Wesleyan Spirituality Workshop

This Saturday, September 29th, McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church is having a workshop called “Pathways of Faith: Practical Methods for Putting on the Mind of Christ.” The workshop will be held from 8:30-4:00 on Saturday. I will be giving the keynote address on Wesleyan Spirituality. I am excited to have the opportunity to explore the unique contribution that Wesleyan thought has to make to the church. I was also a member of McFarlin when I was in college at OU, so I am looking forward to the chance to go home. If you are interested in the workshop you can find a brochure of it at McFarlin’s website that has information on how to register here.

It’s in the Mail!

I always enjoy those moments where you have tangibly accomplished something important.  Those moments for me were always the most obvious when I was in school, like finishing your last final exam of a semester, or graduating.  One of the hard things for me about ministry is that those moments seem to be much more rare.  I always have a bit of that feeling after the sunday worship service, but I also know how fleeting that is, because Sunday comes every week!

Well, I just had that feeling of “Ah, it is nice to be finished. “  I just mailed my final year of commissioning papers off!  That means, God willing, that I have completed all of my written work towards ordination.  It is a good feeling.  Thank you, Lord.

Watching over One Another in Love

Andrew’s comment to my last post The Importance of Community has helped me to continue to think about this vision of community. Yesterday I was reading Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America and came across a wonderful description of the Methodist class meeting, and the role that it played in helping people faithfully follow Christ.

Much like the Methodist class meetings of the eighteenth century, it moves beyond individual edification or emotional support to an intentional and disciplined sharing of the challenges of following Christ in an indifferent and hostile world. Coming together in regularly scheduled gatherings participants share the bumps and bruises of encounter with the world, as they comfort and strengthen one another. John Wesley believed that intentional and disciplined small groups could be a wellspring for faithful Christian discipleship…

In the sharing of temptations and weaknesses, and of strengths and accomplishments, participants can begin realistically to confront and acknowledge their bondage to sin as they learn to live as a forgiven and forgiving people. The intent is to create a social space and climate that encourages honest, caring relationships within a community of people who make time for one another, who celebrate and rejoice together, who know and serve each other, and who are accountable one to the other. (171)

Well said!

The Importance of Community

I had an epiphany a few days ago. (I know, I know, as far as the liturgical calendar is concerned this is not the time for epiphanies…) Those of you who know me or have been following this blog know that I have a deep interest in small group accountability. In reading Doug Pagitt’s Re-Imagining Church: The Spiritual Formation of People in Communities of Faith, I realized that the deeper issue that I am trying to address in thinking about and writing about small group accountability is community.

It seems to me that there are so many people out there who are searching for authentic community, a place where they can belong, be known, and accepted. My theory is that if a church can succeed in creating meaningful community, then they will succeed in most every other part of their life together. But way too many churches are just acquaintance clubs, places where you rub shoulders with people week after week, but never really get to know them.

But what if the church were a community of people united together in a deep commitment to becoming faithful followers of Jesus? What if the church were a place where you knew you had people who you could share your deepest struggles with, and they would not judge you, but they would encourage you, pray for you, walk with you in the struggle towards a deeper relationship with God. I wonder if one of the main reasons that people are not more dramatically growing in their faith is because they are not opening up their lives to anyone else. As a result, they are not aware of how stagnant their relationship with the Lord has become.

I have a dream that the church would become a place where people enter deeply into each others lives and where people are in ministry with each other as we meaningful growth in living towards the Kingdom of God, in our own lives and as communities of faith. I believe that small group accountability, then, is a very helpful tool in teaching people how to let others in and how to care for one another.

Thank you Lord, that with you all things are possible.