Strangely Warmed

Seven years ago, Teddy Ray published a series of articles that still has me thinking. John Wesley Never Heard of a Traveling Pastor When the Circuit Rider Dismounted The Local Pastor and the Itinerant Apostle in Scripture Re-evangelizing America with Changes in our Ministry Roles Ray's thought draws heavily from Wesley's sermon, The Ministerial Office . If I can summarize Ray's argument, it goes something like this. Wesley appointed preachers, not pastors. The preachers were traveling evangelists who proclaimed salvation in Christ, invited people to repent and believe, organized Methodist societies where there were none and checked on the health of existing societies as they traveled. Wesley's preachers were like the extraordinary prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New. The Church of England clergy were more like the Old Testament priesthood. Both were important. Methodists received the sacraments and the other priestly mini...

The entire Wesleyan connection was built so that Methodists could strive together toward that holiness "without which no one will see the Lord." When Wesley said that there is "no holiness but social holiness" he meant that we make this journey toward holiness with other Christians. “You can believe and practice whatever you want as long as you do it by yourself ” is just not a Methodist way of being the church. Our structures exist so that we can help each other live the holy lives to which we have been called. Methodist conferences, societies, classes and bands were originally organized for one purpose: to support penitent believers in becoming holy. Those who belonged to the societies were required to participate in a class in order to spur them on through repentance and justification to entire sanctification in love. Anyone could belong to a Methodist society. “There is only one condition previously required of those who desire admission into these soci...

In John Wesley's England, a parish was not just a congregation. It was a piece of land and the people who lived there. Each parish had defined geographical boundaries. Two parishes did not compete for the same parishioners. Likewise, each episcopal diocese was geographically defined. One bishop did not plant churches in another bishop's episcopal area. It was in this context that John Wesley wrote his famous declaration, "I look upon all the world as my parish". Wesley denied that any priest or bishop held exclusive ecclesiastical authority within the geographical bounds of a parish or diocese. God's call and authority superseded any human boundaries. No one had the right to exclude Wesley or his movement from any territory. The ecclesiastical situation is different now for United Methodists than it was for Wesley in England. The United Methodist Church is not a national church.  Congregations do not have the exclusive right to oversee all United Methodist m...

There are many streams of United Methodism in the in the United States, each with its own language, customs and culture. Each stream reaches deep into Methodist history and thus expresses some of element of who we are (or at least who we have been). In practice, the streams overlap and interact with each other. Most Methodist-related congregations and institutions combine several streams in varying proportions in their practice of Christianity. Infinite permutations and combinations exist. And just as chemical elements, when combined in different proportions, can produce materials with vastly different properties, so the multiple streams of Methodism can combine to produces vastly different versions of "church". When you change the mix, you change the product. And finally, each stream also draws from wider movements in church and society, creating natural partnerships and affinities with groups outside Methodism which share its interests. Some of the streams that ...