Four Principles For A Healthier Short-Term Mission Experience by Carolyn Moore

I am writing this while “on mission with Jesus in Ecuador,”* serving together with seventeen genuinely kind and faithful people from two churches in Georgia and the United Methodist seminary of Venezuela. We are being hosted by Sharon and Graham Nichols, who serve Christ through The Mission Society. Back in the day, church folk took suitcases of shoes, toys or

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Christianity Vectors by Vecteezy

American Freedom Or Christian Freedom? by Elizabeth Glass Turner

Always a lover of history, currently I’m partway through Ron Chernow’s excellent biography of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton – the book, incidentally, which son of Puerto Rican immigrants Lin-Manuel Miranda turned into the hit Broadway musical. With a decent dose of Scot in my blood, I can get into any story of a struggle for freedom easily. Why else

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The (Secret) Great Commission by Kim Reisman

What would it look like to follow the Great Commission without freedom?

As those of us in the United States celebrate Independence Day today, it may be difficult to imagine that. How would we “go and make disciples” if our government made it illegal?

Would we disobey? Go in secret?

Those are questions facing our brothers and sisters in the

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Let Us Pray by Kelcy Steele

We as a faith community must focus on how we can work to love our neighbors well, both in this and in our daily home, work, and play. This is an unspeakable tragedy and we should take extended time to mourn, to pray for the families of those murdered and injured, and to consider the depth of evil in the

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Colorful traditional attire and jewelry at World Methodist Evangelism event.

What Nigerian Worship Taught Me About True Offering by Kim Reisman

What would worship look like if it was more about giving than getting? Less about “being fed,” and more about offering praise?

It might look like worship in Nigeria and other places in Africa, where praises are not the only thing lifted through dance and song, but tithes and offerings as well, as dancing and singing Christ followers come forward

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Lost Faith And Piles Of Laundry by David Drury

I moved into my dorm room at college and unpacked a few suitcases and boxes. I took up half of the dresser and half of the closet. I had a long move-in-day to myself getting ready for classes the next morning. At nearly midnight my roommate showed up. After bringing in a few books and assorted items, he then carried in

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Just How Angry Are You? by Carolyn Moore

The Institute for Ethics at Duke University conducted an online survey of about 1,500 people as part of a project designed to measure the morality quotient of Americans. They asked people to rate how likely they’d be to do certain morally questionable things like, for instance, kicking a dog in the head. As it turns out (happily), seven of eight

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Your Behavior Matters by Andy Stoddard

One of the most common phrases in our culture, and in the church as well, is “you can’t judge me. Only God can judge me.”  And yes, there are many verses in Scripture that tell us that we should not judge each other, and that God is the only judge of our behavior or intentions. (By the way, none of

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Snapshot: Witness in Kenyan Methodism by Kim Reisman

The Methodist Wesleyan family is alive and well in East Africa! God is calling young women and men to minister through word, deed and sign – evangelists, church planters, teachers, pastors, doctors, lawyers, government officials – all Holy Spirit-inspired and ready to go where God leads them.

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Remembering: Weigh Well and Consider by Priscilla Hammond

Before people used Enneagram types or extroversion temperaments to describe themselves, personalities were described using ancient medical terms: sanguine, melancholy, phlegmatic, and choleric. Maybe you’ve seen the words used as nouns or used descriptively about a person. Sanguines are social butterflies. They can carry on a conversation with anyone, anytime. They’ve never met a stranger, because they’re friends as soon

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The Courage To Be: Conferencing And The Kingdom Of God by Elizabeth Glass Turner

While United Methodists spend a great deal of time, money, and energy attempting to shape potential outcomes of the specially called 2019 General Conference in St. Louis, it is quite possible that the conference most potently rocking the Kingdom of God already took place in St. Louis over the summer. The fate of the United Methodist denomination is not unimportant;

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Evidence Through Action by Kim Reisman

People have different ways of approaching reality. Some are analytical, reasoned, and logical. That’s not me. Not that I can’t be analytical, reasoned and logical. I can, but those are deliberate disciplines that I practice in contrast to my instinctive way of approaching the world, which is through my feelings. I’m just a feeling kind of person. Maybe too much

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Interview: The Advent Mission with Omar Al-Rikabi

Recently Wesleyan Accent spoke with Rev. Omar Al-Rikabi, an occasional Wesleyan Accent contributor and author of The Advent Mission, a new Christmastime devotional from Seedbed Publishing.  Wesleyan Accent:Why the Advent “mission”? Is this about missions? Global missionaries? Do I have to give money? Hey, is this a sneaky way for churches to take an extra offering? Omar Al-Rikabi: I think it

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Is God Our First Look? by Andy Stoddard

It can be frustrating to do right.  It can be hard to be faithful and to follow God, especially when you see so many others that, in your mind, are not.  We see the wickedness. The greed.  All the things that others are doing wrong. It can be easy to give up, to say, “why keep trying?” Why should I

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Deciding, Timing, and Leading by Otis T. McMillan

“Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” – Proverbs 11:14 Seek godly counsel; it will provide safety. The wisdom of others can keep you from falling. Decisions made today have the potential to impact many tomorrows. Wisdom instructs us to seek the godly counsel of others. Their insight can provide the

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On Being Lost and Found Again by Michelle Bauer

If you have ever been lost, you know the feeling – one minute you are fine and the next you realize you have no idea where you are or how to get back. The Bible uses the metaphor of being lost to help us to understand what it is like to be far from God. If you are a follower

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Faith-Sharing As A Way of Life by Rob Haynes

The word “relational” gets thrown around a great deal when discussing evangelism. Just what that means deserves a closer examination. Allow me to illustrate one way I have in mind. I had many questions about faith before I made a decision to follow Jesus in my early 20s. One of the things that compelled me to become a disciple of

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Preaching For The Long Haul: How To Find Your Voice by Andy Stoddard

My first appointment out of seminary was the hardest appointment that I’ve ever had.  It wasn’t because the people were hard to pastor: they were some of the sweetest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of serving.  It wasn’t because the church was located in a bad place: it was out in the country, a beautiful church and beautiful parsonage. 

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The Many Ways We Limp by Elizabeth Glass Turner

The bottoms of your shoes tell a tale. Examine them: the soles are worn down on the inside or the outside, at the front or at the back. They show how you walk. They show what you compensate for. They show the way your foot moves as you stride. And as you wear them, the sole of your shoe begins

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