This past Saturday I presented the keynote address at McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church for their workshop called “Pathways of Faith: Practical Methods for Putting on the Mind of Christ.” The workshop was a great experience and the people who attended had some excellent questions.

In my address I first talked about spirituality in general and came up with a working definition. Then I talked about a specifically Wesleyan understanding of spirituality. I tried to lay the theological foundation for a Wesleyan spirituality, and then I used the General Rules as a framework for discussing the specific practice of John Wesley and the early Methodists’ spirituality. Then I looked at what contributions Wesleyan spirituality has to make to the church today. I argued that a Wesleyan spirituality helps us to find a Scriptural balance between faith and works, and a balance between works of mercy and works of piety. I also argued that Wesleyan spirituality argues for the current need for small group accountablity, or as Wesley referred to is, “watching over one another in love.”

If you are interested in my take on John Wesley’s approach to Christian spirituality, I have posted my presentation under the documents page of this blog, or you can click here to go directly to the paper. I definitely consider this a work in progress, so let me know what you think if you take the time to read it.