Wesleyan Accent Archive | World Methodist Evangelism

Could Jesus Save Aliens? Why Answering Silly Questions Is Serious Business In Youth Ministry by Philip Tallon

Philip Tallon July 16, 2014

Talking about aliens was a great opportunity to teach students about the Wesleyan understanding of scripture, to delve into the logic of the two natures in Christology, and to unpack how Christians connect incarnation to salvation. I got to show the student I cared about his question, and maybe helped him learn a bit more about Christian theology.

How To Live While We’re Waiting by Carolyn Moore

Carolyn Moore July 12, 2014

Forty years ago, we could not have imagined paying $3 for a cup of coffee. Now, a daily Starbucks habit would cost you the price of a house over 30 years. And people pay it. Starbucks is nearly 43 years old. There are about 23,000 of them, but there are 1000 less of them this year. Starbucks is shrinking. Here’s

Imagining Glory by Elizabeth Glass Turner

elizabeth.turner July 10, 2014

“Now we see dimly; then, face to face.” Not, perhaps, the most utilized portion of I Corinthians 13 at the ubiquitous summer wedding – but oddly, one of my favorite parts of the familiar chapter. It seems to distill the essence of faith: trust that we will eventually see “face to face” what we now discern only dimly, in fragments

Onan The Barbarian: Self-Gratification At Its Worst by Tom Fuerst

Tom Fuerst July 9, 2014

I mean, what in the flippin’ world is happening here? Did God really just slaughter this guy for “spilling his semen on the ground”? If this story has ever interested you, then you’ll want to know why Onan the Barbarian was slain.

Generosity by Michael Smith

Michael Smith July 7, 2014

True generosity means extending yourself to a place of the unknown or even fearful. To do something that is so beyond your capacity and frame of reference puts you into the Realm of the King. This is Kingdom work, here folks. We get to see moments of God’s Kingdom here and now when this happens. All it takes is a

Doctrine and Renewal (Part 2) by Ken Loyer

Ken Loyer July 3, 2014

I believe that we will discover the most promising way forward through a deep retrieval of our doctrine and a comprehensive re-reception of it at every level of our church, especially in the local church since that is the most significant arena for making and growing disciples of Jesus Christ. This retrieval project will be a long and difficult one,

By Attending On The Ordinances Of God by Tammie Grimm

Tammie Grimm July 2, 2014

Have you ever noticed the similarities between Major League Baseball and the United Methodist Church? Both organizations exist throughout the country and have a brand logo which is recognizable around the world. In the case of the MLB, professional baseball is played on other continents and plenty of MLB players call another country “home.” In a similar vein, the UMC

Hospital Field Trips And Spiritual Training: Why Kids Should Learn To Make Hospital Visits by Elizabeth Glass Turner

elizabeth.turner June 26, 2014

As a grown-up, I traveled to a hospital once to visit a friend who’d had surgery. A mutual friend accompanied me. I watched his anxiety with amusement. He was anxious about how to find the elevators, anxious about reading the hospital map, anxious about the visit itself. I discovered that this otherwise rational, intelligent adult was uneasy and uncomfortable in

Making Disciples In The Wesleyan Way by Andrew Thompson

Andrew Thompson June 25, 2014

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

It’s Always Abuse, Not Just When It Involves A Child by Tom Fuerst

Tom Fuerst June 23, 2014

But what we also fail to realize and consistently communicate is that anytime a clergy member has sex with a parishioner who is not their spouse, it is abuse. The emotional, spiritual, and even societal power granted to a pastor is intertwined and inseparable from all their relations within the church. We cannot, therefore, pretend that infidelity between pastors and

Finding Myself in the Poetry of Mary Oliver by Justin Gentry

Justin Gentry October 17, 2016

I think I am drawn so much to poetry these days because over and above anything else poets are themselves. They speak from a raw, sometimes scandalous place that many of us don’t have access to. As a pastor it can be very hard to be yourself, yet it is essential if you want to have anything of value to

The Noah in Your Circle by Michael Smith

Michael Smith October 13, 2016

Finding and listening to a “Noah” is a reminder that there is a part of our faith that needs to be challenged to understand the profound personal nature of life in the Spirit.

The Locker Room And The Vestry by Elizabeth Glass Turner

elizabeth.turner October 12, 2016

One time as I came down from a platform during a church musical rehearsal, I passed several women and whispered, “I’ll be right back, I have got to go to the bathroom!” I rushed away and couldn’t hear the laughter that erupted behind me; the sound guy had not yet muted my lapel mic. My whisper had been heard throughout the sanctuary.

Faithfulness by Bryan Collier

Bryan Collier October 6, 2016

Most of us are familiar with John 15—it is particularly central to my life and to the life of the local church that I pastor, The Orchard UMC. It is from Jesus’ command there, “to go and bear fruit” that we take our name, vision and mission. Most of us are familiar with the flow: Jesus begins with an eight-verse

Where There Is New Room by Elizabeth Glass Turner

elizabeth.turner October 5, 2016

Sometimes we need a space where there is new room for the Holy Spirit: space in our lives, in our schedule, in our church building, in our preaching, in our house. For me, luckily enough – except it never seems to do with luck where new room is involved – this has been at the New Room Conference. In an

The Character Of A Wesleyan by Carolyn Moore

Carolyn Moore October 3, 2016

Much is being made these days in my (admittedly very narrow) slice of the world about what it means to be Wesleyan. “Wesleyan” in this case doesn’t refer to a particular denomination but to a broader theological stream birthed through an eighteenth-century movement and largely defined by the commentaries and sermons of John Wesley. Wesley himself once wrote a tract

Keep On Playing Your Harp by Kelcy Steele

Kelcy Steele September 29, 2016

When the Spirit of the Lord is upon your life you can play your harp because you have been anointed to handle hell, haters, and hypocrites.

Francis Asbury: Mission Beyond Conflict by Aaron Perry

Aaron Perry September 28, 2016

Regardless of your politics, but dependent on the plans of God, there will be a November 9, 2016. Do you know the day? It’s the day after the United States of America will choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, there will be a lot of debate, discussion, and Tweeting. But that day will come and,

When Holy Love Is Like a Laser by Elizabeth Glass Turner

elizabeth.turner September 26, 2016

If you or I think of a laser, we probably have a mental image of what we might colloquially call a concentrated beam of light, whether it’s used recreationally like in laser tag or a laser light show, or practically like in an eye surgery or in cutting material. You might even picture the powerful ray from the Death Star in Star

When Calvinism Becomes Dangerous by Carolyn Moore

Carolyn Moore September 21, 2016

I have great respect for many colleagues in ministry who espouse a reformed or Calvinist view of the world. That said, it should be no surprise to those who read and listen to me regularly that I am enthusiastically and unapologetically Arminian. I am far too deeply committed to the notion of God’s pure love exercised in his gift of human free

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