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Podcast: Sir Alan Walker — ‘Christianity at the Crossroads’

February 8, 2010 by MethodistThinker

MethodistThinker.com will be on hiatus from posting new material for the next several weeks. During this time, we will showcase podcasts from the fall of 2009.

The premiere podcast of our fall 2009 season featured one of the most influential Methodists of the 20th century: the Rev. Dr. Sir Alan Walker.

Sir Alan Walker

Sir Alan Walker

Born in Sydney, Australia in 1911, Alan Walker was the 13th person in his family tree to become a preacher.

In the 1950s, he became known for leading evangelistic meetings across the Australian continent. Later, he came the United States to work briefly with the Board of Evangelism of The Methodist Church (a predecessor denomination of The United Methodist Church).

Returning to Australia in the late 1950s, he became the superintendent of the Sydney’s famed Central Methodist Mission (now known as Wesley Mission), a post he held for 20 years. During that time, he founded Lifeline, an innovative telephone counseling ministry that continues today.

In 1978, Alan Walker became the first World Director of Evangelism for the World Methodist Council. In that position, he traveled to more than 75 countries to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

He was honored with knighthood in 1981. In 1986, he and his wife, Lady Winifred Walker, received the World Methodist Peace Award.

In his 70s, he founded what is now known as the Alan Walker College of Evangelism in Sydney.

The Rev. Dr. Sir Alan Walker died in January 2003 at the age of 91.

∞

This podcast features a recording of Sir Alan Walker from the 1980 United Methodist Congress on Evangelism, held in Tulsa, Okla. Listen using the audio player below (27 min.) — or download an mp3 file (12.3 MB; on a PC, right click and choose “save as”).

∞

To subscribe to the MethodistThinker.com Podcast, use the link near the top of the right column.


Related information
• Honoring Sir Alan Walker | Gordon Moyes, successor to Alan Walker as superintendent of Wesley Mission (from an address originally presented in June 2001)
• Theologian, leader, champion of the poor: Sir Alan Walker dies aged 91 | Wesley Mission news release (Jan. 30, 2003)
• Sir Alan Walker, World Methodist evangelist, dies at 91 | Linda Bloom, United Methodist News Service (Jan. 30, 2003)
• Remembering Sir Alan Walker | Sunday Nights radio program (transcript), Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Feb. 2, 2003)
• A study in word and deed: A eulogy at Rev. Sir Alan Walker’s Thanksgiving Service | Harold Henderson, author, Reach for the World: The Alan Walker Story (Feb. 11, 2003)

Books by Alan Walker
• Standing Up To Preach: The Art of Evangelical Preaching
• Breakthrough: Rediscovery of the Holy Spirit
• The Whole Gospel for the Whole World (The Wieand Lectures in Evangelism)
• The Promise and the Power (The 1980 Harry Denman Lectures)

Posted in Christian/Methodist History, Doctrine, Evangelism, Missions, Sermons, United Methodist Church | Leave a Comment »

The Communion of Saints: February in Christian history

February 2, 2010 by MethodistThinker

Deitrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoffer

Feb. 4, 1906: Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is born in Breslau, Germany. As one of the leaders of Germany’s Confessing Church, he opposed the Nazis.

Bonhoeffer was arrested and eventually hanged — just days before Allied troops liberated the concentration camp where he was held. His books include The Cost of Discipleship.

Feb. 5, 1736: Brothers John and Charles Wesley arrive in Savannah, Georgia. They were to be missionaries to the native Americans, and John was to be pastor of the Savannah parish. Their efforts failed. “I went to America to convert the Indians; but O! who shall convert me?” he wrote two years later.

After returning to England, each had a deep experience of God’s grace and went on to lead what became known as the Methodist movement or Wesleyan revival. Today, there are an estimated 70 million Methodist and Wesleyan Christians worldwide.

Dwight L. Moody

Dwight L. Moody

Feb. 5, 1837: Dwight Lyman (D.L.) Moody (left), the greatest evangelist of his day and one of the greatest revivalists of all time, is born in Northfield, Massachusetts.

During his lifetime, he presented his message — by voice or pen — to at least 100 million people. Like the Wesley brothers mentioned above, Moody gave testimony of a deep and transformative experience of God’s grace.

Feb. 12, 1915: Blind hymnwriter Fanny Crosby dies at age 95 after writing more than 8,000 texts. Her works include Blessed Assurance, All the Way My Savior Leads Me, and Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.

John Bunyan

John Bunyan

Feb. 18, 1678: Puritan preacher John Bunyan (right) publishes The Pilgrim’s Progress, the second best-selling book in history (after the Bible) .

The allegorical tale, which describes Bunyan’s own conversion process, begins, “I saw a man clothed with rags… a book in his hand and a great burden upon his back.”

Feb. 22, 1906: Itinerant evangelist William J. Seymour arrives in Los Angeles to lead a lead a Holiness mission. The group grew larger as word spread of its revival meetings, which included speaking in tongues — a practice which, though mentioned several times in the New Testament, had been largely unknown in the modern church.

The revival meetings eventually moved to a rundown building on Azusa Street, and became known as the Azusa Street Revival. This revival is is often cited the birthplace of modern-day Pentecostalism.

∞

Adapted with permission from ChristianHistory.net.


Related post
• January in Christian history

Posted in Christian/Methodist History | Leave a Comment »

UM pro-life group urges Sen. Ben Nelson: ‘Do no harm’

January 27, 2010 by MethodistThinker

The United Methodist pro-life organization known as Lifewatch is urging Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a United Methodist layman, to reconsider his support of the recently passed Senate health bill, even as passage of a final health bill grows increasingly unlikely in the wake of last week’s U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts.

In December, Sen. Nelson became the final senator to announce his support for the bill, giving the legislation the exact number of votes needed to pass. For weeks prior to the vote, the Nebraska senator — who describes himself as pro-life — had expressed concerns that the Senate health bill would allow taxpayer funding of abortion.

A letter to Sen. Nelson written by two Lifewatch leaders refers to recent “lobbying efforts by some United Methodist clergy and laity” who pressured the senator to support the health bill even if it meant “compromising [his] pro-life principles.”

Many of those lobbying efforts were instigated by the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS). In November, GBCS decried abortion-related concerns that were hindering passage of the health bill. The board’s Linda Bales Todd described such concerns as being “based on one, narrow religious doctrine.”

Cynthia Abrams of GBCS

Days before the December Senate vote, the Rev. Cynthia Abrams of GBCS sent an e-mail to Nebraska Methodists characterizing Sen. Nelson as adhering to a “personal agenda” that was causing him to be “the last holdout blocking an important step forward in [health] reform.”

The GBCS e-mail included a suggested script for recipients to use when calling the senator’s office: “As a fellow United Methodist, I’d like you to know that our denomination’s position is that health care is a basic human right.”

(For the history of how health care came to be characterized as “right” by the UMC, see here; the matter has never been debated on the floor of any UM General Conference.)

The Lifewatch letter does not mention GBCS by name, but it notes that the Methodists who urged Sen. Nelson to set aside his pro-life views and support the health-overhaul bill “do not speak for all United Methodists.”

The Senate’s health care bill is unacceptable — to us, to many if not most United Methodists, and to the clear majority of Americans — since it would have the effect of facilitating, and thus increasing, the incidence of abortion in our society.

Furthermore, we are very concerned about the Senate bill’s failure to include the House bill’s conscience protections for health care providers who do not want to be coerced into participation in abortion. Finally, we are disturbed to read reports that your office “shut out” input from pro-life leaders during final negotiations on the final abortion language.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.)

We understand that, in recent weeks, you have been the target of lobbying efforts by some United Methodist clergy and laity urging you to support the health care reform bill even if it means compromising your pro-life principles. While these individuals are certainly free to express their opinions to you, you should know that they do not speak for all United Methodists.

Through our extensive experience in United Methodist congregations and organizations, we can assure you that many, if not most, United Methodists in Nebraska and in the United States share our concerns.

We understand the need to address the problem of the deplorably high number of people in our nation without health insurance. However, the first principle of the General Rules of The United Methodist Church, given by John Wesley to the early Methodists, is “Do no harm.”

With this principle in mind, as negotiations and votes on health care reform continue, we strongly urge you to reconsider your position and to work with pro-life leaders, including Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), to ensure that [any] health care bill that is passed will: (1) exclude any direct or indirect federal support for elective abortions; (2) exclude any provisions that may otherwise encourage or facilitate abortions; and (3) include strong conscience protections.

The letter is signed by Lifewatch president Paul T. Stallsworth, pastor of St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Morehead City, North Carolina, and John Lomperis, a member of the Lifewatch advisory board and a student at Harvard Divinity School.

John Lomperis and Paul Stallsworth at the 2009 National Right to Life Convention

Lifewatch was founded in 1987 as the Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality.

Members of the advisory board include Bishop Timothy Whitaker of the UMC’s Florida Conference, Bishop Will Willimon of the North Alabama Conference, Michael J. Gorman, Dean of Ecumenical Institute of Theology in Baltimore, Stanley Hauerwas of Duke University, the Rev. Bill Hughes of the University of Kentucky Wesley Foundation, and Thomas C. Oden of Drew University.


Related posts
• A United Methodist pro-life prayer guide
• Bishop Timothy Whitaker: Abortion and the gospel of peace
• ‘Church and Society’ decries pro-life amendment to health bill
• Bill Bouknight: The good news from General Conference ‘08
• Bishop Mike Watson: ‘The Methodist Christian Way’

Related articles
• United Methodist Bishop Scott Jones addresses pro-life event | Connor Ewing, IRD (Jan. 22, 2010)
• The pro-life organizations and people Nelson betrayed | Jill Stanek (Dec. 21, 2009)
• Ben Nelson refused to allow pro-life group’s input on abortion funding deal | Steven Ertelt, LifeSite News (Dec. 19, 2009)
• Methodists work Nelson: ‘Set aside his personal agenda and think about the common good’ | Ben Smith, Politico (Dec. 18, 2009)
• Four-minute video of 10 Nebraska United Methodists lobbying at Sen. Nelson’s Omaha office | Nebraska Conference (Nov. 2, 2009)
• United Methodists and abortion today | Bishop Timothy Whitaker (Feb. 9, 2009)
• United Methodism on abortion | Paul T. Stallsworth, On the Square—First Things (May 29, 2008)
• Mainline churches participate in abortion rights march | John Lomperis, Good News (July/August 2004)
• UMC holds ambiguous stand on abortion, speakers say | Melissa Lauber, United Methodist News Service (Jan. 24, 2002)
• The sanctification of human life (a historical overview of the Christian church’s position on abortion and other issues related to the sanctity of human life) — Chapter 2 of How Christianity Changed the World | Alvin Schmidt (Zondervan, 2004 — via Google Books)

Posted in Bishops, Book of Discipline, Doctrine, Ethics, Politics, Social Issues, United Methodist Church | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

A United Methodist pro-life prayer guide

January 21, 2010 by MethodistThinker

Friday (Jan. 22) marks the 37th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s decisions in the cases of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Taken together, the two rulings (authored by Justice Harry Blackmun, a United Methodist) effectively voided dozens of state laws aimed at protecting unborn children from abortion.

Since then, abortion doctors have performed 50 million abortions in the U.S. — primarily for purposes of birth control rather than for medical reasons. On average, five abortions occur in America every minute of every hour of every day.

The pro-life prayer guide below is adapted from material prepared by Lifewatch, also known as the Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality. A PDF copy of the prayer guide, designed for use as a church-bulletin insert, is here. (UM pastor Chris Roberts has prepared additional material that can be used as bulletin insert.)

∞

Lifewatch will host its annual worship service Friday at the United Methodist Building, next door to the U.S. Supreme Court. Bishop Scott Jones, who presides over the Kansas Area of the UMC, is scheduled to deliver the message.

In previous years, Bishop Will Willimon (North Alabama) and Bishop Timothy Whitaker (Florida) have addressed the Lifewatch gathering.

The UM Building in Washington, D.C.

At the 2004 service, Bishop Whitaker said a church that supports abortion undermines its proclamation of the gospel.

“[W]e who are United Methodists…have a responsibility to live according to our first rule [of the Methodist General Rules], which is to do no harm,” he declared. “Do no harm to the unborn! Do no harm to the witness of the Church as a peaceable people! Do no harm to the Gospel of peace!”

In 2008, the United Methodist General Conference passed legislation acknowledging “the sanctity of unborn human life” and noting that United Methodists are bound to “respect the sacredness of life and well-being of [both] the mother and the unborn child.”

The United Methodist Book of Discipline also states that the UMC “cannot affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control” (¶161J).

∞

Shortly after Friday’s Lifewatch service, the annual March for Life begins on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

(UMNS photo)

The event, which draws tens of thousands of pro-lifers each year, will be aired live (beginning at 11 a.m. ET) on EWTN, the Roman Catholic cable/satellite TV channel. (EWTN’s coverage will be repeated at 10 p.m. ET.)

Go here for live audio and video online.

The March for Life has been held annually since 1974.

Many churches will observe this Sunday as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.


Related posts
• Bishop Timothy Whitaker: Abortion and the gospel of peace
• ‘Church and Society’ decries pro-life amendment to health bill
• Bill Bouknight: The good news from General Conference ‘08
• Party platforms and the UMC
• Democrats, Methodists, and abortion policy
• Bishop Mike Watson: ‘The Methodist Christian Way’

Related articles
• United Methodists and abortion today | Bishop Timothy Whitaker (Feb. 9, 2009)
• United Methodism on abortion | Paul T. Stallsworth, On the Square—First Things (May 29, 2008)
• Abortion opponents speak out during national rally | United Methodist News Service (Jan. 24, 2008)
• Mainline churches participate in abortion rights march | John Lomperis, Good News (July/August 2004)
• UMC holds ambiguous stand on abortion, speakers say | Melissa Lauber, United Methodist News Service (Jan. 24, 2002)
• Roe ruling: More than its author intended | David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times—via HispanicPundit.com (Sept. 14, 2005)
• Justice Harry Blackmun was active United Methodist | United Methodist News Service (March 4, 1999)
• The sanctification of human life (a historical overview of the Christian church’s position on abortion and other issues related to the sanctity of human life) — Chapter 2 of How Christianity Changed the World | Alvin Schmidt (Zondervan, 2004 — via Google Books)
• Why is the New Testament silent about abortion? | Michael J. Gorman, Good News (May/June 1993)
• ‘Durham Declaration’ asks for ‘Scriptural approach’ to abortion in the UMC; Signatories include Bishops Ole E. Borgen and William R. Cannon | United Methodist News Service (March 12, 1991)
• Text of the Durham Declaration (January 1991)

Posted in Bishops, Book of Discipline, Doctrine, General Conference, Politics, Prayer, Social Issues, United Methodist Church | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

Charles Wesley on ‘The cause and cure of earthquakes’

January 15, 2010 by MethodistThinker

Tuesday’s massive earthquake in Haiti raises an age-old question: Is God is the author of “natural disasters”? Methodist co-founder Charles Wesley spoke to that question in a sermon first delivered in 1750, an edited text of which is below.

This text has been shortened, subheadings added, and the language slightly updated for easier reading (the original version is here, misidentified as a sermon by John Wesley).

∞

O come hither, and behold the works of the LORD;
what destruction He hath brought upon the earth!
(Psalm 46:8)

Whatever the natural cause of earthquakes may be, sin is the moral cause. This cannot be denied by any who believe the Scriptures.

Charles Wesley

Earthquakes are set forth by the inspired writers as God’s proper judicial act, or the punishment of sin.

“The earth trembled and quaked; the very foundations also of the hills shook, and were removed, because he was wroth” (Psalm 18:7).

So also the Prophet Isaiah: “I will punish the world for their evil, — and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible: — Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shalt remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of host, and in the day of his fierce anger” (Isaiah 13:11, 13).

And again, “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise” (Isaiah 29:6).

We cannot conceive that the universe would have been disturbed by these furious accidents before sin. Therefore reason, as well as faith, sufficiently assures us that such disasters must be the punishment of sin, and the effect of that curse which was brought upon the earth by the original transgression.


Judgment and repentance

Nothing can be so affecting as this judgment of earthquakes when it comes unexpectedly as a thief in the night, when there is no time to flee, or method to escape, or possibility to resist; when no sanctuary or refuge remains, when the earth opens suddenly, and becomes the grave of whole families, streets, and cities. There is only the difference of a few hours or minutes between a famous city and none at all!

When God makes the mountains tremble, and the earth shake, shall not our hearts be moved? “Fear ye not me? saith the Lord; and will ye not tremble at my presence?” (Jeremiah 5:22).

Will you not fear Him who can thus suddenly turn a fruitful land into a barren wilderness; an amazing spectacle of desolation and ruin?

O that His fear might this moment fall upon all you who hear these words; constraining every one of you to cry out, “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments!” (Psalm 109:10).

Repent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance; let us break off our sins this moment.

“Therefore now, saith the Lord,” who is not willing any should perish, “turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him?” (Joel 2:12-14).


Will you heed the warning?

God waits to see what effect His warnings will have. He has no pleasure in the death of him who dies.

God warns you of the approaching judgment, that you may take warning, and escape it by timely repentance. He lifts up his hand, and shakes it over you, that you may see it, and prevent the final stroke.

He tells you, “Now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees” (Matthew 3:10).

Therefore repent; bring forth good fruit; and you shall not be hewn down, and cast into the fire. O do not despise the riches of His mercy, but let it lead you to repentance!

How slow is the Lord to anger! How unwilling to punish! By what leisurely steps does He come to take vengeance! How many lighter afflictions before the final blow!

If we provoke Him to lay waste our earth, and turn it upside down, and overthrow us, as He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, shall we not have procured this unto ourselves? If we perish at last, we perish without excuse; for what could have been done more to save us?

Yes, you have now another call to repentance, another offer of mercy. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I warn you once more, as a watchman over the house of Israel, to flee from the wrath to come!

The Lord was in the earthquake, and He put a solemn question to thy conscience: “Are you ready to die?” “Is your peace made with God?”

If the earth just now were to open its mouth, and swallow you up, what would become of you? Where would you be?


Repent and believe the gospel

Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall yet be saved. Confess with a broken heart your unbelief; your having rejected, or not accepted, Jesus Christ as your only Saviour.

Until you repent of your unbelief, all your good desires and promises are vain, and will pass away as a morning cloud. The vows which you make in a time of trouble, you will forget and break as soon as the trouble is over and the danger past.

But if you repent and believe, then you are justified by faith. You will have peace with God, and will rejoice in hope of His glorious appearing.

He who believes hath the earnest of heaven in his heart; he has love stronger than death. Death to a believer has lost its sting. Therefore will he “not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:2).

For he knows in whom he has believed; and that “neither life nor death shall be able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus his Lord.”

Come, then, to the Author and Finisher of faith, confessing your sins, and the root of all — your unbelief — so that He can forgive your sins, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Come to the Friend of sinners, and he will give you pardon! Enter into the rock, the ark, the city of refuge!

He has spared you for this very thing; that your eyes might see His salvation. Whatever judgments are yet to come, those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus shall be delivered.

Call upon Him now. Your life, you soul, is at stake! Cry mightily unto Him, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”


Related posts
• The Communion of Saints: May in Christian history
• Podcast: John Wesley on ‘The New Birth’

Related articles and information
• Theodicy: Where would a just God be if not in the earthquake? (PDF) | Anne Bracket, Wesley Heritage Foundation (July 2001)
• Should the earth this moment cleave | Fred Sanders (Biola University), The Scriptorium (Jan. 13, 2010)
• Earthquake hymns by Charles Wesley (1750), Pt. 1 (PDF) | Duke Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition
• Earthquake hymns by Charles Wesley (1750), Pt. 2 (PDF) | Duke Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition
• Charles Wesley’s hymn on the Lisbon earthquake (1756) (PDF) | Duke Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition
• Britain celebrates Charles Wesley’s life, legacy | Kathleen LaCamera, United Methodist News Service (Dec. 19, 20007)
• Charles Wesley: Lacking the Holy Spirit no more | Glimpses of Christian History

Posted in Christian/Methodist History, Doctrine, Sermons | Leave a Comment »

The UMC needs what InterVarsity has

January 13, 2010 by MethodistThinker

In the wake of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s triennial missions conference, Urbana 09 (held Dec. 27-Dec. 31 in St. Louis), a leader with The Mission Society (formerly The Mission Society for United Methodists) notes that the Urbana conference offers a clear and encouraging sign that “God is calling a new generation to His mission.”

“I just finished attending the huge Urbana 2009 student missions conference,” wrote Jim Ramsey, the groups’s senior director of field ministry, on The Mission Society blog.

“Over 15,000 young people gathered to learn about and explore commitment to God’s mission in the world. It has been an amazing time,” Ramsey wrote.

He said his time at the Urbana conference made it clear that not only is “calling a new generation to His mission,” but that this particular generation has “an exciting passion among students to confront issues of injustice and poverty with the power of the Gospel.”

This isn’t a fuzzy “do-gooder” type of approach, trying to come up with human solutions — the approach that has characterized various “social gospel” attempts of the past. This generation seems to be gifted with a radical abandon to Jesus Christ and a willingness to confront systems of poverty and injustice with the light of the Gospel. They seem to experience the deep offense that such systems are to the Creator and feel compelled to challenge and change….

Those of us who are a bit further along in years — parents, church leaders, mission leaders — need to recognize what God is doing and do all we can to encourage, to advise, and to release this incredible energy and passion.

Meanwhile, Riley B. Case of the United Methodist Confessing Movement writes that the passion and strong sense of mission exhibited at the Urbana Conference serves as sober reminder about the declining state of official UM missions.

[When I attended by first Urbana Conference in 1955,] the Board of Missions of The Methodist Church was very visible and active in recruitment of persons for service in the Methodist Church. The board at that time was recruiting evangelical students as missionaries….

Dr. Riley B. Case

The Methodist Church in 1955 had nearly 1,800 overseas full-time missionaries on the field. The General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM, the successor to the Board of Missions) now has fewer than 200 full-time overseas missionaries in service….

InterVarsity seeks to work in cooperation with other parachurch groups and other denominations. In the light of this nearly 150 mission agencies and educational institutions exhibited at Urbana 09. However, The United Methodist Church was conspicuous by its near-absence.

Numbers of evangelical seminaries recruited students at Urbana, but few mainline seminaries. One has the feeling that United Methodist seminaries either are not aware of conferences like Urbana 09, or are not interested in pursuing evangelicals as students.

That is most unfortunate, because The United Methodist Church could benefit from the commitment and enthusiasm that comes out of conferences like Urbana.

Of the more than 15,000 attendees at this year’s Urbana conference, more than 2,600 committed themselves to long-term missionary service. Another 5,000 committed themselves to short-term service.


Related posts
• The Mission Society celebrates 25 years
• ‘Refocused on our divinely appointed mission’: GBGM and The Mission Society co-sponsor missions conference in Atlanta

Related articles and information
• ‘Justice generation’ puts Jesus into social action | Heather Sells, CBN (Jan. 12, 2010)
• Thousands of Urbana attendees bring in new year with commitment to missions | Steven Lawson, Charisma News Online (Jan. 1, 2010)
• Going worldwide: For 25 years the Mission Society has helped the church discover its mission | Dick McClain, Good News (September/October 2009)
• There must be more: Mission Society ‘campus missionaries’ are helping feed the spiritually hungry at several U.S. colleges | Anna Egipto, Unfinished (Spring 2009)
• The demise of the world’s greatest mission agency | Mark Tooley, Touchstone magazine (November/December 1998)
• An open letter to the United Methodist Church from The Mission Society | The Mission Society, via the UM Confessing Movement (May 8, 1998)

Posted in Missions, United Methodist Church | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

The Communion of Saints: January in Christian history

January 2, 2010 by MethodistThinker

Jan. 1, 1622: The Roman Catholic church adopts January 1 as the beginning of the year, rather than March 25.

Jan. 3, 1785: The Methodist “Christmas Conference” concludes at Baltimore, Maryland, having created the Methodist Episcopal Church in America (now the United Methodist Church).

Francis Asbury (pictured kneeling) and Thomas Coke were elected as the denomination’s two first “general superintendents.” Later the title was changed to “bishop.”

Jan. 6, 1850: Charles H. Spurgeon, who would become one of the greatest preachers of all time, converts to Christianity during a service at a Primitive Methodist church, as a lay preacher spoke on Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.”

Mr. Spurgeon described the event in his Autobiography:

[The speaker] had not much to say, thank God, for that compelled him to keep on repeating his text, and there was nothing needed — by me, at any rate — except his text. Then, stopping, he pointed to where I was sitting under the gallery, and he said, “That young man there looks very miserable”…and he shouted, as I think only a Primitive Methodist can, “Look! Look, young man! Look now!”….

Then I had this vision — not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw what a Savior Christ was…. I no sooner saw whom I was to believe than I also understood what it was to believe, and I did believe in one moment.

Jan. 6, 1984: The Mission Society for United Methodists is established — with a goal of “offering Christ to the world’s under-evangelized and unreached people.” Now known simply as The Mission Society, the organization — which receives no denominational funding — has more than 225 missionaries in 32 countries.

whitefieldJan. 10, 1739: George Whitefield (left), whose preaching sparked America’s first Great Awakening, is ordained to the Anglican ministry.

Whitefield later identified with the Methodist movement and took to open-air preaching after jealous ministers denied him the use of their pulpits.

Jan. 21, 1621: Pilgrims leave the Mayflower and gather on shore at Plymouth, Massachusetts, for their first religious service in America.

Jan. 22, 1973: The United States Supreme Court invalidates all state restrictions on abortion in its Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions.

Years later, it was learned that the Roe case was premised on a deception. The plaintiff, “Jane Roe” (later identified as Norma McCorvey), had not been raped as claimed. In 1995, McCorvey became a follower of Christ and a pro-life activist.

Jan. 27, 398: John Chrysostom, the greatest preacher of his age, is consecrated bishop of Constantinople.

∞

Adapted with permission from ChristianHistory.net.

Posted in Christian/Methodist History | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

A prayer of hope for the New Year

December 30, 2009 by MethodistThinker

The Apostle Paul pronounced this blessing on the Church at Rome: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, until, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you overflow with hope” (Rom. 15:13).

LORD God, give followers of Jesus such a full measure of joy and peace that our hope overflows to those around us who are without hope in the world.

hope-in-the-lordYou have put us here to touch others with a message of profound hope — the gospel of Jesus Christ. By the power of your Holy Spirit, give us success in that fulfilling that mission.

Cause our joy and peace to attract the attention of people who don’t yet know Jesus.

When they ask about the reason for the hope we have, may we be prepared to give an answer that points to Jesus the Righteous One, the One who lived and died and lives again.

Posted in Doctrine, Prayer | Leave a Comment »

The top ten MethodistThinker posts of 2009

December 28, 2009 by MethodistThinker

The following are our ten most-viewed posts of 2009 (the date of each post date is in parentheses):

  1. Adam Hamilton: ‘We are in desperate need of excellent preaching’ (Oct. 12)

  2. In Mississippi Conference, testimony from lesbian couple stirs controversy (June 29)

  3. Ed Tomlinson: Proposed amendments would ‘decimate connectionalism’ (March 26)

  4. Proposed amendments would separate UMC into ‘national entities’ (Feb. 27)

  5. John Ed Mathison: Seven concerns about the UMC (March 4)

  6. Billy Abraham on United Methodism: ‘There is no common faith among us’ (Jan. 29)

  7. Board of Church and Society sex-ed writer: Sex outside of marriage can be ‘moral, ethical’ (Sept. 4)

  8. Maxie Dunnam, Eddie Fox release videos on proposed amendments (April 17)

  9. Bishop Robert Schnase on ‘The Five Practices’ (Jan. 14)

  10. Lyn Powell on the new United Methodist membership vows (Jan. 26)

The top video clip of the year was an address by Connie Campbell and Renee Sappington, two homosexual women who spoke about their relationship as part of a worship service at the 2009 session of the Mississippi Annual Conference (that video is part of the #2 post listed above).

The most-listened-to MethodistThinker Podcast during the past 12 months was a May podcast featuring a 1960 sermon by the late Methodist missionary, E. Stanley Jones.

Happy New Year — and thanks for reading MethodistThinker.com!

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A Christmas prayer

December 24, 2009 by MethodistThinker

Father, we stand in awe of what we celebrate. How can it be that the all-sufficient God of the universe became a helpless child resting in a feed trough?

mary_joseph_jesus_mangerHow can it be that the divine Word reduced Himself to unintelligible sounds?

How can it be that the hands that once sculpted mountain ranges, now made flesh, reach to grab hold of a loving mother’s finger?

We don’t know how it can be. And yet it happened. Jesus came, the visible expression of the invisible God, to bring God to us and us to God.

Though the darkness of this world at times seems overwhelming, in midst of that darkness we again see the Light of Christmas, the Light that cannot be overcome.

And before Him, we bow down and worship.

∞

Adapted from the first chapter of Ken Gire’s 1989 book, Intimate Moments with the Savior (Zondervan).

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