One of the key teachings of the Wesleyan understanding of the Christian faith is the doctrine of prevenient grace — the grace of God that goes before us, making preparations and acting on our behalf, so that later we can we can experience the blessings that flow from that grace.
In a brief video presentation at the 2007 South Georgia Confirmation Retreat at Epworth by the Sea, Bishop Mike Watson — now bishop of the North Georgia Conference — talked about the doctrine of prevenient grace.
Bishop Mike Watson
[Being sent] to South Georgia [as a bishop after many years as a pastor in Alabama], I didn’t know exactly how that would pan out, how that would unfold.
But I found out that God was already here.
And God is with me everywhere I go — just like God is with you. God always prepares the way for us in everything that we do, everywhere we go…. [W]e never can get outside of God’s grace….
He even prepares a home for us in what we call the “afterlife.” But there is no afterlife. It’s just life — in God, in Christ, in love!
Listen to Bishop Watson’s presentation to the confirmands below (2 min.)
Mike Watson will be officially “installed” as the bishop of the North Georgia Conference this Sunday in a service at Dunwoody United Methodist Church.
