Thoughts on John Wesley, UMC, life, faith, and anything else!
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Experimental Ministry
Alan Roxburgh discusses Missional Imagination in his book “Introduction to the Missional Church.” In discussing Saul (later Paul) and his transformation he writes, “Information and definitions were not the issue; what Saul needed was a radical transformation of his imagination-of the way in which he saw the world.” So Roxburgh basically defines imagination as “how…
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Where You Don’t Want to Go
The end of John contains an image I continue to reflect on as I work on my dissertation in Missional Spirituality and pastoring a church. Jesus looks at Peter and says, “Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when…
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Jesus Sacrificed…so You Don’t Have To
Right now I’m reading Michael Slaughter’s new book Change The World. So far it is a great book and I really admire Slaughter for changing gears when he senses that God is moving in a different direction. At one point he writes, “It is not acceptable to make doctrine and church meetings a substitute for…
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My Dissertation Project
I have started my dissertation project which is a good thing. Trying to explain it though is kind of difficult. The reason I have such difficult explaining it is because the project address cultural issues and the church’s response. I have read that there is an old Chinese proverb that says, “If you want to…
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More than Chaplains
I was intrigued by something I read in Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon The pastor becomes nothing more than the court chaplain, presiding over ceremonies of the culture, a pleasing fixture for rites of passage like weddings and funerals, yet rites in which the pastor’s presence becomes more and more absurd…