Finding Truth when we search
Hope when we hurt
Grace when we fail
Growth when we serve
or....
Ordinary people powered by an Extraordinary God -
to love, learn, grow and serve
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
What would John Wesley write?
Will our church live or die based on the Mission Statement or Vision we pen? Probably not. We can write a vague few sentences which after you read it makes you smile and feel good inside. We can write a statement which we can all comfortably warm up to, stating to each of us what we can expect to get from church on Sunday. Yes, it would be easier for this group to offer to the church words which allow us to neatly place our mission as one of many things we care about in our lives. OR...
We can write a definitive statement of who we are and who we follow with words that motivate each of us to give our lives to our cause.
John Wesley makes me proud to be a Methodist. He held firm to his belief of having a personal relationship with Christ and motivating all to seek this relationship. Wesley gave every bit of himself to save every soul he could. The "world" was his parish and he used means to reach people which were not acceptable to the Church of England. Because of this, he was never ordained and constantly battled with its hierachy. Yet, Wesley loved the Church of England and died a member of that church.
We are in a similar position as Wesley in that we have great diversity in our church and we use different means to show Christ's love. I believe our goal in forming a mission statement is to incorporate that diversity with words which motivate us to give our very life to God. That is the goal isn't it?
Reading some of these quotes really helped me focus on the task at hand.
"I hang out no false colors; but show you all I am, all I intend, all I do. I am a member of the Church of England; but I love good men of every Church. My ground is the Bible. Yea, I am a Bible bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small." John Wesley
" We are always open to instruction, willing to be wiser every day than we were before, and to change whatever we can change for the better." John Wesley
" Do you so believe? Prove your own self by the infallible Word of God. If you do not have the fruits, effects, or inseparable properties of faith, you do not have faith. " John Wesley
"Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! " John Wesley
"Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth." John Wesley
"Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry" John Wesley
"Once in seven years I burn all my sermons; for it is a shame if I cannot write better sermons now than I did seven years ago." John Wesley
" Beware you are not swallowed up in book! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge" John Wesley
"The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion" John Wesley
"The world is my parish" John Wesley
We can write a definitive statement of who we are and who we follow with words that motivate each of us to give our lives to our cause.
John Wesley makes me proud to be a Methodist. He held firm to his belief of having a personal relationship with Christ and motivating all to seek this relationship. Wesley gave every bit of himself to save every soul he could. The "world" was his parish and he used means to reach people which were not acceptable to the Church of England. Because of this, he was never ordained and constantly battled with its hierachy. Yet, Wesley loved the Church of England and died a member of that church.
We are in a similar position as Wesley in that we have great diversity in our church and we use different means to show Christ's love. I believe our goal in forming a mission statement is to incorporate that diversity with words which motivate us to give our very life to God. That is the goal isn't it?
Reading some of these quotes really helped me focus on the task at hand.
"I hang out no false colors; but show you all I am, all I intend, all I do. I am a member of the Church of England; but I love good men of every Church. My ground is the Bible. Yea, I am a Bible bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small." John Wesley
" We are always open to instruction, willing to be wiser every day than we were before, and to change whatever we can change for the better." John Wesley
" Do you so believe? Prove your own self by the infallible Word of God. If you do not have the fruits, effects, or inseparable properties of faith, you do not have faith. " John Wesley
"Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! " John Wesley
"Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth." John Wesley
"Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry" John Wesley
"Once in seven years I burn all my sermons; for it is a shame if I cannot write better sermons now than I did seven years ago." John Wesley
" Beware you are not swallowed up in book! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge" John Wesley
"The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion" John Wesley
"The world is my parish" John Wesley
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