Heading into the Weekend
Friday, April 03, 2009
I've been swamped this week, but I wanted to post on this beautiful Friday evening to share a couple of things:
First, I've got a recent column in the United Methodist Reporter that looks at the importance of doing work to preserve and extend the Wesleyan tradition of our church. I mentioned this in passing in a post last week, but I wanted to highlight it here. The column reflects on my recent trip to the Wesleyan Theological Society's annual meeting back in March, when I got to interact with fellow United Methodists as well as folks from the Church of the Nazarene, Free Methodist Church, Church of God, and Wesleyan Church. The WTS is made up of people who are committed to the common Wesleyan foundation of all our churches, and they do historical and theological work aimed at preserving and developing the Wesleyan tradition. If you are a student or pastor with an interest in Wesleyan theology or Methodist history, I would recommend joining the WTS and planning on attending its annual spring meeting. It is wonderfully invigorating.
Second, the crush of work this week has kept me from responding to some of the insightful comments to my blog post last week on possibilities for church reform. I devoted a couple of hours this afternoon to just such a response, which you can see by scrolling to the bottom of the comments on that post. I only mention that because my response includes a reflection on the proposed constitutional amendments to the Book of Discipline that will be taken up for consideration by annual conferences this summer. The reflection is written in conversation with Bruce Robbins' book, A World Parish?, which I believe is key to understanding what the amendments are aiming toward. An essay I am working on right now will include my views on the amendments in fuller form, and I plan on making that essay available on this blog when it is finished.
As we prepare to move into Holy Week, I hope everyone is blessed with the same beautiful weather that we are promised here in Durham this weekend.
First, I've got a recent column in the United Methodist Reporter that looks at the importance of doing work to preserve and extend the Wesleyan tradition of our church. I mentioned this in passing in a post last week, but I wanted to highlight it here. The column reflects on my recent trip to the Wesleyan Theological Society's annual meeting back in March, when I got to interact with fellow United Methodists as well as folks from the Church of the Nazarene, Free Methodist Church, Church of God, and Wesleyan Church. The WTS is made up of people who are committed to the common Wesleyan foundation of all our churches, and they do historical and theological work aimed at preserving and developing the Wesleyan tradition. If you are a student or pastor with an interest in Wesleyan theology or Methodist history, I would recommend joining the WTS and planning on attending its annual spring meeting. It is wonderfully invigorating.
Second, the crush of work this week has kept me from responding to some of the insightful comments to my blog post last week on possibilities for church reform. I devoted a couple of hours this afternoon to just such a response, which you can see by scrolling to the bottom of the comments on that post. I only mention that because my response includes a reflection on the proposed constitutional amendments to the Book of Discipline that will be taken up for consideration by annual conferences this summer. The reflection is written in conversation with Bruce Robbins' book, A World Parish?, which I believe is key to understanding what the amendments are aiming toward. An essay I am working on right now will include my views on the amendments in fuller form, and I plan on making that essay available on this blog when it is finished.
As we prepare to move into Holy Week, I hope everyone is blessed with the same beautiful weather that we are promised here in Durham this weekend.
Labels: Church Reform, UM Constitutional Amendments, Wesleyan Theological Society
posted by Andrew C. Thompson at 7:04 PM
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