by Steve | Jan 12, 2018 | January-February 2018, Magazine, Magazine Articles
Dr. David Watson preaches in Vedado Methodist Church in Havana, Cuba, as Aylen Font Marrero translates the message. Photo by Steve Beard.
By Chris Ritter-
If there is a spiritual awakening waiting for the United Methodist Church, an essential ingredient of that renewal will be reclamation of Scripture as divinely inspired and authoritative. But there is more. John Wesley was clear that holding right opinions about the Bible and Christianity is not enough. In his sermon, “The Way to the Kingdom,” Wesley wrote: “A man may be as orthodox as the devil … and all the while be as great a stranger to the religion of the heart.”
We who seek the recovery of classic Methodism too often focus on the first half of the equation and not enough on the heart. Being the academic dean of a major United Methodist seminary, we might cynically expect Dr. David Watson to be of little help on either score. But there is ample evidence to the contrary. The latest is Scripture and the Life of God: Why the Bible Matters Today More Than Ever, his recent work offered by Seedbed.
We needed this book. When major evangelicals leave an orthodox understanding of the faith, they often write something explaining why they are really “still in” in all the ways that matter. These publications invariably end up being about the Bible, tenderly highlighting its supposed inadequacies like a pet owner might speak of their ugly, misbehaving dog: “We love it anyway and wouldn’t trade it for anything.” So we have this growing library of recent works describing the ways in which the Bible is inadequate for moral decision-making today. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are the ones who desperately need critiquing. While not making this the sole focus of his book, Watson offers a clear response to the claims of these authors.
He does so by reclaiming the Bible as scripture. Not merely a collection of ancient writings to be studied and debated, Scripture is an instrument God uses to communicate to those he loves. Watson does not abandon critical biblical scholarship, but neither does he treat it as an end in itself. The purpose of the Bible is nothing other than our salvation. He is very helpful in Chapter Two describing how this process works.
As I write, there is a growing list of notable figures being exposed publicly for how they have exposed themselves privately. Hollywood is in crisis as it feeds the very culture of exploitation it wants to stop. Our political leaders are just as guilty and just as helpless. Being an institution involving humanity, the Church is in no way immune. But Watson reminds us that we hold the medicine in our hands. We have something to offer the bruised and battered refugees from the sexual revolution: “God is the great physician, we are the patients, and God’s medicine bag is the church. Within the church, we hold the delicate instruments by which God heals our wounds, our sin, our brokenness,” writes Watson. “The faith passed down through the centuries, our practices of worship, our common prayers and confession of faith, and, yes, the Bible, are means by which God applies the medicine of the Holy Spirit.”
Watson offers a central metaphor for salvation throughout the book: entering the life of God. Scripture is not merely a way to learn about God, but a means of being encountered personally by the living God. We are invited to an “inexhaustible fountain” of God’s love when faithfully engaging with scripture toward this intended purpose.
This approach to biblical inspiration avoids many of the potholes of the well-worn biblical inerrancy debate. Through the “God-breathed” text, the living God continues to breathe on us. But Watson does not use a devotional approach to scripture to mask over the genuine difficulties that come when we attempt to reconcile the ancient culture of the Bible with our own. The final chapter of the book is devoted to tackling these issues head-on. The Wesleyan tradition offers much to assist us.
I was delighted to also find a chapter highlighting the supernatural works of the Holy Spirit in scripture and today. Here is a United Methodist academic dean that believes in miracles! Watson blends C.S. Lewis’ reasoned defense of the supernatural with his own encounters with the global church in places like Cuba. The chasm between the supernatural world of the Bible and the mundane existence of our own lives is bridged as we plunge afresh into the life of God.
I cannot help but notice that Watson’s voice is part of a growing chorus of leaders in United Methodism becoming more open about their experience with the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. (Let me take this opportunity to “come out,” too, as a charismatic.) While the excesses and theology of all charismatics cannot be defended, there is an unmistakable fire at the roots of our Wesleyan tradition. These embers gave rise to Pentecostalism (the fastest growing type of Christianity globally) and are smoldering up again just when we need it the most. My heart always jumps a bit when someone speaks of this.
If Watson is an odd duck as a keen academic deeply interested in the supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit, he swims in the same pond as John Wesley. Both fearlessly call us to raise our level of expectation. The biblical miracles describe God’s mighty acts of salvation in history and also provide a template for what God wants to do today.
If your church has been passing around copies of Adam Hamilton’s Making Sense of the Bible or Rob Bell’s What is the Bible?, I recommend introducing Scripture and the Life of God into the discussion. Dr. Watson has a gift for clarity that is critically needed in these morally and intellectually muddy days. The book is eminently readable and contains some helpful discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Adult Sunday school classes, church leadership groups, clergy covenant groups, and small groups will find this a helpful resource.
We can be thankful to Seedbed for continuing to “sow for a great awakening.” Reclaiming the power and authority of Scripture in the church is essential to the recovery for which we pray. Could it break forth in our lifetime? David Watson believes in miracles. So do I.
Chris Ritter is the author of of Seven Things John Wesley Expected Us to Do for Kids (Abingdon) and Directing Pastor of a multi-site ministry in Illinois that includes Geneseo First United Methodist Church and Cambridge United Methodist Church.
by Steve | Jan 12, 2018 | January-February 2018, Magazine, Magazine Articles
United Methodist regional missionary Finda Quiwa encourages incarcerated women in Freetown, Sierra Leone to “Never give up. Trust God, and things will change.” Photo by Phileas Jusu, UMNS.
By Phileas Jusu-
Encouraged by regional missionary Finda Quiwa to “keep the faith, fight the good fight, and continue to trust in God,” seven inmates of the Freetown Female Correctional Center were baptized and confirmed in The United Methodist Church. The women led choruses — a practice now very popular among them — before the Rev. Daisy Gbloh conducted the November baptism and confirmation service. (The correction center is located in Freetown, the capital and largest city of the west African nation of Sierra Leone. There are 225,000 United Methodists in Sierra Leone.)
Rejoicing as they celebrated Christ’s presence in their lives, the new confirmands took their first sacrament of Holy Communion. Supported by volunteer pastors and laity, United Methodist regional missionaries Elmira Sellu and Quiwa serve the Sierra Leone Annual Conference prison ministry.
Quiwa called the occasion an historic event in the lives of the women and a day of joy for the prison ministry. She encouraged the inmates, “Never give up. Trust God, and things will change.” Over the years, volunteers have led devotions and Bible study, counseling sessions and skills training to help focus on the lives of the women after incarceration.
According to Quiwa, United Methodist volunteers were the first to go into the correctional center. She recalled that even during difficult moments, when people outside the prison were refused entry, the United Methodist prison ministry was allowed into the correctional center.
The Rev. Daisy Gbloh (center, standing), supported by the Rev. Winston Ashcroft and the Rev. Alex Josiah, baptizes a woman at the Female Correctional Center in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photo by Phileas Jusu, UMNS.
“The message of hope — that God can restore us, no matter what crime we have committed” — influenced their decision, she said. “We believe there is life after prison,” Quiwa declared. 
Often, released prisoners are shunned by society and lack skills that can make them self-reliant. “But with skills training, they can have a vocation to rely on to make life meaningful after detention,” she said. “We teach them simple things like floral and balloon decorations, tailoring, hall decoration, soap making, arts and crafts.”
The ministry is also involved in advocacy with government officials for the release of those with whom they work. “We thank God,” Quiwa added, “that most of them join The United Methodist Church after they are released.”
She remembered a former prisoner who now attends Brown Memorial United Methodist Church. The Brown women — who gave the woman business startup funding — supported her, and she is doing well. Another former inmate, who now attends Bishop Baughman United Methodist Church, is also succeeding.
Recalling Jesus’ words, “When I was in prison, you visited me,” Quiwa said, “We give hope; we give courage to restore them so that they cannot return to the issues that caused them to go to jail in the first place. Sometimes, they have served in our churches as examples for people not to go into crime and to see that no matter how difficult this life can get, Christ has a way out.”
Sellu congratulated the women on the bold step to give their lives to Christ and become baptized. She asked them to continue to make amends, do what is right, and move forward in life. “There is nothing impossible with Christ,” Sellu continued. “One day, you will become free to serve the Lord.
“I really felt good and gratified that our ministry is making such a difference in the lives of prisoners,” Sellu said, adding that the high point was “when water was poured on their heads, the genuine tears that flowed freely down the cheeks of the converts and the commitment they made to serve the Lord at all times.”
One woman expressed “thanks and appreciations to God Almighty and the United Methodist prison ministry, the regional missionaries and volunteers for the courage, hope and love” shown them.
Phileas Jusu is director of communications for The United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone. Joe Edward Pormai, a volunteer who works in the United Methodist Women’s regional missionary office with Finda Quiwa, contributed to this story.
by Steve | Jan 12, 2018 | January-February 2018, Magazine, Magazine Articles
“Salvator Mundi” – “Savior of the World” – By Leonardo da Vinci.
By Steve Beard-
The art world is in a high-dollar tizzy after a controversial Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus sold for nearly half a billion dollars. The mid-November auction “saw a tense 20 minute battle between at least six bidders,” reported Newsweek. “Observers in the room whooped, cheered, and applauded when the sale was finally confirmed.” Now registered as the highest priced piece of art in history, the 26-inch high painting portrays Christ in a flowing blue Renaissance-era robe holding a crystal orb in one hand and making the benediction blessing sign with the other.
The painting’s magnetic draw was not surprising. Remarkably, there are less than 20 Leonardo (1452-1519) paintings known to exist – and all others are displayed in museums. He was a trailblazing inventor, mathematician, and artist who is most well-known for his paintings “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper.”
The final price tag of $450 million for “Salvator Mundi” – Latin for “Savior of the World” – was jaw dropping, especially considering the opening bid was $75 million. The entire transaction puts this piece of art into a stratosphere without peer. Interestingly, there is a fascinating history that accompanies the artwork, as well as some very big unanswered mysteries.
At different stages over the last 500 years the portrait was owned by King Charles I of England (1600-1649), vanished from public viewing for 150 years before it showed up in 1900, sold for $59 in 1958 (believed to be the work of a Leonardo associate), someone painted over Christ’s face and hair, it was restored and sold for less than $10,000 at a Louisiana estate sale, appraised as a Leonardo original in 2011, sold to a Swiss tycoon for $75 million, and purchased by a Russian oligarch for $127 million. The last owner had it auctioned off at Christie’s.
One of the unanswered questions is who spent $450 million to purchase the painting. The other question – perhaps more important – is whether the painting is actually authentic. Despite the monumental price tag, there are highly-charged debates about whether the portrait was painted by Leonardo or one of his disciples, Bernardino Luini.
It would not be difficult for theologians and Bible teachers to see points of parallel and contrast between the painting in question and the recorded life of Jesus. Both share colorfully circuitous storylines. There is also a striking juxtaposition between the painting’s price tag and Jesus’ sage warning about wealth, camels, and the eye of a needle. Then there are the heavy questions to be addressed about both the true authenticity of “Salvator Mundi,” as well as the divine nature of Jesus. Faith comes to the forefront in both instances.
For Bible readers, the Gospel of St. Mark records an intriguing exchange when Jesus asked a seemingly odd question of his disciples: “Who do people say I am?” (8:27). What would prompt someone to ask such a question – especially to friends and associates? Of course, Christ was clearly something more than a run-of-the-mill wayfaring prophet. Indeed, what we are to make of Jesus has become a pivotal spiritual inquiry for the last 2000 years. The legendary broadcaster Larry King once said that if he could choose one person from history to interview it would be Christ. King said that he would like to ask “if He was indeed virgin-born,” adding, “The answer to that question would define history for me.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936).
The story of Jesus is a patchwork of the mundane and miraculous. St. Mark launches with Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River by a locust-and-honey-eating holy man. From there, Jesus matter-of-factly proclaimed that the “kingdom of God is near,” cast a shrieking demon out of a man at a church service, and healed the sick and possessed. He tried to pray in isolation before sunrise one day but his disciples tracked him down and exasperatedly blurted out, “Everyone is looking for you!” He was clearly a man with a plan – and obviously in demand.
However, he had no world headquarters, no private jet, no mailing list, no Instagram, no cable network TV show. He hiked around the country side with an unlikely gaggle of disciples and preached and drove out howling dark spirits and touched untouchable people. With compassion, we are told, he healed the lepers who were missing ears and fingers and toes.
It was standing room only when he was the guest of honor in a home. In the middle of his talk, a gang of friends ripped open the roof and precariously lowered a paralyzed man into the center of the living room. “Son, your sins are forgiven” were the peculiar and unexpected words the man heard as the atrophied muscles of his legs were revived. Divine forgiveness and an empty stretcher in one fell swoop. Mystery stacked upon mystery.
Thumbing through Mark’s Gospel, there is a story of a shriveled hand that is healed then the salacious allegation that Jesus was himself possessed by Beelzebub. There was the awkward moment when Jesus provocatively asked, “Who are my mother and brothers?” Sure, he was clearly making a point with shock-value, but why provoke the family? Oh yes, and there was a nasty storm incident that left his friends asking, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him.”
We may feel safer and less anxiety-ridden with the “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus (“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”) but the dog-eared pages of a well-read Bible are not shy about revealing stories that seem more like Stephen King novels than Sunday school flannel board stories. The temptation is to sell a domesticated meek and mild Jesus when the stories tell a wild counter narrative.
The out-of-this-world episodes roll through like an out-of-control locomotive. A naked man who cut himself with sharp rocks and lived in a graveyard got a house call from Jesus. The fur flew. Well, in this case, a livid pig farmer went berserk when Jesus cast the man’s demons into 2000 pigs and they charged down a hill straight into a lake. The graveyard dweller was made whole and found some clothes. The pigs didn’t fare so well. They didn’t swim. The irate townspeople ushered Jesus outside the city limits.
On the following pages, there is a dead daughter brought back to life and a hemorrhaging woman made whole when she touched the hem of his clothing. Five loaves and two fish fed thousands – and there were leftovers. Who can forget the legendary adventure of Jesus walking on water?
Eventually we get back to the big question Jesus asked his friends: “Who do people say that I am?” When you read it from front-to-back, the question doesn’t seem so crazy. Jesus’ disciples replied with the only categories they understood, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” Jesus asked his friends. “Who do you say I am?” The impetuous Apostle Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
Adding to the enigma, the Bible says: “Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.”
While trendy scholars revamp Jesus into a Bible-thumping Che Guevara, time-tested theologians take the abnormalities and fantastical elements of the gospel accounts in stride. They’re not sanguine about the inexplicable, they’re just not revisionistic.
“People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe,” observed author G.K. Chesterton, English journalist and philosopher. “There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy.” Like it or not, the gospel scenes were either a cosmic charade or Jesus simply played by his own set of rules.
“Mysteries abide at the heart of every religious faith, but the Christian tradition is uniquely comfortable preaching dogmas that can seem like riddles, offering answers that swiftly lead to further questions, and confronting believers with the possibility that the truth about God passes all our understanding,” observes New York Times columnist Ross Douthat.
Responding to pointed questions regarding who painted “Salvator Mundi,” a spokesperson from Christie’s Auction House remarked: “Leonardo’s paintings are known for their mystery and ambiguity.” The painting will remain a controversy that will never fully be laid to rest except for those who wholeheartedly believe in its authenticity.
In a somewhat similar fashion, questions about Jesus Christ have lingered for more than two millennia. Vibrant orthodoxy has embraced the twin prisms of paradox and mystery to envision the complexities and challenges of faith. Yet in an age of internet-quick skepticism, the bombardment of criticism over even an inkling of faith is merciless. Witness what passes as religious dialogue via social media. It is a series of grunts, groans, over the top mockery, and a supposed mic drop – the one liner intended to end the exchange. Unfortunately, both sides utilize this technique. The Good Shepherd, meanwhile, is left voiceless.
“One man’s mystery is another man’s incoherence,” observes Douthat, “and the paradoxes of Christian doctrine have always been a source of scandal as well as strength – not only among atheists, but also among the many honest believers to whom orthodox Christian doctrine looks like a hopeless muddle or else transparent sophistry.”
St. Paul addressed the struggle of looking at the spiritual life with an authentic vision of faith – it had to be something more than mere intellect or emotion. For believers, he prayed that the “eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope” and “incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18).
Speaking in truly other-worldly terms, no less than Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like an investor searching high and low for fine pearls. “When he found one very precious pearl, he went away and sold all he had and bought it.” For those who believe, this is the journey of faith. To those who seek, Jesus is known as the pearl of great price.
Meanwhile, congratulations are in order for the proud new owner of “Salvator Mundi.” One hopes that the buyer of the painting has stumbled upon the real deal. After 2000 years, Jesus still seems to be a portrait that pops off the canvas.
Steve Beard is the editor of Good News.
![Love in Action for Lepers]()
by Steve | Jan 12, 2018 | January-February 2018, Magazine
John Farr displays carvings and baskets that he makes to help support himself at the Ganta Leprosy and TB Rehab Center. The center is part of the United Methodist Ganta Mission Station in Ganta, Liberia. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.
By Joey Butler-
When John Flomo was 15 years old, he contracted leprosy and was sent to the Ganta Leprosy and TB Rehab Center for treatment. That was in 1966. He never left. “Long time. Many buildings have been built since I came,” he said. “They take care of me, feed me, give me a place to sleep.” (The rehab center is located in Ganta, the second most-populated city in the West African nation of Liberia. There are 275,500 United Methodists in Liberia.)
With nimble hands missing most of their fingers, Flomo weaves baskets and carves wood to sell to have a little extra money. He uses it to buy additional food — his favorite is pepper soup, a spicy, gumbo-like stew. “I tell them ‘thank you’ plenty. My father, my mother, all of them died. So they take care of me. I tell God, ‘Thank you for them.’”
The center was founded in the mid-1920s by Dr. George Way Harley, an American Methodist missionary and physician. He built the Ganta Methodist Mission Station, which houses the rehab center as well as a school, church and the Ganta Methodist Hospital. “Dr. Harley came to Liberia in 1926 as part of the Harvard Medical Expedition, and once he set foot in Ganta, he never left,” said John Brimah, officer in charge of the rehab center.
“When he opened a clinic at the mission, many were coming and those who were coming had skin diseases, including leprosy,” Brimah added. “Because leprosy was a disease many were afraid of, other patients complained about being treated in the same place. So the mission clinic became solely for skin diseases and leprosy — this became a leper colony.”
“When we came here in the ’80s,” Brimah said, “we found some people who had been here for so many years already and they couldn’t go home. Those people are older and we have to care for them for their lifetime. There are about 18 of them.”
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and the eyes. Leprosy is now curable, and treatment in the early stages can prevent disability. But the age-old disease, mentioned frequently in the Bible, was often accompanied by fears and misunderstanding. Many leprosy patients were shunned by their families and communities, even after they were cured.
Leprosy is mentioned many times in the Old Testament, but the story that is most familiar to Christians is the Gospel story of Jesus healing 10 men with leprosy.
For a long time, doctors who were monitoring the mission station also came to check on the patients and treat them. Around the 1980s, Brimah said, the Methodist Mission gave the clinic to the Liberian government. The government assigned Catholic missionaries to care for the patients. The clinical care responsibilities still fall to the Catholics, but The United Methodist Church owns the land, and the two consider the center a partnership. There is a United Methodist church on the grounds; the mission station sends pastors there to hold worship and tend to the spiritual needs of the patients, since many of them are unable to travel.
Pastor James Y. Koroloroblee, who is a vice principal at Ganta United Methodist School, is one of the preachers who leads worship at the colony. “People have been there since the 1950s and 1960s,” he said. “There’s a fellow there who came after treatment, went back to his sisters and they rejected him. He said, ‘I have a place where people are willing to accept me,’ so he left and came back here.”
Brimah said the staff mainly treats three diseases: leprosy, tuberculosis and buruli ulcers, which are large wounds afflicting many who work on farms in rural areas infected from swamps and still water. The staff of 65 treats around 150 patients at a time.
Marie Clinton has been a nurse on staff there since 1989. She described the process of cleaning and dressing patients’ wounds, which begins in the early morning until about 1 p.m. every day. “We soak them for 30 minutes in one liter of water to one tablespoon of salt, every day. With ulcer patients, sometimes we have to wash the wounds and cover with gauze. With leprosy patients, sometimes we have to put Vaseline around the wounds to prevent the skin from cracking.”
Sheraton Nyanaleh, an aid in the TB lab and a United Methodist, said he considers his work to be an extension of the church’s ministry. “For the ministry of Jesus, we believe in teaching, health and healing…. I’m proud to be United Methodist,” he said.
Cobblers make custom shoes and sandals for patients whose feet have been affected by leprosy at the Ganta Leprosy and TB Rehab Center. From left are: Porter Willie, John Giddings and Martin Dolo. The center is part of the United Methodist Ganta Mission Station in Ganta, Liberia. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.
The rehab center also houses a shoe shop that designs and builds custom sandals for each patient’s unique needs. In addition, they assemble and repair wheelchairs, make armpit and elbow crutches, and make prosthetics when materials are available.
Shop worker Martin Dolo said that leprosy patients are susceptible to losing sensation in their feet. “We have to mold the shoe in a way that protects them from losing sensation and also when they’ve lost their toes. Without toes you lose balance. We mold in a way that they are comfortable and also retain their balance.” Dolo said the workers can make three to four pairs a day if the shoe doesn’t have intricate customization. Those may take an entire day to construct one pair.
John Giddings, who also works in the shop, has a long history as not only a worker but also a patient. “I was a patient in 1960; I was a little boy when I got sick. I was a patient, got discharged and came back to work,” he said. “This place means a lot to me, oh yes.”
Giddings has worked at the center for 32 years, but he’s got his eye on slowing down. “I’ve been holding the place here until we get a new man,” he said. “I hope this one here, Martin, will work out. I brought a young man so maybe I can retire!”
Joey Butler is a multimedia producer/editor for United Methodist Communications.
by Steve | Jan 12, 2018 | January-February 2018, Magazine, Magazine Articles
By Max Wilkins-
One of the great joys of leading TMS Global has been to witness local congregations come alive as they grasp the reality that mission is the reason the church exists and get serious about mobilizing for that mission. It usually happens when our ministry coaches a local church through a Global Impact Celebration about the imperative of mission mobilization. As our denomination finds itself at a crossroads, mobilizing our congregations for mission is a major component for restarting the Wesleyan movement that has had such a historic impact on our world.
If the Methodist movement was seeded in the hearts of John and Charles Wesley, and germinated in the Oxford Holy Club, it was undeniably born in The New Room. It was in Bristol, England in 1739 that a couple of disparate, small “societies” merged under the organization and leadership of John Wesley, constructed a building to house their ministry, and began to grow exponentially into the Wesleyan revival that would sweep England and the world.
Although New Room was often called a “chapel” during the early days of the Wesleyan revival, it was not a church. John Wesley intended that the people called Methodist would continue to worship in established Anglican churches and cathedrals. Indeed, he forbade the scheduling of any activities at New Room during the hours of scheduled Anglican worship services. Further, early Methodists were encouraged to regularly receive the sacraments, but were required to visit the established churches and cathedrals to do so.
Although New Room hosted a lot of preaching and Bible teaching and hymn singing, it was not primarily a place of worship. In fact there were only a few moveable benches for seating for the large crowds who gathered there. This was because New Room was principally a mission center. Most of each day, seven days a week, the space was used as a medical dispensary, a school room, and a feeding place for the desperately poor people of Bristol.
When teaching and prayer did take place at New Room it was primarily about encouraging and empowering the believers to engage in mission with the people of Bristol and the surrounding communities. Most of the evangelism was occurring at the open air preaching missions that the Wesleys conducted daily at the prisons, the mines, and the docks. These first Methodists were encouraged and expected to visit Newgate Prison daily. They were taught to minister to the sick, the destitute, and the uneducated, providing both spiritual nourishment through prayer and the word, and physical aid through food, clothing, medical care, and education. In short, New Room was not a church – it was the Church, a mission center and a missionary sending agency.
The idea of Methodist “band” meetings (specialized small groups) was also born at New Room. Ironically, the band meeting idea was taken from the Moravians, who had already been practicing it for years. Yet the Moravians during this time were struggling to grow, while the Methodists flourished. The difference was that the Moravians were not interested in engaging the world in mission. They were highly critical of Wesley’s insistence that his people engage in works of mercy and piety and they opposed his open air preaching.
Wesley took the church to the streets, both in word and deed, and the result was a changed world. He understood that mission is the reason the church exists, and at The New Room, he demonstrated the importance of that truth to the world.
E. Stanley Jones, the great Methodist missionary to India, is reported to have said, “When the tide of mission rolls in, all the ships in the harbor will rise.” John Wesley certainly found that to be true, when the personal piety of those early Methodist band members was channeled by The New Room into mission engagement. And we at TMS Global are finding this truth still valid today as we see churches mobilized to join Jesus in his mission. Perhaps once again reengaging with the mission will be the key that relaunches the movement and facilitates revival. That is my prayer.
Max Wilkins is the president of TMS Global (tms-global.org).
by Steve | Jan 12, 2018 | January-February 2018, Magazine, Magazine Articles
By B.J. Funk-
How well do you know the people in your pew? What lonely thoughts are they hiding behind their Sunday smile? What hurts are they keeping a secret?
With so much negative news happening in our world, our church recently started a “Surprise Someone” campaign. It came about because one of our members posted a lovely note on her FaceBook page. The note, attached to a gift card to a local fast food restaurant, was from a stranger saying, “I wanted to bless you today. From one stranger to another.” We challenged our folks to spread kindness to a stranger by doing something nice for someone they don’t know. It sounds like a simple thing, but with all of us so tired of bad news, why not give good news a try.
As you sit in your church pew this Sunday morning, your heartache might be different from another’s heartache, but pain understands pain. Pain also understands a smile, a kind note, and a sympathetic listening ear. For Christians, much of our help comes from a concentrated effort to remain glued to the Word of God and to prayer, and to remember a Bible verse like Romans 8:31: “…if God is for us, who can be against us?” Or Deuteronomy 31:6: “Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you.”
It is also essential for us to interact with other Christians, to gain encouragement from time together and to be good listeners. You and I can be that one good friend to someone who feels lost. Loneliness may come about through losing a loved one, losing a job or just the feeling of losing at life in general. Ernest Hemingway said, “We are all broken. That’s how the light gets in.”
At the end of “Camelot,” King Arthur’s ideal world is falling apart. He is losing. The onlooker watches with sadness as his world crumbles. A young boy comes to him, and as King Arthur knights him, he feels a new surge of energy. One of his companions yells out to King Arthur, “What is that all about?”
King Arthur, with new determination and resolve, answers back, “One of what we all are. Less than a drop in the great blue ocean of the silent sea. But it seems that some of them do sparkle. Yes some of them sparkle!” Camelot lost now welcomes a new hope.
To think that you and I are less than just a drop in the ocean is a downer. But, to think that our drop might sparkle lifts us up above the loneliness and pain of our lives and gives us new hope.
I found five rules for life that have the potential of bringing hope to your loneliness. From an anonymous post, (1) Make peace with your past so it won’t disturb your present. (2) What other people think of you is none of your business, (3) Time heals almost everything. Give it time. (4) No one is in charge of your happiness except you, and (5) Don’t compare your life to others and don’t judge them. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
When loneliness stops to visit me, I think of my late mother and how she believed in me. She stood behind me with every victory and beside me at each defeat. It was like every morning when I awoke, she created a protective bubble of security that propelled me into my classes and social activities. With each breath, I heard, “I know you can do it,” and with each exhale I heard, “See I told you that you could.”
Because of her I somehow got the message that I was created for more than just a mediocre existence, for more than just a drop in the ocean. I was created to fulfill my God-ordained purpose. Within that understanding, I simply cannot allow loneliness to stay in the driver’s seat.
Nor can you. Keep reaching, keep trying, and keep loving. Robert Frost said, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”
Be the drop that sparkles.
