Wesleyan Accent Archive | World Methodist Evangelism

Spirit-Led Discernment: The Quaker Clearness Committee by Danny Morris

Danny Morris February 16, 2015

The “clearness committee” was established by Quakers. Initially, focus persons were seeking clearness about marriage. Invited friends would gather to offer communal spiritual guidance. Eventually, reasons for calling a clearness committee were expanded. I was told by a friend that the Quaker clearness committee is currently used over a variety of subjects. When considering prayerful discernment, reflect on this model

Under The Fig Tree by Claire Matheny

Claire Matheny February 14, 2015

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything

On Guidance by Maxie Dunnam

Maxie Dunnam February 12, 2015

Christ indwells us Christians; the Holy Spirit is his abiding presence in our lives. To the degree that we cultivate an awareness of and are responsive to his Spirit, Christ will guide us.

Taken & The Luxury Of A Call by Elizabeth Glass Turner

elizabeth.turner February 11, 2015

Though I’ve never seen the film “Taken,” I have seen some delightful reels of action star Liam Neeson’s intense phone conversations that take place in the movie franchise. This, alas, is a Neeson-free post (though everyone’s favorite northern Irishman has dabbled in the Divine, voicing the character of “Aslan” in the Narnia movies and providing a cameo as a hobo-esque

Joy Begins At The Cross: Learning The Forgiveness Of Christ As A Pathway To Joy by Carolyn Moore

Carolyn Moore February 7, 2015

Did you ever run across the old children’s book called “Mr. Happy”? His story goes like this: one day he leaves his very happy home and goes walking in the neighborhood. He finds a door and wonders to himself, “who lives here?” When he goes through the door he is led down a long staircase and into the room where

A Deep Freeze by Elizabeth Glass Turner

elizabeth.turner February 5, 2015

Warning: this post contains references to the animated feature film “Frozen.” Overexposure to this movie may result in children shrieking song lyrics in the car, a conviction that your front yard snowman can talk, and a commitment to trip over “Frozen” themed toys for at least the next three years. You may have seen me in the headlines recently:

Which Saint Are You? Quizzes On Holiness by Tammie Grimm

Tammie Grimm February 4, 2015

On any given day of the week, a scan of my Facebook newsfeed reveals secrets about my friends I might never have guessed on my own. It turns out that several friends closely identify with a variety of Disney Princesses, from the bookworm-ish Belle of “Beauty and the Beast,” to the kind and gentle maternal Snow White, to the adventurous

A Circle Of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle

Claire Matheny February 2, 2015

Note from the author: I am a part of a church book club that meets each month. A member nominates a book for the next gathering. This ensures that most of us read something we would never have picked on our own. And let’s be honest, with many of us torn between children and work, we barely get time to read. Our meeting gives

Justifying Grace by Jeff Rudy

Jeff Rudy January 31, 2015

If we desire that Christ brings us the grace to renew us and breathe new life into us, that admits quite simply that there is something about and in us that is old and dead and in need of being renewed. So, somehow, someway we must come to terms with that in ourselves which isn’t as it ought to be,

“Selma” And The Embodiment Of Discipleship by Cole Bodkin

Cole Bodkin January 29, 2015

A week before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day my wife and I went to go see the film Selma. This inspirational movie focuses on the non-violent protests of Martin Luther King, Jr., the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), and others in the small town of Selma, Alabama. It particularly highlights the march from Selma to Montgomery, a momentous turning point

The Virtue Of Pastoral Leadership by Andrew Thompson

Andrew Thompson January 28, 2015

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

Setting The Tone by Carrie Carter

Carrie Carter January 27, 2015

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8 ESV To “set the tone” means: to establish a particular mood or character for something. So what? For many years, well,

Hidden Heroes: The AWOL Hero by Talbot Davis

Talbot Davis January 24, 2015

And yet look at what Paul says in Philemon: “was useless; is useful.” And then he grows much more intimate by the time of Colossians 4 – faithful, dear brother, one of you. And I wonder: how do you go from that to that? From outside to inside? From failure to brother? From deserves death to becomes family? I think

How A Reluctant Mentor Learns To Be An Adequate Leader by Talbot Davis

Talbot Davis January 22, 2015

I have recently come to a realization that has helped me enormously in increasing my leadership ability when it comes to both the staff at Good Shepherd and younger clergy in the United Methodist Church…

The Methodist Band Meeting: Confession Is For Protestants Too by Kevin Watson

Kevin Watson January 21, 2015

Methodists gathered together because they were convinced that growth in holiness was most likely to happen in community.

How To See The Future by Mark Trotter

Mark Trotter January 17, 2015

We know that what we do here in Holy Communion is look forward to that day when life will finally be the way God wants it to be.

Branded: The Iconoclasm Of Marketing by Elizabeth Glass Turner

elizabeth.turner January 12, 2015

This is not an anti-technology diatribe. There are enough diatribes in the world, I think: talking heads, Facebook rants, raised fists and honking horns etching anger for a permanent moment of rush hour that hangs now in the universe reflecting our contorted faces back to us. What if I died in that moment? The moment of my life when my

Hidden Heroes: The What Can Brown Do For You? Hero y Talbot Davis

Talbot Davis January 10, 2015

God’s word is better delivered in obscurity than by celebrity. The greatest impact usually happens when no one notices.

Are American Clergy Suffering A Crisis Of Faith? by Elizabeth Glass Turner

World Methodist Evangelism January 8, 2015

It’s a mistake to criticize questioning by and in itself. An unexamined life is not worth living, and an unexamined faith will last about as long as Farrah Fawcett hair, Hammer pants, beanie babies, MySpace, “Gangnam Style” and every other grass that withers and flower that doth fade away.

Confession by Maxie Dunnam

Maxie Dunnam January 7, 2015

Beginning at the point of our believing that it is God’s desire to forgive, confession becomes not a morbid discipline, not a dark groveling in the mud and mire of life, not a fearful response to a wrathful, angry God who is out to get us if we don’t shape up. Rather, confession becomes an act of anticipation, a response

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