Author Archives: elizabeth.turner

January 2018

Devotional ~ A New Season

Have you sensed God stirring up something new in your heart? Are you alert and watchful for what God is orchestrating in this new season? Are you able to place the past year where it belongs – in the past – and look with rash hope for the new things God is making in your midst?

Let’s take a few moments to check in on each other as we wait for the Holy Spirit to show us the next steps to take into this new season.

As you sift through your local activities and the global news, as you invest in ministry and note current events, what is the Holy Spirit stirring up in your heart during this season? How will you join the heart of God as God nudges your attention: “See, I am making all things new . . .”?

 

 What the Taj Mahal Taught Me About Love

The Taj Mahal is awe-inspiring. And of course, as is so often the case when I visit a new place, I learned something unexpected and meaningful in my experience there.

 

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Save the Date!

Surrounded by the rich history of the Wesleyan movement in Northeast England, as well as some of the most well-known Wesleyan historical sites throughout the rest of England, World Methodist Evangelism and St. John’s College, Durham University will bring together leading scholars for conversations about some of the most important topics of Evangelism today.

In this rich environment, we will examine the practice of evangelism in a context where many people seem distant from the church but still wrestle with the deep questions of meaning and purpose that are found in the Gospel.

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Georgia, England, Costa Rica: World Methodist Evangelism Gatherings

World Methodist Evangelism has been hard at work preparing to meet you on the road during 2018. Our events in the upcoming year promise to be times of connection, equipping, and transformation. Take a look at our upcoming gatherings and see if there’s one for you.

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 World Methodist Peace Award

Learn more about the World Methodist Peace Award nomination process and recent recipients here:

 

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 In Case you Missed it: Featured Posts from Wesleyan Accent

 

 

Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ Resolutions: The Problem of Shibboleth in 2018

It is the time of year when resolutions abound. Or if not resolutions, goals. Maybe goals are too weighty a burden: maybe wishes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

December 2017

Devotional ~ The Word Made Flesh

Damien Spikereit is a preacher whose father died two days before his high school graduation. He didn’t have very strong faith at that point, so he was struggling to hear God speak in his time of need. He wanted to know what God had to say about his situation and how he was going to get through this difficult time. So he started praying and waiting for God to speak. 

 The funeral came and the church was packed, but Damien doesn’t remember much about that or being greeted by everyone afterward. He continued to wait for God to speak. 

 Then he saw a classmate from school, Kim O’Quinn. She was his age – they were in the same youth group. When she got to him, she didn’t say a word. With tears in her eyes, she just hugged him and walked off. Suddenly Damien says he heard God speak. It dawned on him that just months before, he had attended another funeral – the funeral for Kim’s father. In that moment, she knew exactly what it meant to be Damien. 

 The word became flesh and lived among us. The good news of Christmas is that if you want to hear God’s voice in your life, you don’t have to look any further than the one who knows exactly what it’s like to be you. 

 

We’re excited about the way Metanoia is shaping up! If you are 18-35 years old, join young adults from all over the globe in Costa Rica May 30-June 6 for a life transforming experience of spiritual growth, relationship building across boundaries, and [insert Read More link] a call to action on behalf of Jesus Christ. Here are several of the folks who will be sharing with us: 

Graham Singh

Graham is the Rector of St. Jax Montréal and Executive Director of Church Planting Canada. Graham has a passion for radical new expressions of church and will help us discover new ways to reach the world in post-Christian contexts.

 

 

Luther Oconor

Luther is Associate Professor of Methodist Studies at United Theological Seminary in the US. A native of the Philippines, Luther is keen for us to discover the dynamic presence of the Holy Spirit on our spiritual journey.

 

 

 

Kelcy Steele

Kelcy is the lead pastor at Varick Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Kelcy will bring his passion for preaching to our worship experiences and help us connect the faith within us to the real world around us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Save the Date!

Explore the contemporary practice of evangelism in a post-Christian context!

Convergence 2018

August 13-24, 2018
Durham, England
Epworth~Bristol~Oxford~London

 

India Regional Evangelism Seminar

WME will be collaborating with our Institute to provide leadership for a regional evangelism seminar in Dehli, India, January 8-12, 2018. Please be in prayer for leadership in both the US and India as we continue to prepare for this important teaching event.

 

 

 

 Order of the Flame 2018

Registration for the 2018 FLAME gathering is now open for existing members of the FLAME community! If you have attended the Order of the FLAME in the past, we’re excited for you to return.

One of our featured speakers is Dr. Joy J. Moore.  Dr. Moore is Associate Professor of Homiletics and Christian Ministry at Wesley Seminary in Marion, Indiana. She is an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church. Dr. Moore served as the founding Associate Dean of the William E. Pannell Center for African American Church Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, where she also taught preaching. Dr. Moore was Associate Dean for Black Church Studies and Church Relations at Duke University prior to that.

She is a John Wesley Fellow and holds membership in the National Association of United Methodist Evangelists, the Wesleyan Theology Society, the Academy of Homiletics, and the Society for Biblical Literature. She is also president of the Christian Theological Research Fellowship of the American Academy of Religion.

 

Bear God to the World this Christmas!

Mary’s story isn’t important simply because she gave birth to the baby Jesus (even though that is a very big deal).

Mary’s story is important because she shows us how we are to be God-bearers as well.

Three things stand out about Mary as a God-bearer: she bore God within herself, she bore God to others through her faithful witness in word and deed, and she bore the suffering of others.

And that is exactly what we work to do through World Methodist Evangelism – we work with those around the world who want to be a faithful witness to God through their words and actions.

 

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World Methodist Evangelism Director Visits Vatican to Meet Pope

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

Dr. Kimberly Reisman Joins World Methodist Council Delegation to Vatican 

Vatican City – October 23, 2017 – World Methodist Evangelism Executive Director, Dr. Kimberly Reisman, traveled to Italy last week with a World Methodist Council delegation to mark 50 years of Methodist-Catholic dialogue. 

According to a statement by the World Methodist Council, on Thursday, October 19, “a delegation consisting of the World Methodist Council (WMC) Steering Committee, Pastor Mirella Manocchio – President of L’Opera per le Chiese Evangeliche Metodiste in Italia (OPCEMI), as well as members of the Methodist Roman Catholic International Commission for dialogue (MERCIC) met with Pope Francis in the Consistory Hall at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, Rome. Bishop Ivan Abrahams, General Secretary of the World Methodist Council, delivered an address to the Pope, to which the Pope responded.” 

World Methodist Council General Secretary Dr. Ivan Abrahams commented in his address, “Catholics and Methodists have much to learn from each other. We walk side by side, each in service to the world in our response to climate change, human trafficking, abuse of human rights and global terror. In our responses to these challenges, we are called to be a church with fast feet and extended hands, to be in solidarity and embrace the poor and marginalized.” 

Pope Francis noted that, “when we see others living a holy life, when we recognize the working of the Holy Spirit, in other Christian confessions, we cannot fail to rejoice.” He further noted, “when, as Catholics and Methodists, we join in assisting and comforting the weak and the marginalized – those who in the midst of our societies feel distant, foreign, and alienated – we are responding to the Lord’s summons.” 

Dr. Reisman and the delegation closed the day in an ecumenical evening prayer marking the occasion led by His Excellency The Most Reverend Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. 

Formal Methodist-Catholic dialogue began in 1967. 

 

Contact: 

Shirley Dominick 

shirley@worldmethodist.org 

PO Box 8142 

Lafayette, IN 47903 USA 

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Learning to Suffer with Christ

Image removed due to copyright infringement.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]In Philippians the Apostle Paul described what the Jesus way is all about — really knowing Christ and experiencing the mighty power that raised him from the dead (Philippians 3:10). That message may sound appealing, but what Paul says next throws us off: “I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!” (Philippians 3:10-11).  

When we read this passage, our reaction may be, “Who signed me up for this team?” But that is what being on Jesus’ team is all about, sharing in his death so that we can experience resurrection life. If we want to experience the power of God’s resurrection, we must first be willing to accept suffering. Embracing the pain of the crucifixion in order to experience the power of the resurrection involves right living, not easy living.  

Jesus prayed the same way we all pray when we’re faced with something bad in our lives, whether it’s a cancer diagnosis, job loss, suddenly finding ourselves a single parent. We all pray, “Please, if there’s any way, take this cup—this burden—away from me.” But life doesn’t come from removing cups. When he was praying, Jesus added the biggest “but” of all time: “But God, it’s not what I want, it’s what you want.”  

That’s the key question: What do you want? I know what I want, God, but what do you want? We all know what we want: health and happiness for our family, good, strong, marriages, comfortable income, meaningfully belonging to community. But Jesus shows us passionate living: a God who becomes human and then gets crucified—for each one of us. That’s an everything-I’ve-got kind of commitment.  

The amazing thing for me is that Jesus didn’t bail out. It would have been a huge temptation for me to drop the whole project, especially when everyone else did. It’s easy to do something when you’re surrounded by a group doing the same thing, but when you’re on your own—the way Jesus was—that’s another thing altogether. He didn’t quit; he didn’t run; he stuck with the future God had laid before him.  

We all have times when our lives are filled with frustration, heartache, despair. Jesus understands all of that because he experienced it. But he didn’t allow those experiences to stop him. He stayed focused on who he was and the reason he was here. He was deeply tapped into the source of his life and energy—“My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work” (John 4:34). Even at his most desperate moment, when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), even then, Jesus kept his direction.  

We have all experienced God’s absence, when we felt as though God was nowhere to be found. Jesus, in the midst of such doubt, kept his direction. Rev. Mike Slaughter once described the amazing truth of Jesus’ passion, saying, “God would rather go to hell for you than go to heaven without you.” Because we are made in God’s image, we’ve got a propensity for passion as well. God didn’t make us for tepid living, lukewarm or in the middle; we were made for total commitment.  [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

August 2017

Devotional ~ The Surprise of the Beattitudes

The Beatitudes are helpful because they highlight the contrast between God’s kingdom and the kingdom of our world. This contrast is crucial for our understanding because following Jesus  places us in sharp contrast with the world around us. The first thing to notice about the Beatitudes is that Jesus didn’t actually say them the way we are used to hearing them. In the Greek in which Jesus’ words were written, the verb “are” is not present in the Beatitudes; that word was used to render his words into English.

Rather than statements— “Blessed are the poor in spirit”—Jesus gave us exclamations: “O the blessedness of the meek!”

This is important, because the Beatitudes aren’t statements about what might be, or about what could be. They are exclamations about what is. Jesus is announcing the privilege that is ours, to share with God in joy, to share the very blessedness that fills God’s heart. The New Living Translation uses the action word “blesses” rather than the adjective “blessed,” which helps us understand the “is-ness”—the present tense action—of what Jesus is saying. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness!

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In Case You Missed It: Featured Posts from Wesleyan Accent

Brian Yeich  ~ The Lost Metric of Testimony

As powerful as the Gospel is, the stories of those who have encountered the living God revealed in the Gospel story are also used by the Holy Spirit to encourage, enlighten and inspire people to a living faith in Jesus.

Pete Bellini ~ Methodism on Fire 

Could one of the greatest outpourings of the Holy Spirit in church history that began with Methodism come full circle back to Methodism?

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Mark your calendar for our next 2018 Order of the Flame evangelism gathering March 12-16, 2018 on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia! New and returning members can expect enlivening worship, challenging speakers and supportive community as you connect with other pastors and spouses from across Wesleyan Methodist denominations. Featured 2018 speakers will include Bishop Sharma Lewis, Dr. Rob Haynes, Dr. Dave Smith, and Rev. Tom Fuerst.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metanoia 2018

 

Pray and plan for next summer’s Metanoia 2018, a global gathering of young Wesleyan Methodist leaders from around the world. Formerly ICYCE, from May 30-June 6 young adults from across the globe will gather in Costa Rica for a faith-strengthening, mission-empowering, horizon-expanding time of transformation.

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A Person-Centered Faith

Clarity is about understanding the nature of Christian faith, both the basic tenets of faith and our experience of it. Clarity is crucial to authentic evangelism because how we understand the nature of Christian faith will greatly impact how we go about sharing. Regardless of our culture, if we are not clear about the basics of faith, we will be unable to share it authentically. This is especially true in environments where we are surrounded by people who believe differently than we do.

A simple definition of Christian faith is helpful in gaining clarity. At its most basic level, Christian faith is a centered, personal, relational response involving trust and obedience. Certainly much more can be said about Christian faith; but this straightforward understanding provides not only a clear outline of the tenets of the faith, but a lens through which we can view our individual experience of it.

Christian faith is centered. That means it has a specific object. The Scripture passages at the beginning of this session point to that object: Jesus Christ. Christian faith is centered on the living God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth whom we call the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

We might take this truth for granted, yet it is profoundly important. Christian faith is not faith in general. It is not a generic type of spirituality. When we speak of Christian faith, we are not speaking of a philosophy of life we can speculate about or a system of ethical ideals to be debated or a set of doctrinal propositions with which we choose to mentally agree. When we speak of Christian faith, we are speaking about a very particular faith – faith in Jesus Christ. 

Christian faith is centered, and it is also personal. It is personal because it is centered on a person, a real human being situated in a real culture at a real time in history. That Jesus was a real person reminds us that Christian faith is grounded in the physical world that God created. Though mystery abounds, Christian faith is not about a faraway heaven separate from the amazing universe which God has created for us to inhabit. Christian faith is about God becoming human in Jesus, entering the physical universe, to restore it fully and completely. 

Christian faith is personal because it is centered on a real person, Jesus Christ, but it is also personal because it requires a personal commitment from each human being. We can pray that another person might have faith. We can do our best to create an environment where faith is taught and caught. But we cannot have faith for another person any more than they can have faith for us. Christian faith is so decidedly personal, it demands that each must own that faith for him or herself.