies medicines to heal this sickness, to restore human nature, totally corrupted in all its faculties" (Sermon 44, "Original Sin," III.3). As he grew older, Wesley increasingly emphasized salvation as the healing of the whole created order.
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means seeing the New Creation now, through eyes of faith, based on Holy Scripture, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb. 11:1). By the eyes of faith, we see "a new heaven and a new earth." We foresee the fulfillment of the promise, "God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God" (Rev. 21:1-3). By faith we now see, anticipate, and hope for the New Creation, the "reconciliation of all things." And we have now received the Holy Spirit, the anticipatory present experience of the final new creation (Eph. 1:13-14). When we come to know God through Jesus Christ, we experience the firstfruits of that total restoration that Paul describes in Romans 8, Isaiah pictures, and that the Book of Revelation shows us so movingly.
Conclusion
Our television and computer screens, our billboards and newspapers, our movie theatres and magazines incessantly offer us ways of viewing the world. They present a vision of reality. But it is distorted reality; a twisted worldview and a suicidal narrative, "the path that leads to destruction."
Seeing the world through a Wesleyan lens means an expansive, audacious vision. More than a worldview, this is a way of living out God’s plan in the world and engaging in the mission of the one who said, "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you" (John 20:21).
A Wesleyan worldview means living in "eager expectation" of God’s full salvation, the time of "general restoration," the time when all things are brought to fulfillment and the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is glorified in all things forever. With that vision and expectation, we seek to "live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:10). Filled with the Spirit, we become agents of the reality we see through the gift of faith.
Dr. Howard A. Snyder serves as the Chair of Wesley Studies at Tyndale Seminary. Visit his website at wineskins.net
Church Development: Methodist Style
Much study has gone into why the Methodist Movement was so successful. Methodism is impressive not only for its rapid global expansion but also for its depth of disciple making. What follows here is a compendium of key features that many feel made the Methodist Movement unique.
APOSTOLIC URGENCY
"Scriptural Christianity, as beginning to exist in individuals; as spreading from one to another; as covering the earth." – John Wesley
Wesley saw the world as his parish. He worked in his parish with sacrificial commitment and powerful effectiveness. He demanded the same of anyone that called one’s self a Methodist. It was this sense of urgency that drove the Methodist movement into every corner of the globe. The Methodist movement was built through its passion for seeing people awakened to Christ, made whole and holy, and then withholding nothing of themselves in spreading that to others.
This Apostlic Urgency permeated all areas of the movement:
It affected the qualifications for leadership
Do they know God? –This may seem like an obvious qualification but many contemporaries of the Methodists, and movements since, have neglected this qualification to their own peril. After all there is a big difference between knowing God and knowing about God. The impossible goal of Methodism was to see the spread of the gospel from person to person, covering the earth. This is primarily a work of passion not just know-how.
Do they have the gifts and graces? – Saint Peter mentioned that possessing the Christian gifts and graces helps us avoid becoming "unproductive in our knowledge of God". Methodist leaders needed to demonstrate that their knowledge of God had fundamentally altered their character and produced a life that looked like Jesus’.
Have they fruit? – "Fruit" for Methodists meant a demonstrated capacity in spreading one’s faith to others. Movements that have neglected this qualification often produce chaplains for people who are already Christians, more often than producing single-minded kingdom builders.
It affected how Methodists defined success
"I began speaking severally to the members of the society, and was well pleased to find so great a number of them much alive to God. One consequence of this, is, that the society is larger than it has been for several years: And no wonder, for where the real power of God is, it naturally spreads wider and wider." – John Wesley
Methodists placed a high value on growth, both numerical and spiritual. The Methodists did not suffer from our modern false dichotomy between the two. Numbers were important. Spiritual depth was important. There was no separating the two in the minds of Methodists. Wesley was known to eject the spiritually lazy and stagnant members of a Society as much as he was known to intervene in Societies where numbers showed a consistent pattern of stagnation or decline.
METHODICAL TRAINING AND ACTION
True to their name, Methodists were "methodical" in their approach to training and deploying people. Their method flowed from Wesley’s theology of Salvation, Justification, and Sanctification (Outler calls this his "Ordu Salutis" or "Order of Salvation" for those of you scoring at home). The method looked something like this:
Awaken People - Most often this was accomplished through open air revival meetings. While Wesley, or one of the other evangelists was preaching, Methodists leaders would wander through the crowd to see who was affected by the message. Those who were being "awakened" were personally invited to a class meeting (a local, lay-led redemptive cell group) usually held that night or within days.
Involve Awakening People in Classes and Bands – classes and bands were focused on helping people work out an understanding of their need for God and begin their pursuit of holiness. Members in good standing and well on the way were then recommended for membership in a Society (usually within 3 months).
Teach and Train Involved People in Societies – Regional groupings of classes were called Societies. Societies focused on teaching people to expect and experience justification.
Deploy Justified People in God’s Ongoing Work of Sanctification – Sanctified people or those that have been "set apart by God" were employed in God’s work. Methodists in this group were expected to submit to leaders, give all they had, save what they needed for survival, and to put their hands to one of the many things Methodists did to improve the lives of others: creating education programs, abolition of slavery, alleviating poverty, etc…
SANCTIFIED PRAGMATISM
"I would inquire, What is the end of all ecclesiastical order? Is it not to bring souls from the power of Satan to God, and to build up in His fear and love. Order, then, is so far valuable as it answers these ends; and if it answers them not, it is worth nothing."
- John Wesley
George Hunter, in his article "John Wesley as Church Growth Strategist" identified Sanctified Pragmatism as a key feature of Methodism. While Methodists gave their energy entirely to the work of God they were also pragmatic in where that energy was spent. Here is the general shape of their decision making process, in Wesley’s own words:
Question: Where should we endeavor to preach the most?
Answer: 1} Where there is the greatest number of quiet and willing hearers.
2} Where there is most fruit....
Question: Ought we not diligently to observe in what places God is pleased at any
time to pour out his Spirit more abundantly?
Answer: We ought; and at that time to send more laborers than usual into that
part of the harvest.
Wesley would not engage in evangelistic preaching where he could not establish a class. "The devil himself desires nothing more than this, that the people of any place should be half awakened and then left to themselves to fall asleep again. Therefore, I determine by the grace of God not to strike one stroke in any place where I cannot follow the blow."
Methodist energy was spent in areas where the people were receptive; they only reaped in ripe fields. However, the concept of "prevenient grace" (the Holy Spirit ripening hearts everywhere and in everyone) meant that there were always ripe fields. Methodists need only find where God was working and then follow it up with workers.
Many books have been written on the success and genius of the Methodist Movement. What I have provided here is a brief description of some of the high points. I find them all personally challenging. If we are going to become full participants in God’s work here in Canada we must rediscover our Apostolic Urgency, Methodical Training and Action, and Sanctified Pragmatism.
Jared Siebert is the Director of Growth Ministries for The Free Methodist Church in Canada
NOTES
For further Reading on this topic may I suggest:
http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/21-25/21-02.htm
http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/31-35/31-1-09.htm
Methodism: Empire of the Spirit by David Hempton (recommended by Dan Sheffield)
APOSTOLIC URGENCY
"Scriptural Christianity, as beginning to exist in individuals; as spreading from one to another; as covering the earth." – John Wesley
Wesley saw the world as his parish. He worked in his parish with sacrificial commitment and powerful effectiveness. He demanded the same of anyone that called one’s self a Methodist. It was this sense of urgency that drove the Methodist movement into every corner of the globe. The Methodist movement was built through its passion for seeing people awakened to Christ, made whole and holy, and then withholding nothing of themselves in spreading that to others.
This Apostlic Urgency permeated all areas of the movement:
It affected the qualifications for leadership
Do they know God? –This may seem like an obvious qualification but many contemporaries of the Methodists, and movements since, have neglected this qualification to their own peril. After all there is a big difference between knowing God and knowing about God. The impossible goal of Methodism was to see the spread of the gospel from person to person, covering the earth. This is primarily a work of passion not just know-how.
Do they have the gifts and graces? – Saint Peter mentioned that possessing the Christian gifts and graces helps us avoid becoming "unproductive in our knowledge of God". Methodist leaders needed to demonstrate that their knowledge of God had fundamentally altered their character and produced a life that looked like Jesus’.
Have they fruit? – "Fruit" for Methodists meant a demonstrated capacity in spreading one’s faith to others. Movements that have neglected this qualification often produce chaplains for people who are already Christians, more often than producing single-minded kingdom builders.
It affected how Methodists defined success
"I began speaking severally to the members of the society, and was well pleased to find so great a number of them much alive to God. One consequence of this, is, that the society is larger than it has been for several years: And no wonder, for where the real power of God is, it naturally spreads wider and wider." – John Wesley
Methodists placed a high value on growth, both numerical and spiritual. The Methodists did not suffer from our modern false dichotomy between the two. Numbers were important. Spiritual depth was important. There was no separating the two in the minds of Methodists. Wesley was known to eject the spiritually lazy and stagnant members of a Society as much as he was known to intervene in Societies where numbers showed a consistent pattern of stagnation or decline.
METHODICAL TRAINING AND ACTION
True to their name, Methodists were "methodical" in their approach to training and deploying people. Their method flowed from Wesley’s theology of Salvation, Justification, and Sanctification (Outler calls this his "Ordu Salutis" or "Order of Salvation" for those of you scoring at home). The method looked something like this:
Awaken People - Most often this was accomplished through open air revival meetings. While Wesley, or one of the other evangelists was preaching, Methodists leaders would wander through the crowd to see who was affected by the message. Those who were being "awakened" were personally invited to a class meeting (a local, lay-led redemptive cell group) usually held that night or within days.
Involve Awakening People in Classes and Bands – classes and bands were focused on helping people work out an understanding of their need for God and begin their pursuit of holiness. Members in good standing and well on the way were then recommended for membership in a Society (usually within 3 months).
Teach and Train Involved People in Societies – Regional groupings of classes were called Societies. Societies focused on teaching people to expect and experience justification.
Deploy Justified People in God’s Ongoing Work of Sanctification – Sanctified people or those that have been "set apart by God" were employed in God’s work. Methodists in this group were expected to submit to leaders, give all they had, save what they needed for survival, and to put their hands to one of the many things Methodists did to improve the lives of others: creating education programs, abolition of slavery, alleviating poverty, etc…
SANCTIFIED PRAGMATISM
"I would inquire, What is the end of all ecclesiastical order? Is it not to bring souls from the power of Satan to God, and to build up in His fear and love. Order, then, is so far valuable as it answers these ends; and if it answers them not, it is worth nothing."
- John Wesley
George Hunter, in his article "John Wesley as Church Growth Strategist" identified Sanctified Pragmatism as a key feature of Methodism. While Methodists gave their energy entirely to the work of God they were also pragmatic in where that energy was spent. Here is the general shape of their decision making process, in Wesley’s own words:
Question: Where should we endeavor to preach the most?
Answer: 1} Where there is the greatest number of quiet and willing hearers.
2} Where there is most fruit....
Question: Ought we not diligently to observe in what places God is pleased at any
time to pour out his Spirit more abundantly?
Answer: We ought; and at that time to send more laborers than usual into that
part of the harvest.
Wesley would not engage in evangelistic preaching where he could not establish a class. "The devil himself desires nothing more than this, that the people of any place should be half awakened and then left to themselves to fall asleep again. Therefore, I determine by the grace of God not to strike one stroke in any place where I cannot follow the blow."
Methodist energy was spent in areas where the people were receptive; they only reaped in ripe fields. However, the concept of "prevenient grace" (the Holy Spirit ripening hearts everywhere and in everyone) meant that there were always ripe fields. Methodists need only find where God was working and then follow it up with workers.
Many books have been written on the success and genius of the Methodist Movement. What I have provided here is a brief description of some of the high points. I find them all personally challenging. If we are going to become full participants in God’s work here in Canada we must rediscover our Apostolic Urgency, Methodical Training and Action, and Sanctified Pragmatism.
Jared Siebert is the Director of Growth Ministries for The Free Methodist Church in Canada
NOTES
For further Reading on this topic may I suggest:
http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/21-25/21-02.htm
http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyan_theology/theojrnl/31-35/31-1-09.htm
Methodism: Empire of the Spirit by David Hempton (recommended by Dan Sheffield)
How much do you know about our history? Take the Quiz!
CORRECTION:
Some of the answers posted in the 2007 summer issue of the MOSAIC were incorrect. Please scroll down to view the correct answers.
[1] Where did the birthplace of Free Methodism take place?
[a] Azusa Street, Los Angeles in 1906
[b] Pekin, New York in 1860
[c] Oxford University, England in 1729
[d] Elmira, New York in 1890
[2] Who is William Willberforce?
[a] An English political figure to whom John Wesley wrote a letter on slavery just before his death
[b] A powerful Anglican who forbade John from preaching inside churches
[c] The man whom John Wesley chose as his successor
[d] The affectionate name that John gave his horse
[3] What are the Core Values of The Free Methodist Church in Canada?
[a] Community, Communion, Compassion, Creativity
[b] Pray, Give, Connect, Serve, Lead
[c] Persons, Church, Team, Connection, Integrity, Learning, Growth
[d] Worshiping, Witnessing, Generous, Global-Minded
[4] When did The Free Methodist Church in Canada become self-governing?
[a] 1987 [b] 1876 [c] 1959 [d] 1990
[5] Which of the following is NOT one of the original "Free’s"
[a] Individual Freedom (opposing slavery)
[b] Freedom for women (opposing the tradition that women should not serve as ministers)
[c] Free seats (opposing the selling or renting of pews)
[d] Freedom from oaths of secrecy (opposing the division of loyalties toward their Christian commitments)
[6] Who is George Whitefield?
[a] A preacher who convinced John Wesley to preach in the fields
[b] A government official to whom John Wesley wrote a letter on slavery just before his death
[c] An English cartoonist who drew Methodists as full of "Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism"
[d] A Moravian who influenced Wesley concerning prevenient grace
If asked, could you state the purpose, vision and mission of The Free Methodist Church in Canada?
Scroll down for the answers . . . .
Answers:
1. [b] Pekin, New York in 1860
2. [a] An English political figure to whom John Wesley wrote a letter on slavery just before his death
3. [c] Persons, Church, Team, Connection, Integrity, Learning, Growth
4. [a] 1987
5. [b] Freedom for women (opposing the tradition that women should not serve as ministers)
6. [a] A preacher who convinced John Wesley to preach in the fields
Some of the answers posted in the 2007 summer issue of the MOSAIC were incorrect. Please scroll down to view the correct answers.
[1] Where did the birthplace of Free Methodism take place?
[a] Azusa Street, Los Angeles in 1906
[b] Pekin, New York in 1860
[c] Oxford University, England in 1729
[d] Elmira, New York in 1890
[2] Who is William Willberforce?
[a] An English political figure to whom John Wesley wrote a letter on slavery just before his death
[b] A powerful Anglican who forbade John from preaching inside churches
[c] The man whom John Wesley chose as his successor
[d] The affectionate name that John gave his horse
[3] What are the Core Values of The Free Methodist Church in Canada?
[a] Community, Communion, Compassion, Creativity
[b] Pray, Give, Connect, Serve, Lead
[c] Persons, Church, Team, Connection, Integrity, Learning, Growth
[d] Worshiping, Witnessing, Generous, Global-Minded
[4] When did The Free Methodist Church in Canada become self-governing?
[a] 1987 [b] 1876 [c] 1959 [d] 1990
[5] Which of the following is NOT one of the original "Free’s"
[a] Individual Freedom (opposing slavery)
[b] Freedom for women (opposing the tradition that women should not serve as ministers)
[c] Free seats (opposing the selling or renting of pews)
[d] Freedom from oaths of secrecy (opposing the division of loyalties toward their Christian commitments)
[6] Who is George Whitefield?
[a] A preacher who convinced John Wesley to preach in the fields
[b] A government official to whom John Wesley wrote a letter on slavery just before his death
[c] An English cartoonist who drew Methodists as full of "Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism"
[d] A Moravian who influenced Wesley concerning prevenient grace
If asked, could you state the purpose, vision and mission of The Free Methodist Church in Canada?
Scroll down for the answers . . . .
Answers:
1. [b] Pekin, New York in 1860
2. [a] An English political figure to whom John Wesley wrote a letter on slavery just before his death
3. [c] Persons, Church, Team, Connection, Integrity, Learning, Growth
4. [a] 1987
5. [b] Freedom for women (opposing the tradition that women should not serve as ministers)
6. [a] A preacher who convinced John Wesley to preach in the fields
Wesley's Third Alternative
Several years ago I read Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit, by Lovett H. Weems, Jr. I have forgotten most of it, not because it wasn’t good but because I forget many good and important things. I have forgotten Administrative Assistants’ Day for the last two years even though Susan puts it in my electronic calendar every year. She’s given up on me. (This is my public confession!) It is striking that I remembered this section in Weems book for years. The idea is called "Wesley’s Third Alternative for Solutions." I picked a few excerpts to share with you:
The Concept
Tension was never an end in itself for Wesley. It resulted in large part from Wesley’s preference for "third alternative" solutions. This is a concept that I first learned from Albert Outler. He felt that Wesley utilized a way of "third alternative theologizing" that amounted to "a special method all its own." For Outler, understanding this method was "crucial for any really fruitful interpretation of Wesley as theologian." Wesley’s theology provides third alternatives to "all the barren polarities generated by centuries of polemic."
Third alternative refers to Wesley’s refusal to see competing claims as the only options. Neither was mere compromise a solution. Compromises are often weak and finally unacceptable to everyone. Compromise usually postpones the real issue. Rather the task is to create a new option. This third alternative seeks to preserve, not weaken, the key strengths. At the same time it endeavors to avoid weaknesses of the competing positions.
Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit, p. 85
I grew up liking many kinds of music, from the folk music of Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio, to the Beatles rock and roll, and on to classical, like Richard Strauss’s Tone Poem, "Death and Transfiguration." I refused to choose one style over the other, while some "purist" friends felt I was a "sell out." Elton John, however, showed it was possible to be trained at The Juilliard School of Music and create a most compelling sound for lovers of rock. It was new.
Integration, Not Compromise
…one should resist the temptation to mistake compromise for the true integration of a third alternative. The greatest deficiency of compromise is that there is no real change in one’s own thinking. Integration, on the other hand, guards against what Mill called the "deep slumber of a decided opinion." …"There is nothing so dangerous as an answer—if it is the only one you have!" One of the great advantages of integration is the personal change that takes place. We come to understand and appreciate the ideas and values of others. Partisanship, says Follett, "starves our nature." We are so intent on our own values that other values are starved out of us.
Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit, p. 87
While I was a practicing social worker it was common for colleagues to inquire of each other "what type" we were practicing. They wanted to know if your approach was family systems, narrative therapy, or solution-focused, among other. Most would respond by saying their approach was "integrated." That usually wasn’t true because integration meant you knew the theory and had practiced enough in each to know the difference. The truth was that we were more eclectic, taking bits from each pragmatically, rather than integrated. Those that were integrated had many years experience and clinical bumps and bruises to show for it.
Imagine that we had a third alternative to traditional and contemporary worship styles in our churches. Imagine if moderns and post-moderns had a third alternative to the mission of the church. We’d be looking for the new creation to emerge. It would sound silly to be just trying to "win points for our side."
Alan Retzman is the Director of Personnel for The Free Methodist Church in Canada
The Concept
Tension was never an end in itself for Wesley. It resulted in large part from Wesley’s preference for "third alternative" solutions. This is a concept that I first learned from Albert Outler. He felt that Wesley utilized a way of "third alternative theologizing" that amounted to "a special method all its own." For Outler, understanding this method was "crucial for any really fruitful interpretation of Wesley as theologian." Wesley’s theology provides third alternatives to "all the barren polarities generated by centuries of polemic."
Third alternative refers to Wesley’s refusal to see competing claims as the only options. Neither was mere compromise a solution. Compromises are often weak and finally unacceptable to everyone. Compromise usually postpones the real issue. Rather the task is to create a new option. This third alternative seeks to preserve, not weaken, the key strengths. At the same time it endeavors to avoid weaknesses of the competing positions.
Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit, p. 85
I grew up liking many kinds of music, from the folk music of Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio, to the Beatles rock and roll, and on to classical, like Richard Strauss’s Tone Poem, "Death and Transfiguration." I refused to choose one style over the other, while some "purist" friends felt I was a "sell out." Elton John, however, showed it was possible to be trained at The Juilliard School of Music and create a most compelling sound for lovers of rock. It was new.
Integration, Not Compromise
…one should resist the temptation to mistake compromise for the true integration of a third alternative. The greatest deficiency of compromise is that there is no real change in one’s own thinking. Integration, on the other hand, guards against what Mill called the "deep slumber of a decided opinion." …"There is nothing so dangerous as an answer—if it is the only one you have!" One of the great advantages of integration is the personal change that takes place. We come to understand and appreciate the ideas and values of others. Partisanship, says Follett, "starves our nature." We are so intent on our own values that other values are starved out of us.
Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit, p. 87
While I was a practicing social worker it was common for colleagues to inquire of each other "what type" we were practicing. They wanted to know if your approach was family systems, narrative therapy, or solution-focused, among other. Most would respond by saying their approach was "integrated." That usually wasn’t true because integration meant you knew the theory and had practiced enough in each to know the difference. The truth was that we were more eclectic, taking bits from each pragmatically, rather than integrated. Those that were integrated had many years experience and clinical bumps and bruises to show for it.
Finding God’s New Creation
Leaders in the Wesleyan spirit neither fear nor glamorize tension. They understand that tension is the natural arena for leadership. The task of leaders is not to resolve the tension through victory for one side or through compromise. Leaders see the tension interspersed throughout with the presence and wisdom of God, just waiting for God’s new creation to emerge. Often a third alternative becomes the "new thing" God is doing in our midst.
Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit, p. 92
Leaders in the Wesleyan spirit neither fear nor glamorize tension. They understand that tension is the natural arena for leadership. The task of leaders is not to resolve the tension through victory for one side or through compromise. Leaders see the tension interspersed throughout with the presence and wisdom of God, just waiting for God’s new creation to emerge. Often a third alternative becomes the "new thing" God is doing in our midst.
Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit, p. 92
Alan Retzman is the Director of Personnel for The Free Methodist Church in Canada
Sanctification is an ongoing process
If you were to ask me what I like most about my car, I would have to confess that it’s the horn. I love my horn and I use it all the time.
Recently, a friend and I were on our way, in my car, to have some lunch. We were chatting about a particular mentor of mine and the impact he has had on my life.
"What do you think is the most valuable lesson you have learned from him?" she asked. Without hesitating I gave her my response, "Patience. He has taught me a lot about being patient with people."
Sounds like a great conversation, doesn’t it? Well, it would have been, if not for the driver in the car directly ahead of me, who seemed to be incapable of merging into a moving lane!
So, what my friend beside me heard was . . . "Patience," immediately followed by a long horn blast [HONK!]. "He has taught me [HONK!] a lot about being patient with [HONK! HONK!] people."
The timing could not have been more perfect had it been scripted. There was about a five second pause while we both took in all that had just happened – we then started laughing [my laugh was more out of sheer embarrassment] and it lasted all the way to the restaurant.
I found this quote from John Wesley, "The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities. I exact more from myself and less from others."
When I think about this quote I’m reminded of how often the reverse seems to be working in some areas of my life - I’m very patient with my own shortcomings and intolerant when I see the faults of others. I make excuses when it comes to my own mistakes and focus on the positive things that aren’t a struggle for me. This way I won’t have to change and I can go on justifying my actions.
Sounds pretty sad, doesn’t it? That’s because it is . . . but don’t judge me too quickly though – I’m pretty sure I’m not standing alone.
Preferring one another in Christ is a choice we have to make every day. We live in a society that tells us we are deserving, that we have to fight to get ahead and, in my case, that we shouldn’t be held up by slow drivers in front of us. I have to make a conscious decision to die to self so that God’s purpose can be alive in me.
Lately my prayer has been, "Lord, help me to be as patient with others [especially while I’m driving] as I am with myself." I’ll be honest with you, it’s been really hard! Partly because we see the "spiritual" side of our lives as separate from the normal day-to-day things we do. For example, under the spiritual column we would probably list: praying, going to church, worshipping, etc. Under the "things we do" column we would find, driving, waiting in line at the grocery store, walking the dog... When in reality there are no columns! We need to view everything we do as an act of worship - it can be, if we allow it.
Change is never easy and I’m thankful for the God of infinite mercy who has chosen to be patient while I work at allowing more of His character to be developed in me. It’s a daily struggle . . . but this week I’m happy to report that I used my horn much less!
Lisa Howden
Managing Editor
Recently, a friend and I were on our way, in my car, to have some lunch. We were chatting about a particular mentor of mine and the impact he has had on my life.
"What do you think is the most valuable lesson you have learned from him?" she asked. Without hesitating I gave her my response, "Patience. He has taught me a lot about being patient with people."
Sounds like a great conversation, doesn’t it? Well, it would have been, if not for the driver in the car directly ahead of me, who seemed to be incapable of merging into a moving lane!
So, what my friend beside me heard was . . . "Patience," immediately followed by a long horn blast [HONK!]. "He has taught me [HONK!] a lot about being patient with [HONK! HONK!] people."
The timing could not have been more perfect had it been scripted. There was about a five second pause while we both took in all that had just happened – we then started laughing [my laugh was more out of sheer embarrassment] and it lasted all the way to the restaurant.
I found this quote from John Wesley, "The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities. I exact more from myself and less from others."
When I think about this quote I’m reminded of how often the reverse seems to be working in some areas of my life - I’m very patient with my own shortcomings and intolerant when I see the faults of others. I make excuses when it comes to my own mistakes and focus on the positive things that aren’t a struggle for me. This way I won’t have to change and I can go on justifying my actions.
Sounds pretty sad, doesn’t it? That’s because it is . . . but don’t judge me too quickly though – I’m pretty sure I’m not standing alone.
Preferring one another in Christ is a choice we have to make every day. We live in a society that tells us we are deserving, that we have to fight to get ahead and, in my case, that we shouldn’t be held up by slow drivers in front of us. I have to make a conscious decision to die to self so that God’s purpose can be alive in me.
Lately my prayer has been, "Lord, help me to be as patient with others [especially while I’m driving] as I am with myself." I’ll be honest with you, it’s been really hard! Partly because we see the "spiritual" side of our lives as separate from the normal day-to-day things we do. For example, under the spiritual column we would probably list: praying, going to church, worshipping, etc. Under the "things we do" column we would find, driving, waiting in line at the grocery store, walking the dog... When in reality there are no columns! We need to view everything we do as an act of worship - it can be, if we allow it.
Change is never easy and I’m thankful for the God of infinite mercy who has chosen to be patient while I work at allowing more of His character to be developed in me. It’s a daily struggle . . . but this week I’m happy to report that I used my horn much less!
Lisa Howden
Managing Editor
Common qualities of Wesleyan Cousins at their best!
Have you ever been a visitor to a gathering of somebody else’s extended family – perhaps a wedding or a funeral or maybe you just lucked out and got invited to a family reunion – and stayed with the group long enough to get a sense of what they are like as an extended family? Some families are so laid back that they live on the edge of chaos while other clans can be so uptight that they live on the edge of panic attacks. Most are somewhere else along the spectrum. Of course, you can notice that some family units within an extended family are somewhat different by the choices they make, but even so, there are always common family characteristics.
In this issue, we are talking about the worldview of our extended Wesleyan family, when it is at its best.1 When we speak of the worldview [or ethos] of our movement, in summary, we are talking about what we believe on key doctrinal issues [these are very important] in combination with the behaviour patterns we actually live out as Christ followers as a consequence of what we believe. [James would say that the latter are even more important.]
So if we fellowship in the circles of people who have a healthy Wesleyan worldview, what will we see, hear and sense? Foundationally, we will find orthodox Christians who are uncompromising on the key truths of the Christian faith as enunciated by the historic creeds but catholic in spirit, meaning that they live out their convictions in gracious humility. In fellowship with other Christians, the attitude is: "in essentials we have unity, in nonessentials we have liberty, and in all things we have charity [old English for love].2"
If we press a little further, we will find that Wesleyans treasure the important recoveries of the Protestant reformation - sola fide [that is, we are saved by grace through faith alone] and sola scriptura [i.e. scripture is the primary authority for what we believe and how we live].
If it takes its cues from the foundational truths of the primacy of the scripture and of salvation by grace, it is not surprising that healthy Wesleyans insist on four emphases:
1] All people must be saved. [We are evangelicals.]
2] All people may be saved. [We believe in a universal atonement.]
3] All people may know that they are saved. [We believe in the witness of the Spirit.]
4] All people may be saved fully. [We believe in a deeper work of sanctifying grace in which the Holy Spirit renews us after the likeness of God, changing us through crises and process from one degree of glory to another and conforming us to the image of Christ.]3
In a healthy Wesleyan worldview, the wonderful reality of God’s gracious work is seen through and through. The reality of grace is undivided: it is the outpouring of the love of God in Christ Jesus through the gift of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. But this same grace can be seen from different angles, depending on the results that it produces in persons at different stages of their response to that grace, and depending on the different situations in which that grace can be experienced. In every part of grace’s effect on us, God provides the gift with which we might cooperate, but against which we might tragically resist. A Wesleyan worldview speaks of the following dimensions of grace:
Prevenient grace – God at work to offer our will the restored capacity to respond to grace;
Convicting grace – God at work, drawing us to himself;
Justifying grace – restoring us in our relationship with God and releasing us from the guilt of sin;
Sanctifying grace – see my comments above in [4];
Glorifying grace – the grace to enter into the presence of God after this life and become fully like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Thomas Oden talks about another dimension of a Wesleyan worldview which I believe we are seeing first signs of recovering in our movement. He talks about "eschatological responsibility" in which we are "called to understand our present ecological accountability within creation as a final accountability to which we will be called on the last day."4
In other words, healthy Wesleyans think about ecology and justice and poverty as concerns that are always important to the Lord of all creation to whom we will ultimately be accountable on judgment day. They welcome the current attention that is being given to these issues and earnestly hope that they will be more than just passing fads.
So these are themes that flow in a healthy Wesleyan worldview. Obviously, they are shared generally with the wider Christian family, but you’ll notice that there are combinations of perspective and emphasis that make the Wesleyan family what it is in its ethos.
So, if this is what healthy Wesleyans fundamentally believe, and if faith and works [or talk and walk, or theology and practice] are always to be integrated into a healthy relationship with each other, what attitudinal and behavioral patterns should one see in the movement? The implications are profound and far reaching. I‘ll mention these and you can read more in the positional papers section of the FMCiC website at: www.fmc-canada.org/who/positional_papers.html [and specifically: www.fmc-canada.org/who/papers/The-Elements-of-a-Methodist-Ethos.pdf ].
• Catholicity of spirit speaks to grace filled relationships within and beyond the movement.
• A respect for the historic faith coupled with an openness to the gracious movement of the Holy
Spirit fosters "both and" approaches in congregational life – particularly in corporate worship.
• If all people need to be saved, godly grace says that all people need to hear the good news.
• If the Holy Scriptures are the primary authority for what Wesleyans believe and how they live, its message calls people to be wholesome and Christlike.
• An understanding of true eschatological responsibility speaks to how we use and share the earth’s resources.
In case you are wondering, I’m an enthusiastic Wesleyan. I am first of all a devoted follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I love how Wesleyans view life!
Rev. Keith Elford is Bishop of The Free Methodist Church in Canada
1 Several years ago, the Study Commission on Doctrine developed a document to define the elements of a Methodist ethos. The resulting work is on the FMCIC website [www.fmc-canada.org ] in the "Who We Are" section and I draw heavily from it in several places in this article.
2 A statement first attributed to St. Augustine
3 Taken from the new FM statement on sanctification
4 John Wesley’s Scriptural Christianity by Thomas Oden (Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), p.130
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