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Title: Bridging the Gap: Applying John Wesley


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Bridging the Gap Applying John Wesleys
Discipleship Model to 21st Century Africa
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Primary source
  • Henderson, D. Michael. John Wesleys Class
    Meeting A Model for Making Disciples. Nappanee,
    Indiana Evangel/Francis Asbury, 1997.

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Secondary sources
  • Collins, Kenneth J. The Theology of John Wesley
    Holy Love and the Shape of Grace. Nashville
    Abingdon, 2007.
  • Heitzenrater, Richard P. Wesley and the People
    Called Methodists. Nashville, Tennessee Abingdon
    Press, 1995.

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  • Pollock, John. John Wesley. Wheaton, Illinois
    Harold Shaw, 1989, 1995.
  • Snyder, Howard A. The Radical Wesley And Patterns
    for Church Renewal. Eugene, Oregon Wipf and
    Stock, 1996.
  • Watson, David Lowes. The Early Methodist Class
    Meeting Its Origins and Significance. Nashville,
    Tennessee Discipleship Resources, 1987.

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  • Tracy, Wesley Economic Policies and Judicial
    Oppression as Formative Influences on the
    Theology of John Wesley. Wesleyan Theological
    Journal, 271 (1992), 30-56.

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Our challenge as Nazarenes in 2010
  • However, as the Church continued to develop
    through the centuries, outside influences began
    to dilute and diminish its initial impetus. The
    tight focus on making disciples was lost, and
    many other activities gained priority. The task
    of maintaining Church institutions began to usurp
    the role that was originally assigned to making
    disciples, and the once dynamic Christian
    movement began to fossilize from within.
  • - Michael
    Henderson, p. 14

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Our Task Today
  • What can early Methodism teach us about
    discipleship that can help us avoid the
    fossilizing described by Henderson?

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Conditions in Wesleys England
  • Housing conditions were outrageous. Ten
    persons per unfurnished room was common. Horse
    manure polluted the unpaved streets. It was
    sometimes piled 14 feet high on both sides of the
    street in London. Diseases like typhoid,
    smallpox, dysentery, and cholera ravaged almost
    unchecked. Starvation was a daily reality which
    stalked the poorest.

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  • Violent crimes were common. Gambling and
    gin-drinking became the national pastimes. Every
    sixth building in London was an alehouse. Sports
    included boxing, bullbaiting, cockfighting, and
    hangings. For the children there were the streets
    or the sweatshops. Schools? Only one child in
    every 25 attended any school of any kind.
  • -- Wes Tracy

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I. Who was John Wesley?
  • b.1703 d. 1791
  • With his brother, Charles, George Whitefield and
    others, was Gods revival instrument through a
    movement in England known as Methodism.

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II. Theological foundations for Wesleys
discipleship model
  • Salvation as Gods free gift
  • (Eph. 28-10)
  • Rejected particular predestination
  • Accepted prevenient grace
  • (John 19)

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The Wesleyan middle way
  • Was John Wesley Reformed, Catholic, or both?
  • George Croft Cell called Wesleys theology a
    necessary synthesis of the Protestant ethic of
    grace and the Catholic ethic of holiness.
  • -- cited by Collins, p.
    289

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Wesleys synthesisFaith that works through love
  • For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
    uncircumcision means anything but faith working
    through love.
  • Galatians 56,
    NASB

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Sample use of Galatians 56
  • Be we then continually jealous over our
    souls, that there be no mixture in our intention.
    Be it our one view in all our thoughts, and
    words, and works, to be partakers of the divine
    nature, to regain the highest measure we can of
    that faith which works by love

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  • let us then labour to be made perfectly
    whole to attain the fullest conquest over this
    body of death, the most entire renovation of our
    nature.
  • -- in John Wesleys
    sermon,
  • The One Thing Needful (Luke 1042)

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Ideas related to the faith that works by love
  • perfect love (1 John 418)
  • Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and
    strength, and loving neighbor as oneself (Mark
    1228-34)
  • Christian perfection (Matt. 543-48) or holiness
    (Hebrews 1214)
  • Entire sanctification (1 Thess. 523-24)

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Summary from Henderson and Collins
  • John Wesley believed in the perfection of
    humanitys intentions and behavior by Gods
    grace.
  • - Michael Henderson, p. 86

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  • Christian perfection, then, is another term
    for holy love. It is holy in that believers so
    marked by this grace are free from the impurities
    and drag of sin. It is loving in that believers
    now love God as the goal of their being, and they
    love their neighbors as they should.
  • Ken Collins, p.
    302

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III. Educational foundations Three aspects of
faith (Henderson)
  • 1) Christian faith is cognitive.
  • Love the LORD your God withall your mind
    (Mark 1230)

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  • 2) Christian faith is behavioral.
  • Faith that doesnt show itself by good
    deedsis dead and useless (James 217, NLT).

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  • 3) Christian faith is affective.
  • Love one another deeply, from the heart (1
    Peter 122b, NIV).

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  • How would John Wesley combine these three
    aspects into the Methodist community of faith?

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IV. Wesleys method discipleship in
community
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On faith in community
  • Holy solitaries is a phrase no more
    consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers.
    The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but
    social no holiness but social holiness. Faith
    working by love is the length and breadth and
    depth and height of Christian perfection.
  • -- from the Preface to the 1739
  • Hymns and Sacred Poems

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When discipleship is neglected
  • I was more convinced than ever that
    preaching like an Apostle, without joining
    together those that are awakened and training
    them up in the ways of God, is only begetting
    children for the murderer. How much preaching has
    there been for these twenty years all over
    Pembrokeshire! But no regular societies, no
    discipline,

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  • no order or connexion and the consequence is
    that nine in ten of the once awakened are now
    faster asleep than ever.
  • John Wesley, Journal, 25 August 1763

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  • The pursuit of Christian perfection was the
    stated aim of the classes and bands, the arenas
    where perfectibility was tested on an individual
    basis. The declared mission of Methodism shows
    the broad-based aim of perfection - to reform
    the nation, particularly the church, and to
    spread scriptural holiness over these lands.
    Wesley Tracy, 48

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The Church defined
  • A visible Church (as our Article defines it)
    is a company of faithful (or believing) people
    coetus credentium. This is the essence of the
    Church, and the properties thereof are (as they
    are described in the words that follow), that
    the pure word of God be preached therein, and the
    sacraments duly administered.
  • - John Wesley, in An Earnest
    Appeal to Men of
  • Reason and Religion
    cited by Snyder, p. 74

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Howard Snyder on Wesley and the sacraments
  • Wesley believed that the sacraments,
    especially the Lords Supper, were necessary if
    not for the being, at least to the well-being of
    a Church.
  • - citing Wesleys An Earnest Appeal in The
    Radical Wesley,
  • p. 102

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John Wesleys vision
  • By Methodists I mean a people who profess to
    pursue (in whatever measure they have attained)
    holiness of heart and life, inward and outward
    conformity in all things to the revealed will of
    God who place religion in an uniform resemblance
    of the great Object of it in a steady imitation

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  • of him they worship in all his inimitable
    perfections more particularly in justice, mercy,
    and truth, or universal love filling the heart
    and governing the life.
  • -- in Wesleys 1745 Advice to the People called
    Methodists

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  • Unite the two so long disjoined, knowledge
    and vital piety.
  • -- C. Wesley hymn sung at the opening of the
    Kingswood School for Children, 1748
    Heitzenrater, 168, 219

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A. Cognitive tool the Society
  • The Methodist Societies ultimately came to
    fulfill both historic functions of the Church
  • - Bible preaching
  • - the Sacraments administered

City Road Chapel, London
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Under Wesley, the Society meetings included
  • prayer
  • singing
  • preaching

The New Room, in Bristol
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Other aspects of the Society
  • Often met on Sunday evenings, and were open to
    one and all at this time. The emphasis was
    preaching, both doctrinal and evangelistic.
  • Other society meetings (at 5 a.m.) were by ticket
    only, given to members faithful to their class,
    and after a quarterly review by the preacher.

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Conclusion re. the cognitive role of the Society
meeting
  • The major aim (of the society meeting) was to
    present Scriptural truth and have it clearly
    understood.
  • - Henderson, p. 93

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B. Behavioral tool the class meeting
  • To the class meeting must go much of the
    credit which many historians have attributed to
    Methodism for the radical transformation of
    Englands working masses. It was a triumph, not
    of any human personality, but of an ingenious set
    of instruments designed for behavioral change.
    Henderson, p. 93

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Marks of the Class Meeting
  • Was required for all Society members
  • Met weekly in the evening in peoples homes
  • organized by geographical zone
  • Included members fifteen years or older
  • Was co-educational (i.e. male and female)
  • had from 10-20 in attendance
  • Included people from all social standings
  • Only allowed visitors every other week
  • Atmosphere of love and acceptance
  • A place where seekers could come to faith and
    believers were strengthened in their faith

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How the Class Meeting unfolded
  • Always began with a short hymn and a short prayer
  • The class meeting leader (either male or female)
    will share briefly about their own spiritual
    condition.
  • In turn, the leader will ask each class member
    Well sister, well brother, how do you find the
    state of your soul this evening?
  • Each class member brought a penny offering for
    the support of the Society, esp. the poor.
  • - from
    Watson, p. 96

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Conclusion re. the behavioral role of the Class
Meeting
  • (Wesley) saw in the class meeting a return to
    the societal norms of the first-century
    Christians.
  • - Michael Henderson,
    p. 105

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  • The ignorant and ignored lower classes found
    in Wesleys system new dignity and new self
    respect. Rich and poor, educated and unlearned
    sat together as peers in Methodist classes and
    bands. This was new for the poor. They had no
    privileges, owned no property, did not have the
    right to vote. They held no memberships in clubs,
    and no one cared for their opinion. Yet, in
    Methodism, they counted.
  • - Wes Tracy,
    48-49

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C. Affective tool the band
  • Charles Wesley was the first Methodist since he
    began the Holy Club at Oxford
  • It became a tool for spiritual growth and service
    for a handful of Oxford friends, including his
    brother, John

Charles Wesley, 1707-88
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  • It was John Wesley who over the years refined
    the band concept, drawing on various sources,
    but especially from the Moravians.

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Mark of the bands
  • Were not required, but were encouraged
  • Were for believers only
  • Composed of 5-6 individuals
  • Were all of the same gender
  • Were grouped together by age and marital status
  • Met weekly

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No appointed leader, but structured on 5
questions
  1. What known sins have you committed since our last
    meeting?
  2. What temptations have you met with?
  3. How were you delivered?
  4. What have you thought, said, or done of which you
    doubt whether it be sin or not?
  5. Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?

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Conclusion re. the affective role of the band
  • Wesley had great regard for those who cared
    enough about him to ask him searching, probing
    questions concerning his inner life.
  • -Henderson, p. 121

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General Conclusion from Henderson
  • The design of the Wesleyan program had the
    goal of holiness in constant focus The societies
    proclaimed and explained the doctrine, the class
    meeting was designed to implement the behavioral
    quest for the holy lifestyle, and the bands
    facilitated the cultivation of inner purity and
    the purging of the attitudes. p. 115

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  • Questions 15 minutes

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Bridging the Gap Applying John Wesleys
Discipleship Model to 21st Century Africa
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Where do we go from here?
  • Session 2 2-3 p.m.
  • Meet in your group of ten for 30 minutes for a
    trial class meeting, then combine to a group of
    twenty to discuss the questions in the last
    section of your handout.
  • Session 3 4-5 p.m.
  • Each groups spokesperson will give a 5 minute
    summary of findings from your group discussion.

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