Upon Arrival by Rob Haynes

My favorite part of any airport is the arrivals lounge. Everyone in the arrivals area seems to be full of happiness. Travelers are happy that they have arrived after their journey. Their friends and loved ones are happy to see them. Shuttle drivers are happy to see their passengers. The place is full of smiling faces. In some airports, you

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Foundations of Disciple-Making: Access by Paulo Lopes

This is part three in a five-part series dedicated to exploring what I have come to understand as the five foundations of disciple-making. I hope this is helpful to all of those who, like me, are laboring to help the Church become better at participating in the Great Commission. Here are the first and second parts. About a year and

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The Congregation As Evangelist by Maxie Dunnam

It’s interesting to note that Jesus’ final commandment to evangelize never mentioned ministering to the hungry and sick. Before his crucifixion he had pictured the last judgment as a time when his true disciples would be separated from the unfaithful. He made one distinction between the faithful and the unfaithful. The true disciples would be those who have carried out

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The Scandal of Incarnation by Maxie Dunnam

How could Jesus be truly human and truly divine? That’s a question commonly asked. Theology calls it INCARNATION. In fact there is often talk of the Scandal of the Incarnation. After a little reflection, we may best put the question, not how but why did Jesus become both human and divine? Let’s think about it. Few men in the twentieth

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Foundations of Disciple-Making: Experience by Paulo Lopes

In order to create more clarity around disciple-making, it benefits us to spend more time coming to agreements about what we mean when we say certain words. This matters because we often agree on which words are important. We just do not mean the same things when we say them. For instance, my shortest possible definition for disciple-making is this:

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Jesus: What’s In A Name? by Maxie Dunnam

We are in the midst of the Advent season. It’s Christmas time. Let’s stay with the story…at least reflect seriously a bit. A central figure is Joseph. He is perplexed, deeply perplexed. The woman to whom he is engaged is pregnant and he knows the baby is not his. He is wrestling with what to do. Will he expose her,

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Celebrate The Gift Of Righteousness by Cookie Puno

Why celebrate Christmas? Now, more than ever, people find it hard to celebrate a joyful occasion. Does the message of Christmas — hope, peace, and joy — still ring true amid instability, crises, and seeming hopelessness? In the Philippines, we were hit by 6 typhoons in one month. There’s so much loss, so much pain, and so much death all

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A Fabulous Oxymoron by Kim Reisman

Scripture Focus: Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the one who is the First and the Last, who was dead but is now alive: I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they

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What’s In A Name? by Maxie Dunnam

I’m Maxie. She’s Jerry, my wife. The setting is almost always the same. Someone introducing us to strangers will say, ‘These are our friends, Jerry and Maxie Dunnam.’ Far more times than not, the person to whom we are being introduced assumes Jerry is the husband and Maxie is the wife. I can’t begin to come close to telling you

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Mutual Love Leads To Extreme Hospitality by Rob Haynes

Have you ever felt completely out of place? Have you ever been in a situation where you were in a room full of people, didn’t know how to act, and weren’t sure how to meet anyone to help you feel more at home? Some years ago, a pastor friend of mine got married. I had met his fiancée, now wife,

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Scenic view of a Cuban town with church and mountains in the background.

Iglesia Metodista en Cuba

official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 + Let me ask you something. What would it take to stop your congregation from meeting? A fuel shortage? A power grid collapse? A government that has spent decades teaching children that God does not exist? For the Iglesia Metodista en Cuba none of that has been enough. Right now, Cuba is in

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Elderly man reading a newspaper at a desk with plants and books, promoting Methodist evangelism.

It Helps To Work Together

George Washington Carver was born in a slave’s shack on a cotton farm. You know his story. He became a member of the Royal Academy, distinguished himself in science and helped discover countless uses of the peanut and sweet potato which helped salvage the economy of cotton-growing areas with depleted soil. Dr. Carver was not only a distinguished scientist, a

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Dog with large ears being held by two hands, symbolizing outreach and communication.

Ears Wide Open

Isaiah directs the reader to “Come to Me with your ears wide open. Listen for the life of your soul is at stake.”  Listening for the voice of the Lord must become a serious lifestyle imperative for us all. We cannot afford to do any less than to continually come to Him with our ears wide open, because our never-dying

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Young woman reading and using her phone by the window.

The Christian Pattern | Part II

This is the second article in a series on the Christian Pattern. Read the first article here. What Is Your Life Really About? I have been a pastor for over thirty-five years. In that time I have sat across from a lot of people in a lot of conversations — in hospital rooms, in counseling sessions, in coffee shops, in

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Global Methodist Church

official website Congregations 0 K+ It started with 17 churches. In May 2022, a small group of congregations formally launched a new denomination. They called it the Global Methodist Church. Seventeen congregations. A new name. A deep conviction that Wesleyan Christianity needed a fresh expression rooted in doctrinal integrity of the historic Christian faith and the authority of Scripture. Four years

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Iglesia Metodista de Mexico

official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 + In the spring of 1873, two bishops from rival American churches crossed the Rio Grande within weeks of each other — heading to the same country, with the same gospel, and the same dream. One was Bishop Gilbert Haven of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The other was Bishop John Christian Keener of

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Colorful colonial buildings in Cuba with vintage car.

A Faith That Shines In The Dark: Lessons From The Cuban Church

For several years, I have heard about the amazing things God is doing in the Methodist Church in Cuba. I have sought to see these firsthand on several occasions. However, for various reasons, those doors kept closing until this February. I took a group of four from our young church along with me as I taught at WME’s Unity in

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Hand raised in prayer or blessing during World Methodist Evangelism event.

Will You Finish Well? | Part VII

Check out the earlier articles in this series where Maxie shared about the need for personal holiness (part 1), surrender (part 2), character (part 3), faithfulness (part 4), the wisdom of the saints (part 5), discipline and obedience (part 6). Two more characteristics of the saints I want us to explore as we wrestle with the question, “Will I finish well?”

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The Christian Pattern | Part I

I was nineteen years old when I wandered into the First Methodist Church of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and fell in love with John Wesley. I didn’t know much about him at first. But the more I read, the more I was captivated — by the way God had raised him up, by his faltering journey to faith, by his struggles with

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Community gathering at sunset with Ghana flag and local village scene.

The Methodist Church Ghana

official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 K+ If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like for the Wesleyan movement to shape an entire nation, look no further than Ghana. This week in our Prayer & Fasting journey, we are lifting up The Methodist Church Ghana, one of the largest and most influential Methodist bodies in the world. On January

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