Elliot Wright Can Methodists learn anything about effective Christian evangelism from their denomination’s founding period 250 years ago? “Yes,” says a Duke University professor, who told 600 church developers how the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, gave rise to a movement that swept the young United States of America. “Early Methodism was evangelistic,” the Rev. [...]

By Kenneth C. Kinghorn John Wesley invented no new theological doctrines. “Whatever doctrine is new must be wrong,” he wrote, “and no doctrine can be right, unless it is the very same ‘which was from the beginning.’” Mr. Wesley said, “If Methodism…be a new discovery in religion…this [notion] is a grievous mistake; we pretend no such [...]

By James V. Heidinger II In my retirement, there has been a welcome change of pace. In the midst of several major family projects, it has been refreshing to have time to do a lot of reading. One of the big serendipities this fall has been working through Basic United Methodist Beliefs: An Evangelical View [...]

By George Mitrovich Barbara Brown Taylor, a priest of the Episcopal Church and a gifted preacher and writer, sent me an email saying she had gone on a walk one afternoon near her Georgia home when I came to mind. She said she wondered, “How’s my Arminian friend?” I was pleased to receive her note. [...]

By Andrew D. Kinsey “What makes John Wesley so perplexing?” That opening question sets the stage for Jason Vickers’ stimulating new book, Wesley: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum). Associate Professor of Theology and Wesley Studies at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Vickers points to three perplexities. First, despite Wesley’s insistence to preach “plain truth [...]