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Andrew C. Thompson

Category Archives: Wesleyan Theology

Creeds, John Wesley, and the Christian Faith: Follow-up to a Recent Post

13 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by admin in Creeds, Doctrine & Theology, John Wesley, United Methodist Church, Wesleyan Theology

≈ 6 Comments

Of all the topics least likely to go viral online, I’d think that analyzing the degree to which the Christian creeds were significant to John Wesley’s theology would rank pretty high. But surprisingly, that seems to have happened over the past few days. Well, maybe ‘go viral’ is a bit of an overstatement. Still, it’s been pretty popular. I take that as a sign of hope for the church!

For anyone who would find it helpful, I have listed a rundown of some blog posts on John Wesley and the creeds below. Some are new, while others go back aways. As I become aware of others, I’ll update the list. (Feel free to send me links to such posts or leave them in the comments section below.)

Posts on John Wesley and the Christian Creeds:

  1. “Was Wesley’s Faith a Creedal Faith?” by David F. Watson at Musings and Whatnot
  2. “John and Charles Wesley Lived by the Creeds” by Joel L. Watts at Unsettled Christianity
  3. “John Wesley, Americans, and Sectual Experimentation” by Joel L. Watts at Unsettled Christianity
  4. “John Wesley, the Trinity, and the Creeds” by Andrew C. Thompson at AndrewThompson.com
  5. “John Wesley’s Creed” by Drew McIntyre at Uniting Grace
  6. “John Wesley on the Creeds” by Kevin M. Watson at Vital Piety

Posts on the Role of the Creed in Wesleyan Spirituality:

  1. “Creedal Faith” by David F. Watson and William J. Abraham at Ministry Matters
  2. “Creeds, Orthodoxy, and What is Required of United Methodists” by Stephen Rankin of Rankin File

Posts on the Place of the Creeds in the United Methodist Church:

  1. “The Ancient Creedal Faith” by Daniel McClain Hixon at United Methodist Resources
  2. “The Revolutionary Nicene Creed” by Taylor Burton-Edwards at United Methodist Worship
  3. “Jesus Christ in United Methodist Doctrine: Exploring the Biblical and Creedal Basis” by Kenneth Loyer at United Methodist Scholars for Christian Orthodoxy
  4. “In the UMC, the Creed Supercedes John Wesley” by Joel L. Watts at Unsettled Christianity

There is some topical overlap within each individual essay, of course. I’ve listed each of them under the topic that seems to fit best on the whole. This is a list that more than doubled in length within a couple of days of my original publication of this post. So I’ll keep adding new entires as I become aware of them. Please feel free to send me links to blog posts or online essays that you know about but which don’t appear on the list at present.

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John Wesley, the Trinity, and the Creeds

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by admin in Creeds, Doctrine & Theology, John Wesley, Wesleyan Theology

≈ 13 Comments

John Wesley

John Wesley

How Trinitarian was John Wesley? What was his view of the Creeds?

Sometimes you set your pen down and forget to take it up again. I did that a couple of years ago when I was digging into John Wesley and the Christian creeds. Fortunately, this excellent post by David Watson served as a reminder. Watson asks the question, “Was Wesley’s faith a creedal faith?” It’s a good question, given the confusion that exists over whether such aspects of Christian orthodoxy as the Trinity, the creeds, and even classical Christian doctrine were important to his teaching and ministry.

Why do I say there is confusion over such things? The reason is that Wesley is often quoted (or even mis-quoted) out of context. People who know just enough about Wesley to have heard such phrases as “Catholic Spirit” or “If your heart is as my heart, give me your hand” or “think and let think” will often use such snippets as a way to underwrite their view of what a pluralistic theology should look like.

While I’m not sure whether this particular church bothered to look into the Wesleyan tradition before formulating what they call their “philosophy of ministry,” I do find it fascinating that a congregation of the United Methodist Church could ever get to the point of offering this description of God: “We believe that God is the ‘force’ that constantly goes before us…leading us through all ‘wilderness’ experiences into the promise of what we were created to be. We strive to be open to God’s surprises as we explore new expressions of sacred scripture as they are revealed to us through the Bible, through others, and through our sacred Earth (trees, animals, plants and rocks).” [1] Yet, there it is. It is a statement utterly at odds with our Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith. And yes, it is also at odds with Wesley’s own theological views.

John Wesley and the Doctrine of the Trinity

In an important essay entitled, “Wesley’s Trinitarian Hermeneutics,” Geoffrey Wainwright argues that Wesley’s thought was so deeply Trinitarian that he interpreted all of Scripture through a Trinitarian theological lens. Drawing on Wesley’s prayers, biblical commentaries, and sermons, Wainwright contends that “Wesley was thoroughly trinitarian in his understanding of the composition of the Scriptures, in his ways of proceeding with the Scriptures, and in his reading of the content of the Scriptures” [2]. While yes, it is true that Wesley once said he “dare not insist upon anyone’s using the word ‘Trinity'” since the term is not in the Bible itself, he also believed that the divine reality to which the term points is, in fact, the truth about who God is. [3] He contends in his sermon, “On the Trinity,” that the revelation of the Triune God “enters into the very heart of Christianity” and “lies at the root of all vital religion.” When we come to know God through true faith, the God whom we know is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for indeed, “the knowledge of the Three-One God is interwoven with all true Christian faith, with all vital religion.” [4]logo_trinity-books copy

Elsewhere, Wesley actually puts the very possibility of salvation in a distinctly Trinitarian framework when he elaborates upon his view of prevenient grace. Salvation in the life of the believer, Wesley argues in “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” must be considered as originating not at the point of new birth but rather with God’s prior activity upon the soul. We speak of such divine work as prevenient grace, which includes “all the ‘drawings’ of ‘the Father’, the desires after God, which, if we yield to them, increase more and more; all that ‘light’ wherewith the Son of God ‘enlighteneth everyone that cometh into the world’, showing every man ‘to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God’; all the convictions which his Spirit from time to time works in every children of man.” [5] This passage is significant for how a practical theologian like Wesley thought about the Trinity — namely, that the Triune nature of God becomes most real to us not through the conceptual formulations of academic theology (important though those may be), but rather as we come to know God through the present salvation that God gives to us through grace.

Wesley’s “Creedal Faith” and the Place of the Creeds in Methodist Worship

If Wesley’s commitment to the Trinitarian view of God is occasionally suspected by eager revisionists in our day, then skepticism about the role and function of the creeds is on a whole other level. Here, at least on the surface, that skepticism has a bit more warrant. For example, Wesley once stated that early on the Oxford Methodists were tenaciously orthodox, “firmly believing not only the three creeds, but whatsoever they judged to be the doctrine of the Church of England, as contained in her Articles and Homilies.” [6] The “three creeds” here would be the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian — which are affirmed together in Article 8 of the 39 Articles of Religion. [7] Yet later in his life, Wesley became uncomfortable with the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed, which have no parallel in the other two creeds. The Athanasian Creed asserts that it is laying forth the “Catholick Faith,” and says, “Which Faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.” The creed goes on, following the description of the divine persons, to state, “He therefore, that will be saved: must thus think of the Trinity.” [8]

So why the shift in Wesley’s creedal view — at least as it pertains to the Creed of St. Athanasius? It isn’t that Wesley disliked the Athanasian Creed on the whole. On the contrary, he thought its positive description of the nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit represents a strong theological account of the doctrine of God. In the same place where he says that he does not believe those who do not subscribe to the creed will be damned, he notes that the “explication” of the Trinity in the Athanasian Creed is “the best I ever saw.” [9] What he did not like about the creed is its seeming assertions that those who do not think the right things about the Trinity will be condemned to Hell for their errors in thought.

To subscribe to such a view, for Wesley, would mean that faith at its heart is about intellectual assent. Taken to an extreme, it might mean that only trained theologians could be saved! Such a view is preposterous to Wesley, because he contends that faith is “not barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head” but rather a “disposition of the heart.” [10] We experience present salvation most fully through the transformation of our affections, the quickening of our spiritual senses, and the inculcation of inward holiness. In other words, the way to think about the place of Trinitarian faith is not so much in a sterile assent to the words of the Athanasian Creed but rather akin to the description of the work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as Wesley gives it in the passage from “The Scripture Way of Salvation” above: it is about being drawn close by the Father, enlightened with holy love by the Son, and convicted each day by the presence of the Spirit.

Does this mean that the Christian faith can’t be described creedally, or that the creeds should not be used as corporate confessions in worship? At times, some later Methodists have pushed in this direction for three reasons: first, because of Wesley’s critical comments on the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed; second, because he deleted Article 8 from the Articles of Religion when he prepared a revised version of the Articles to send to the American Methodists in 1784 as they prepared to establish a separate church; and third, because Wesley’s Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America (also sent in 1784) removes the Nicene Creed from its place in the Eucharistic liturgy. [11]

I actually think there are reasonable explanations for all three of these points. I’ll offer my point of view on them below, but first I want to highlight an often overlooked example of Wesley’s creedal faith, which comes in an important text where he was attempting to explain the broad areas of agreement between Protestant and Catholic views. That document is Wesley’s Letter to a Roman Catholic, and he wrote it in 1749 in the hopes that Roman Catholics in Ireland (where the Methodists were beginning to operate) would read it.

Here’s how Wesley describes the foundational beliefs of Protestant Christians in the Letter to a Roman Catholic :A Letter to a Roman Catholic by John Wesley

I am assured that there is an infinite and independent Being, and that it is impossible there should be more than one; so I believe, that this One God is the Father of all things, especially of angels and men; that he is in a peculiar manner the Father of those whom he regenerates by his Spirit, whom he adopts in his Son, as co-heirs with him, and crowns with an eternal inheritance; but it is still higher sense the Father of his only Son, whom he hath begotten from eternity.

I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Saviour of the world, the Messiah so long foretold; that, being anointed with the Holy Ghost, he was a Prophet, revealing to us the whole will God; that he was a Priest, who gave himself a sacrifice for sin, and still makes intercession for transgressors; that he is a King, who has all power in heaven and in earth, and will reign till he has subdued all things to himself.

I believe that he is the proper, natural Son of God, God of God, very God of very God; and that he is the Lord of all, having absolute, supreme, universal dominion over all things; but more peculiarly our Lord, who believe in him, both by conquest, purchase, and voluntary obligation.

I believe that he was made man, joining the human nature with the divine in one person; being conceived by the singular operation of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as well after as before she brought him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin.

I believe he suffered inexpressible pains both of body and soul, and at last death, even the death of the cross, at the time that Pontius Pilate governed Judea, under the Roman Emperor; that his body was then laid in the grave, and his soul went to the place of separate spirits; the third day he rose again from the dead; that he ascended into heaven; where he remains in the midst of the throne of God, and the highest power and glory, as mediator to the end of the world, has God to all eternity; that, in the end he will come down from heaven, to judge every man according to his works; both those who shall be then alive, and all who have died before that day.

I believe in the infinite and eternal Spirit of God, equal with the Father and the Son, to be not only perfectly holy in himself, but the immediate cause of all holiness in us; enlightening our understandings, rectifying our wills and affections, renewing our natures, uniting our persons to Christ, assuring us of the adoption of sons, leading us in our actions; purifying and sanctifying our souls and bodies, to a full and eternal enjoyment of God. [12]

Most remarkable to me about these paragraphs is that, in a context where the need to express himself in just the right way was at a premium (i.e., an ecumenical treatise), Wesley resorts to a creedal form of writing. He is attempting to represent to a Roman Catholic audience all that “a true Protestant believes” (to use his own words). And he does so through a version of the creed. That tells us something about whether Wesley held what we might call a creedal faith. In short, he did.

To conclude, I want to offer a few notes about the three points of controversy surrounding Wesley’s valuation of the creeds as proper for Christian worship which I listed above:

1) On Wesley’s critical comments on the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed: I’ve actually covered this above, so I won’t repeat myself here. Suffice it to say that Wesley did not believe salvation consisted in right thinking so much as a right heart.

2) On Wesley’s deletion of Article 8 from the 24 Articles of Religion he prepared for the American Methodists: There are really three possibilities here. The first is that his ambivalence about the Creed of St. Athanasius was so great that he simply removed the entire article during his revisions. (This might particularly be the case given that Article 8 states that all three creeds “may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.” He certainly believed the positive clauses about the three persons of the Trinity were Scriptural, but the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian creed he believed were not.). A second possibility is that he saw Article 8 on the creeds as redundant — a possibility which may have some weight to it if he thought the purpose of the Article was to affirm faith in the Trinity. After all, Article 1 already affirms that faith, and Articles 2-4 (in the Methodist revision) speak to the doctrines of Christology and Pneumatology. Finally, a third possibility is one mentioned by Paul Blankenship in one of the few academic essays ever published on the Wesleyan revisions to the Articles of Religion, namely, that one factor in his editorial work was an attempt to fit the new situation in America. Blankenship’s suggestion is that, “The omission of Article VIII may have been in line with Wesley’s announced intention to leave the American Methodists free ‘simply to follow the Scriptures and the Primitive Church.'” [13] That is, Wesley knew that the Americans were not going to be worshiping in as formal a style as was typical in the parish church setting in England. He counted on that, because he knew what Methodist preaching services and prayer meetings typically looked like. He therefore constructed the Sunday Service to attempt to retain a liturgical form but with less structure and complexity. By omitting the Article on the creeds, he would have been bringing consistency to what would be reflected in the liturgies of the Sunday Service — which brings us to the final note…

3) On Wesley’s Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America removing the Nicene Creed from its original place in Book of Common Prayer’s Eucharistic liturgy: The first thing to mention here is that Wesley did retain the Apostles’ Creed in the Morning and Evening Prayer liturgies. [14] He also retained the Apostles’ Creed in question-and-answer form in the Baptismal liturgy. [15] So it isn’t the case that he thought the creeds were improper or not useful in worship settings. The question rather is about which creed and, possibly, in which settings. The creed he removes from its normal liturgical placement in the Book of Common Prayer is the Nicene Creed, which is situated between the collect and the homily. So why would he do that? It might be that Wesley thought the Nicene Creed was too long, and lacking in the kind of rhythm to which the Apostles’ Creed lends itself when spoken aloud and in unison. But if that were the case, why wouldn’t he just substitute the Apostles’ for the Nicene and thus retain a place for a creedal declaration in the liturgy? Since he did not offer a reason, it is difficult to know. It should be noted that Wesley retains other Trinitarian elements to the Eucharistic service, such as the opening collect, the prayer of thanksgiving following the distribution of the elements, and the pastoral benediction at the end of the service. (He also retains a prefatory prayer to the Great Thanksgiving, which is to be prayed on the Feast of the Holy Trinity.) So it might be the case that he simply removed the creed as he removed other elements of the liturgy from the BCP, to make the service shorter (a move that would have lent greater weight to the sermon itself, the centrality of which was clearly part of typical Methodist worship). Finally, it is possible that the removal of the creed was one way to accentuate the way in which the Lord’s Supper could serve as a converting ordinance, through which people could be brought to a living faith in God. In that line of thinking, the creed could serve as a barrier because it would suggest that those who come forward for Holy Communion already have a fully formed faith in the Triune God, rather than simply a sense of unworthiness and a desire to know God. While it is regrettable that Wesley’s deletion of Article 8 and his removal of the Nicene Creed from the Eucharistic liturgy had the effect of diminishing the place of the Nicene Creed from American Methodism generally, I am not at all convinced that that was his intention. I also think that his retention of the Apostles’ Creed in a number of places in the Sunday Service is plenty of evidence in favor of Wesley’s positive valuation of creedal confessions in the midst of Christian worship.

If you’ve gotten this far in this little essay, it’s likely that you have an opinion on all of this as well. Want to share it? Feel free to leave a comment below.

*See this follow-up post for a list of online essays and blog posts that focus on the Creeds in John Wesley’s theology, Wesleyan spirituality and the contemporary United Methodist Church.


Notes

[1] Statement on Philosophy of Ministry, St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church (Tucson, AZ). URL: http://www.stfrancisumc.org/who-we-are.html (accessed April 10, 2015).

[2] Geoffrey Wainwright, “Wesley’s Trinitarian Hermeneutics,” Wesleyan Theological Journal 36:1 (Spring 2001): 9.

[3] Wesley, “On the Trinity,” ¶4, in vol. 2 of the Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976—), 377-378. This edition of Wesley’s works is hereafter cited as Works.

[4] Wesley, “On the Trinity,” ¶17, in Works 2:384-385.

[5] Wesley, “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” ¶I.2, in Works 2:156-157.

[6] Wesley, “On Laying the Foundation of the New Chapel,” ¶I.3, in Works 3:582.

[7] In the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer, Article 8 reads, “The three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture. See Brian Cummings, ed., The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 676.

[8] See Cummings, ed., The Book of Common Prayer, 257-258.

[9] Wesley, “On the Trinity,” ¶3, in Works 3:377. It was well known in Wesley’s day that St. Athanasius did not actually write the Athanasian Creed, and Wesley was aware of it himself. He refers to the creed as “the creed commonly ascribed to Athanasius” in this same paragraph of the sermon. See also ibid., n.10, for the editorial comment on this same issue.

[10] Wesley, “Salvation by Faith,” ¶I.4, in Works 1:120.

[11] On Wesley’s omission of Article 8 from the revised Methodist Articles of Religion, see Nolan B. Harmon and John W. Bardsley, “John Wesley and the Articles of Religion,” Religion in Life 22:2 (March 1953): 280-291. For the original text of the Sunday Service, see James F. White, ed., John Wesley’s Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America (Nashville: UMPH, 1984).

[12] Wesley, “A Letter to a Roman Catholic,” ¶¶6-8, in vol.10 of the Works of John Wesley, edited by Thomas Jackson, reprint edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958), 81-82.

[13] Paul F. Blankenship, “The Significance of John Wesley’s Abridgement of the Thirty-Nine Articles as seen from his Deletions,” Methodist History 2:3 (April 1964): 43.

[14] White, ed., Sunday Service, 12 and 18.

[15] White, ed., Sunday Service, 146-147.

Wesleyan Practices of Evangelism

05 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by admin in Evangelism & Mission, Local Church Ministry, Methodist House, United Methodist Church, Wesleyan Theology

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Here’s what we’ve got coming up with the Methodist House of Studies. I’m excited about the possibilities that these conversations could hold for how we are engaging in Wesleyan ministry in the Memphis Conference of the UMC:

Wesleyan Practices of Evangelism Flyer


 

Wesleyan Accent: The Virtue of Pastoral Leadership

30 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by admin in Leadership, Wesleyan Accent, Wesleyan Theology, Wesleyan Tradition

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I returned recently from a trip to the beautiful hill country of north Alabama. While there I spent a day in conversation with Methodist clergy from there about leadership in the church.

The questions we were grappling with are important for the future of any church in the Methodist family: What does Wesleyan Pastoral Leadership look like? Is there even such a thing? I think we can identify a leadership approach that is distinctively Wesleyan, even if not uniquely so. Click here to continue reading…

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Wesleyan AccentWesleyan Accent provides free and subscription resources for Christian spiritual formation, catechesis, and discipleship in the Wesleyan way. By clearly articulating the Wesleyan understanding of Christian faith, WA seeks to strengthen discipleship, empower mission and evangelism, cultivate ministry gifts of young leaders, and nurture the professional and service life of young theologians.

Andrew C. Thompson joined the writing team of WA upon its launch in the Fall of 2013. For the full catalog of his articles on the WA site, click here.

Evangelism and Discipleship: A Wesleyan Connection

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by admin in Discipleship, Evangelism & Mission, John Wesley, Means of Grace, Seedbed, Seven Minute Seminary, Wesleyan Theology, Wesleyan Tradition

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One of the more interesting developments in Wesleyan theological education over the past few years has been the advent of Seedbed’s Seven Minute Seminary video series. The series features prominent Wesleyan scholars and pastors speaking on a wide range of topics related to the Bible, theology, and ministry. Here’s the Seven Minute Seminary launch announcement by Seedbed’s Chief Sower J.D. Walt.

I got to record my first Seven Minute Seminary teaching video awhile back. My topic in the video is the connection between evangelism and discipleship in Wesleyan practice. Here’s how it turned out:

For my other Seven Minute Seminary teaching presentations, go to this link.


 

Pastoral leadership in a Wesleyan framework

16 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by admin in Christianity & Culture, John Wesley, Leadership, Local Church Ministry, Wesleyan Theology

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How should we think about leadership in a Christian context? Given the popularity of leadership as a topic in print and online media, it is something work thinking about. Is Christian leadership any different than leadership in general? For those of us in the Wesleyan tradition, is there a particularly Wesleyan form of leadership?

Here are four approaches to leadership that are common in our culture:

1. Natural genius — the “born leader”
2. Bureaucratic manager — the “cog in the wheel”
3. Master of effective techniques — the “guru”
4. Leader of noble character — the “master craftsman”

No approach to leadership is perfect, but some can be viewed as better than others in a given context. The first approach — which is a charismatic leadership model — is great if you were born with natural charisma. The problem is that such a thing can really be taught. The second model worked well in the mid-twentieth century (the heyday of big institutions) but is seen as distasteful by most people today.

Probably the most common leadership approach is the third one — which we might call the entrepreneurial model. You see this a lot in the realm of business and finance. It is concerned with a leader having the right kind of skill set to apply to a given task (and by extension to the persons the leader is leading).

The only problem with the third model is that a leader can be talented without being good. You could be the CEO of a multinational corporation, the head coach of an NFL football team, or the mayor of a large city and have a fantastic skill set for the job in each instance. Yet you could also be positively wicked, carrying out your job in Machiavellian and fashion. It might work in business or politics (although even there people can get fed up with it) but it isn’t going to work in a Christian setting where the heart of a person is seen as truly important (and often a marker of the authenticity of that person’s faith).

I think the best conception of pastoral leadership in a Wesleyan framework is the fourth model: the approach to leadership that is grounded in the right kind of character. This is a virtue-based approach to leadership, where the leader is seen as needing to have the right sort of formation in order to lead well. In fact, I think this kind of approach fits best with any conception of Christian leadership — in the church, business, education, politics, or non-profit work.

If you read the New Testament epistles that are focused on pastoral leadership — e.g., 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 1 and 2 Peter — you find that they are very concerned with qualities of character in church leaders such as faith, humility, and gentleness. John Wesley embraced this biblical concept of good leadership, both in his own person and in every level of Methodist leadership under him. He believed that the fruits of the Spirit would be borne out in persons whose lives were being transformed by grace and that these were the same persons who could be entrusted to guide others.

In the sermon, “The Circumcision of the Heart” (1733), Wesley focuses on the formation of the virtues of humility, faith, hope, and love as markers of a Christian’s growth in grace. He sees these virtues in progressive fashion, as building upon one another as the believer is transformed by grace. It is a wonderful example of a particularly Wesleyan appropriation of the virtue tradition. And while that particular sermon is a meditation on sanctification in general, I think it can be read with profit for those who want to think about the intersection of faith and leadership.

The cultivation of the virtues is never easy, but neither is leadership itself. For those who want to respond to the call to serve as Christian leaders, dedicating themselves to formation in virtue is an absolute necessity. There are no shortcuts to mature, authentic discipleship.



UMCNA
Note:
Part of this post is drawn from a presentation I did at a Residency-in-Ministry retreat in the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church earlier this week. My thanks to the Board of Ordained Ministry in that annual conference for the invitation and the opportunity to work with the conference’s provisional elders & deacons. We had a great day together at Camp Sumatanga near Gallant, AL.

Methodist House: Courses in Wesleyan Studies

20 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by admin in Church History, Doctrine & Theology, Means of Grace, Memphis Theological Seminary, Methodist House, Theological Education, Wesleyan Theology

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Spring 2015 Courses in Wesleyan Studies_Methodist House at MTS

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One of the ways that the Methodist House of Studies is expanding its work at MTS is through expanded course offerings in the area of Wesleyan Studies. I’m excited to be able to announce the following four courses on our Spring 2015 course schedule. (If you would like to inquire about enrolling or auditing courses at the seminary, find the contact information here.)

Here’s what we’ve got on tap for the upcoming semester:

Women in Methodist History  |  Dr. Andrew Thompson
Mondays, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Encounter the historic role of women’s leadership in Methodism. This course surveys the history of women in Methodism from the time of the late 18th century to the late 20th century. It will examine the role of women’s leadership in the Methodist and Wesleyan movement—from Mary Bosanquet Fletcher to Jarena Lee, and from Amanda Berry Smith to Mildred Bangs Wynkoop. The course focuses on themes of women’s leadership, the challenge of women responding to calls in ministry, the role of spiritual autobiography, and the contribution of women to the vitality of the Wesleyan tradition.

The Prophetic Rhetoric of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner  |  Dr. Andre Johnson
Mondays, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Engage the remarkable life, career, and prophetic rhetoric of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner (1834-1915) of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Turner was one of the most dynamic, influential, and eloquent African American church leaders of the post-Civil War period—yet today he is largely forgotten. This course highlights his historical importance and rhetorical power. By engaging in a careful reading of Turner’s writings and speeches, students in this class are able to examine the theoretical, methodical, and practical applications that make up Bishop Turner’s discourses.

American Methodism: History, Doctrine, & Polity  |  Dr. Andrew Thompson
Tuesdays, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Prepare for ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church through an immersion in the history, doctrine, and polity of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America (MEC) and its successors from the time of its founding in 1784. This course follows the ecclesiastical line that leads to the United Methodist Church at the time of its formation in 1968. It is designed to fulfill the second half of the ordination requirements for history, doctrine, and polity as outlined in the United Methodist Book of Discipline (¶324.4, ¶330.3, & ¶335).

The Means of Grace in Wesleyan Theology  |  Dr. Andrew Thompson
Wednesdays, 8:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Come and explore the theology of the means of grace in the Wesleyan tradition. As the “sacramental grammar” of Wesleyan theology, the means of grace are at the heart of the doctrine of sanctification and the practice of discipleship. This course engages both primary sources (from John and Charles Wesley) as well as secondary sources (from contemporary scholars). Half the course focuses on a study of the sacraments (i.e., Baptism and Holy Communion) and the other half considers the other means of grace in the categories of “instituted,” “prudential,” and “general.” Attention is also given to the practical implications of the means of grace for Christian ministry.

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Certificate in Wesleyan Studies

08 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by admin in Memphis Theological Seminary, Methodist House, Theological Education, United Methodist Church, Wesleyan Theology

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John Wesley Seal (1)_vectorizedlargetransparentWe’re offering a Certificate in Wesleyan Studies to students in our master’s-level degree programs here at Memphis Theological Seminary. The certificate program was approved by the MTS faculty last spring, and it is now available to students as of this academic year.

I’m really excited about this new development. I see the Certificate in Wesleyan Studies as the centerpiece of the new Methodist House of Studies here at MTS. Let me tell you about it…

What’s the purpose of the Certificate in Wesleyan Studies? It is really two-fold. First, the certificate program will give students the ability to focus a certain number of hours in their elective coursework around courses grounded in the study of the Wesleyan tradition. The courses that already exist offer a diverse range of subject areas: theology, church history, pastoral care, evangelism, rhetoric & religion, denominational studies, and leadership studies. Future courses are in the planning stages that will broaden that range into both preaching and spiritual formation. By taking advantage of these offerings, students can immerse themselves in a level of Wesleyan theological formation that we believe is unique.

The second purpose of the new certificate program is to demonstrate to church judicatory bodies that the Methodist House at MTS is serious about Wesleyan formation for pastoral ministry. Take my own church as an example: the United Methodist Church. We want our United Methodist graduates to be able to go before their Boards of Ordained Ministry with an M.Div degree under one arm and a Certificate in Wesleyan Studies under the other. We want bishops and annual conferences to know that they can send their students to MTS with the knowledge that they’ll be able to take advantage of innovative coursework designed to bring theory and practice together—all in a distinctly Wesleyan accent.

It is true that the requirements for the Certificate in Wesleyan Studies are not particularly easy to attain. Earning the certificate requires 15 hours of coursework in approved courses, in addition to active participation in the Methodist House of Studies during one’s student career here. We allow no transfer hours—all of the courses that apply for the certificate must be earned here at MTS. In our research about certificate programs during the development stage last year, we found that almost no certificates require more than 15 hours save those that are intended to result in some type of professional certification. In other words, we’ve set the bar high on what a student will have to accomplish to graduate with the certificate. But here’s the truth of the matter: That’s exactly how we want it.

We want the Certificate in Wesleyan Studies to really mean something, and we want our graduates who earn it to know that as well.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I believe Memphis Theological Seminary will be offering a wider range of coursework in Wesleyan Studies than any seminary in the United States within two years. We have a critical mass of faculty here who believe that the kind of traditioned approach to theological education that the Methodist House of Studies is advancing is crucial to how we will be going about forming men and women for ministry in the future.

We want to be on the leading edge of those changes.

And you know what? There are plenty of people out there who are considering seminary and wrestling with God’s call right now. If you are one of those people, I hope you’ll join us.

 


 

Wesleyan Accent: Discipleship in the Wesleyan Way

25 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by admin in Christianity & Culture, Discipleship, John Wesley, Sanctification/Holiness, Spiritual Formation, Wesleyan Accent, Wesleyan Theology

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The church today puts a lot of focus on the need to make disciples of Jesus Christ. But do we take seriously what that work requires of us?

I’m not so sure. I am very sure, on the other hand, that we’re living in a culture that does us no favors when we even begin to approach the work of disciple-making.

Think about it. In the West, we live in a world where most things we want are within reach. We’re not good at delayed gratification. We think we have a right to gratify every felt need we have. We don’t like to suffer.

Discipline isn’t easy. That’s particularly the case when we’re talking about a discipline beyond what it takes to make it to work on time, get through the day, keep the kids fed, and pay the mortgage.

So what about the discipline required to become a disciple? Click here to continue reading…

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Wesleyan Accent

Wesleyan Accent provides free and subscription resources for Christian spiritual formation, catechesis, and discipleship in the Wesleyan way. By clearly articulating the Wesleyan understanding of Christian faith, WA seeks to strengthen discipleship, empower mission and evangelism, cultivate ministry gifts of young leaders, and nurture the professional and service life of young theologians.

Andrew C. Thompson joined the writing team of WA upon its launch in the Fall of 2013. For the full catalog of his articles on the WA site, click here.

Holy Conferencing: A Means of Grace

21 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by admin in Discipleship, John Wesley, Means of Grace, Sanctification/Holiness, Wesleyan Theology, Wesleyan Tradition

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John Wesley considered some of the means of grace to be formally established by Jesus Christ in the gospels. One of those is the means of grace he called “Christian conference” at some points and “Christian fellowship” at others.

These terms take some explaining, because Wesley used them in technical ways that would not be apparent to us at first glance.

Conference does refer to the formal body of the annual conference for Wesley. But it is also the term that describes any activity where Christians “confer” in a self-conscious way about important matters of faith. So it has a broader meaning than we might ascribe to it in our own usage.

Fellowship, on the other hand, has a narrower use in Wesley’s view than it does with us. We use that term very loosely, but Wesley only uses it when he thinks something spiritually significant is going on amongst Christian believers who are gathered together in community—again, to confer with one another about their faith.

From John Wesley's Instructions for Children

Lesson from John Wesley’s Instructions for Children

In recent years, the term holy conferencing has emerged as a contemporary term that describes the Wesleyan original. Emily Snell wrote about this topic in Interpreter Magazine just recently, in fact.

The video above was produced by the Arkansas Conference of the UMC recently as a teaching session on Christian conference. In it, I share the Wesleyan background on holy conferencing and offer some guidance about how it can be utilized in congregations and small groups today.

I hope this video can be useful as a resource for pastors and congregations—not just in the Arkansas Conference, but anywhere that groups of Christians have reason to gather in serious conversation and discernment about their faith and discipleship.


See also: Wesley (and Watson) on Christian Conference

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