The disciples followed Jesus long before they figured out who he was. They followed him even though they were completely wrong about who he was. They followed him to the cross, where their faith was shattered and they ran. They huddled in locked rooms. Even on Easter, some of them did not believe or did not recognize him at first. Then the Holy Spirit came upon them with power, and they changed the world.
John Wesley followed Jesus when his heart was cold as a stone. He followed when he thought what Jesus wanted was hard work and sincere effort. He followed until his faith as nearly broken by failure and abandonment. And then Jesus came to life within his heart and the Holy Spirit came upon him with power, and he changed England.
How do we help United Methodists who have started this journey — like the disciples and John Wesley — but have not completed it?
I am a part-time local pastor serving 
The doctrine of original sin is surely more humbling to man than the opposite: And I know not what honour we can pay to God, if we think man came out of His hands in the condition wherein he is now.
“Then the Holy Spirit came upon them with power, and they changed the world.” Love the timing of your post/question. Online watching the Bay of the Holy Spirit Revival in Orlando and watching God’s presence wreck those people. Listening to Pastor John Kilpatrick prophecy the coming move of God across America. Praying in the Spirit and knowing that my prayers are being answered NOW. FYI, a UMC pastor friend of mine lives there, and I asked him to attend. I’m praying that he did – I want him to experience this move of God.
I’m United Methodist. I’m laity, I walk in the same power that John Wesley experienced, and I’m changing the world! It’s God’s Holy Spirit power, and I know the authority I’m called to wield in His name as I minister. We need to encourage fellow Methodists to fear God more than man, to not fear His presence, and to cultivate our personal relationships with Him. God is calling for revival in the UMC, and I believe the Fire of God has begun falling on His church.
I remain laity because God told me not to spend the time necessary to go through the ordination process. I’ve been water baptized, I pray in my prayer language, I spend time in His presence daily, I devour His Word, and I hear His voice. The fruits of the Spirit are evident in my life – you can ask anyone who knows me. I’m living the abundant life. God directs my steps – I wake every morning eager to see who He’s going to put in my path.
My journey truly began 4 years ago. For 20 years I had been active in the church (Certified Lay Speaker), had preached, taught Sunday school, VBS, led prayer vigils, Emmaus, etc. But I didn’t have a personal relationship with God. Then my marriage began to fail and my husband threatened to leave and take my children. Broken, I fell on my face and cried out to Him. I heard that small voice tell me to pull a book off my shelf – The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. My autographed copy had sat there, unread. When I opened the book and began reading, I met God in a new and powerful way. Stormie’s words in the intro helped me realize that I had to die to self, forgive, and trust God. It was when I was broken and repentant that my faith truly began to grow. My marriage and family are strong! God sent a mentor into my life, and I now mentor others. I live to worship the One who gives me life!
God’s called me to call revival to the UMC. I am an intercessor and revivalist – I live to see His Fire burning in His church again. Adults have been reluctant, so I am heavily involved with youth. This generation is tired of ineffective, hypocritical faith – they want the real thing, and that real thing is Jesus. These kids aren’t afraid of God’s Fire – they love it! They are contending for revival in their schools, their families, and their friends. They, too, walk in His power and know the authority they have. When their friends are hurt/sick, they don’t hesitate to pray for healing. They love seeing their friends set free!
Soooo – that’s a long way of saying we need to teach the people of the UMC the need for repentance/clean hearts and that we were made to fear and worship God Almighty, the giver of life. As they become whole and filled with His Spirit, they will burn to see the world changed, like John Wesley did. We need to embrace Holiness again. <3
I and you know no easy solution, but to be faithful and pursue holiness. I really do Wesley’s statement to spread scriptural holiness. Disciples are rarely made from obvious building blocks (or at least it seems that way to me); instead they are made out of a place of being where we find ourselves dependent upon a mighty God and waiting to hear what he will say.
Wesley’s experience (the experience before his ‘experience’) I think is reflected in many lives today. People start out with a ‘given’ idea of what Christianity is (like Wesley did) and want more than anything to find authentic faith while remaining loyal to this ‘given’ in its details. But like the ‘given church’ in 1735, it’s maybe off center a little today, so that the ‘givens’ are not conducive to the break-through to that heart-warming he found.
There’s going to be frustration, and some will not prevail as Wesley did, if we cannot convince them to continue looking and listening for living faith (who, for example, today is waiting to show us the vital faith which the moravian brethren showed Wesley?)
I think we have to urge people to seek the truth . . . again. But on a return trajectory with points them back to Jesus with an idea they haven’t seen him yet, as if something new and bigger than a fallible scripture and church is ‘in him’ even now.
The key thing is that we know how the story ends. Some of the disciples knew part of the story (weren’t Andrew and Phillip disciples of John the Baptizer) but not how it would it. Wesley knew how it would end but he got lost without the Holy Spirit.
We know the whole story and while we cannot give the Holy Spirit to others – they have to accept it on their own – we can tell the story and help others to complete it themselves
Very good question. I spent a lifetime as a member of the UMC. I spent 20 years as an adult binging around a UMC, gleaning insight, getting to the point of “You know, I think there is more to this.” but not knowing what to do about it. Then 3 years ago I hit bottom. I was alienated from the church, but in the words of Steven Curtis Chapman, “Jesus met me there” in “the darkness no words can describe” in the form of a UMC pastor who was indeed “walking the talk” in a realistically “doable fashion”–the word “doable” has become key for me. The short summation is, the light came on after my encounter with the UMC pastor, reading John Wesley, reading a selection of “random” books (mostly by authors I knew absolutely nothing about and they were definitely not Methodist), and ultimately reading the premise behind Mark Keathley’s painting of Jesus dancing with children entitled the “Dance of Grace” along with his own story of years of “Christian upbringing” and church participation–the light came on for him only after he had an encounter with a pastor outside the institutional church. At the time, he too was in “searching mode”
Personally, as best as I understand it at this point, the church pointed me in a direction but ultimately it was through my own “searching” that things fell into place. Is it possible for the church to provide encounters that open the heart without/before a person hitting rock bottom? I’m not sure what to think about the UMC now or any highly structured church, especially since my trip to the bottom started as a result of things happening within the church I did not understand and there was absolutely no where to go with my quetions/doubts–even now my questions/doubts result in “the ranks closing”. After talking with others who seemed to be farther along than I was previous to my descent, my current feeling is until you have an up close and personal enocunter with someone else who understands it on a personal level beyond “going to church”, everything else is “academic”.
I think the referral to “mentors” above is key. With each new revelation over the last few years, I would think “Wow, this is doable!” I was an expert church member and knew what to expect from church, but as for what a personal relationship with Jesus was about and taking it out in the day to day world–I was clueless! Do people “drift away” because they are searching for that elusive “more” and Sunday School and worship just can’t provide it in a group setting?
I’m still sorting things out! Maybe the church can only do so much and the rest is in God’s hands!