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Rod Dreher’s Live Not by Lies and the Call to Suffer for Truth

08 Thursday Oct 2020

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Have you ever been afraid to say something that you believed was true?

I recently finished reading Rod Dreher’s Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents and that question was my litmus test about whether his book is exaggerating the challenge that Christians are facing in our current cultural moment. 

Dreher argues that we are making a turn towards soft totalitarianism (in contrast to hard totalitarianism) and that the church is wholly unprepared for what is coming. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s work, Dreher describes a totalitarian society as “one in which an ideology seeks to displace all prior traditions and institutions, with the goal of bringing all aspects of society under control of that ideology” (7).

Survivors of Soviet totalitarianism speak to similarities that they see from their time behind the Iron Curtain and swift changes in the United States today: 

“What unnerves those who lived under Soviet communism is this similarity: Elites and elite institutions are abandoning old-fashioned liberalism, based in defending the rights of the individual, and replacing it with a progressive creed that regards justice in terms of groups. It encourages people to identify with groups – ethnic, sexual, and otherwise – and to think of Good and Evil as a matter of power dynamics amongs these groups. A utopian vision drives these progressives, one that compels them to seek to rewrite history and reinvent language to reflect their ideals of social justice.” (xi)

One of Dreher’s main concerns is a change from old school liberals who could disagree agreeably and contemporary progressive social justice warriors who seek to silence dissent. In his own words:

“The contemporary cult of social justice identifies members of certain social groups as victimizers, as scapegoats, and calls for their suppression as a matter of righteousness. In this way, the so-called social justice warriors… who started out as liberals animated by an urgent compassion, end by abandoning authentic liberalism and embracing an aggressive and punitive politics that resembles Bolshevism.” (10)

There may be better ways to engage Dreher’s argument and test the truth of its diagnosis and its prescription. But this was the question that kept coming to the forefront of my mind as I read: Why has it often been so difficult for me to say what I believed in the various places I have been since I started seminary in 2002?

I don’t mean difficult in the way that I assume it is always hard to have difficult and tender conversations. I mean difficult in that there was a social pressure that was so strongly opposed to certain ideas that it felt like to speak them was to take a very real risk of being rejected by the entire community forever for having uttered them.

For some of you reading this, I will seem to you to be exaggerating. Maybe it will help if I offer three of my most vivid memories of my time as a seminary student. 

Before I go any farther, my intention here is not to take a cheap shot at my seminary. I’m not sure my seminary intended to make it hard for me or any other student to speak our convictions. But the truth is I experienced seminary as a place where it was almost impossible to say certain things out loud.

Memory #1:

I am sitting at a round table in the refectory at dinner with a group of peers, all about the same age as me. As I was eating, the conversation turned, again, to topics like politics and social issues, where there was assumed agreement. I don’t remember what exactly was being talked about but all of the sudden it just hit me: These people hate my family and friends I love back home. I’ve been eating with them for months and no one here really knows me. And based on their words, they despise me.

Memory #2:

There was a campus wide protest on behalf of LGBTQ people. The protest was enacted in the form of a day of silence in order to protest the ways that LGBTQ people are silenced every day. You participated in the protest by taping your mouth shut and wearing a sticker that said that you were not going to be speaking at all that day to protest and express solidarity with LGBTQ people. 

Nothing in my previous experience had prepared me for this. I remember thinking that I understood why people who were passionately in favor of the church embracing gay marriage and the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians would work to see change. I actually wanted to listen to arguments for and against the church’s position. 

What jarred me was the feeling that this protest seemed to have been conceived in a way that put the maximum amount of shame on those who were not with them. Simply to speak that day was to reveal oneself as an oppressor, a bigot, a homophobe. From my perspective, the protest was a clear litmus test: you are for us or you are against us and we are going to force you to take sides right now one way or another. 

In my naivete, I remember being confused that the faculty and administration of the school seemed to entirely support the protest even though it undermined the ability to have class discussions in every class taught that day. And it seemed odd to me that in an academic environment you would protest not through careful conversation, logic, and ideas, but by refusing to participate in any discourse at all.

I never felt the same way about seminary after that day.

Memory #3:

I took a course that was a practicum in preaching in my final semester of seminary. At some point during the semester, every student preached a sermon to the rest of the class. I only remember one sermon that was preached that semester. The sermon was memorable for two reasons. First, it was the only time a student in any class I ever took in seminary talked about homosexuality in a way that did not affirm gay marriage or the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians. It was the first and only public argument I heard during my three year seminary experience. That made it memorable.

(If this does not seem odd to you, it might help you to know that this was the issue, by far, that was the most controversial and threatening to divide the church when I was in seminary. It is also the reason the church was poised to split this year if the General Conference had not been postponed due to Covid-19. It might also help to know that the official position of the UMC was and still is what can loosely be defined as affirming traditional sexual ethics. So this student was the only person I ever heard who actually spoke publicly in favor of what the church taught, in a place where many students were preparing for ordination in this same church.)

The second reason I remember the sermon is because it was so bad. It was painful to listen to. I remember initially being hopeful that someone had the courage to speak to the plain and consistent prohibition of same sex sexual activity in Scripture. That hope quickly turned to cringing because the preacher failed to show love towards people who struggled with same sex attraction. I don’t remember hearing a word of hope. I don’t remember hearing the gospel. 

This last memory has haunted me the most because it illustrates what happens when dissent and differing viewpoints are stifled in an educational environment. Resentment and anger increase because people who dissent see exactly what is happening and many of them simply go underground. And everyone misses the opportunity to think better and to pursue the truth. This is a problem in general. But it is a crisis in an academic environment. 

Have you ever been afraid to say something that you believed was true?

I’m guessing you have. My experience is that fewer and fewer people are willing to risk anything to stand for the truth. 

Dreher is pessimistic, some might say characteristically pessimistic, here:

“Christian resistance on a large scale to the anti-culture has been fruitless, and is likely to be for the foreseeable future. Why? Because the spirit of the therapeutic has conquered the churches as well – even those populated by Christians who identify as conservative. Relatively few contemporary Christians are prepared to suffer for the faith, because the therapeutic society that has formed them denies the purpose of suffering in the first place, and the idea of bearing pain for the sake of truth seems ridiculous.” (13)

Is there any hope here?

Yes. But Dreher does not offer superficial comfort. 

“The task of the Christian dissident today is to personally commit herself to live not by lies. How can she do that alone? She needs to draw close to authentic spiritual leadership – clerical, lay, or both – and form small cells of fellow believers with whom she can pray, sing, study Scripture, and read other books important to their mission. With her cell, the dissident discusses the issues and challenges facing them as Christians, especially challenges to their liberties. They…. Identify the challenge, discern together its meaning, then act on their conclusions.” (18-19)

Let me offer one final memory from my time in seminary. It is equally vivid. And, from my perspective, it is entirely hopeful.

Memory #4:

I walked into a classroom with a handful of other people. My heart was racing. I felt scared. I didn’t know if I would be able to talk. I sat down with my lunch. I knew everyone there. But I was as nervous as I have ever been in my entire life. 

I had been invited to join a Wesleyan band meeting, an accountability group where you confess sin in order to experience forgiveness and pray for each other’s healing, and this was my first time to attend.

The person to my left opened us with prayer and went first. After he confessed, someone else reminded him of the promise of Scripture, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.”

And then the person on his left went and so on until I was the last one.

I still remember the gift that they had given to me in each trusting me enough to show such vulnerability and honesty before they knew how I would receive it or respond. Their courage enabled me to tell the truth that day. And their love, support, encouragement, and willingness to press in and hold me accountable changed seminary. It changed my life.

Through this group, God began to heal these other memories. 

This group was in many ways like the cell groups that Dreher describes. And it was through the relationships developed in this group that I had conversations about deeply contested ideas and beliefs that I was unable to have in my classes. (Although the first time I reached out to someone to talk about human sexuality, I asked to meet off campus.)

I am not sure if I think Dreher is right in everything that he says in this book. Since much of what he is doing is predicting what is coming, only time will really tell. 

We should all hope that he is wrong.

But as I read the book, I kept remembering all of the times it has felt close to impossible to say something I believed was true or say that something that was being affirmed is not true.

Certainty that one is on the side of justice seems to be replacing careful thinking, nuanced argument, and even the space to ask questions and explore ideas.

Throughout my time in theological education, I have often sought advice from those who have gone before me. Particularly before my tenure review, I was discouraged by how often I was encouraged to keep my head down and not make waves so that I wouldn’t jeopardize tenure. This seems to me to be the kind of practical atheism that far too many American Christians have embraced:

Profess faith in God. But make decisions as if God doesn’t exist and is powerless.

I encourage you to read Live Not by Lies, if nothing else, because it is a bold challenge to such malnourished formation of Christians. He reminds us of a Christian imagination where actual human beings created in the image of God have refused to bow the knee to worship idols. And they have suffered for their faith in very real ways. But above all, their testimony is that they have counted the cost and joyfully taken up their cross and determined to follow Jesus Christ, their Lord and only salvation.

We are desperate for real Christianity, not the cheap imitation we have tolerated for far too long and tried to pervert to our own worldly advantage.

I conclude with a reminder from Jesus himself:

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’

Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

– Matthew 16: 21-27

Kevin M. Watson is a professor at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He teaches, writes, and preaches to empower community, discipleship, and stewardship of our heritage. Click here to get future posts emailed to you. Affiliate links used in this post.

Coming Soon: Reclaiming the Class Meeting

18 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Class Meetings, Methodist History, Ministry, Wesley

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photo (8)If I had to pick one thing that I believe would be most likely to be used by the Holy Spirit to bring renewal to the church, it would be a return to the early Methodist class meeting.

And that is why I have finally gotten around to writing a book that is designed to introduce people to what a class meeting is and to help create and sustain these groups. I have just submitted my manuscript and am excited to see this book in print.

Class meetings were groups of seven to twelve people who gathered together to discuss the state of their relationship with God. The question used in the eighteenth-century was, “How does your soul prosper?” Today it might be translated, “How is your life in God?” Regardless of how the question is phrased, the most important thing is that the group is focused on each person’s relationship with God.

In my experience, when people want to grow in their faith, they typically assume that they need to know more. The problem of a lack of formation is often perceived to be a lack of information. I agree that all of us could stand to learn more about our faith and there is a key role for catechesis.

However, following Jesus is ultimately a way of life, not a body of knowledge about him. Too often, Christians do not practice what they do know.

The key contribution that the early Methodist class meeting would make for contemporary Christianity is that it would help people learn to look for encounters with God in every part of their life. They have the potential to help Christians learn to interpret every part of their lives through the lens of the gospel.

Above all else, contemporary Christianity needs Christians who are Christian not in name only, but women and men who are passionate and confident in their faith in Christ and who can speak to the ways that they have seen and experienced God’s work in their lives and in the lives of others.

I believe that the Holy Spirit wants to use this form of communal Christian formation once again to help people have an active faith in Christ, not merely a passive intellectual faith. And I believe that if this practice were to be reclaimed, it would be used by the Spirit to bring renewal.

If you are interested in reclaiming the class meeting in your faith community, stay tuned! I will update the progress and availability of the book here and on twitter (@kevinwatson).

If you’d like to read more about the class meeting, check out the series of posts I wrote here.

Hearing from a 21st Century Class Leader (Part 4)

24 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Ministry, Wesley

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This post is the fourth and final post in a series within a series. Broadly, it is a continuation of my series of posts on the Methodist class meeting for the twenty-first century. (Click here for a link to the last general post in this series, which also contains a link to an outline of the rest of the series.) More specifically, this is the fourth post in a series written by Nick Weatherford, who is a member of Munger Place Church and a leader of a Kitchen Group, which is a 21st century class meeting. This series will allow you to hear directly from a lay person who is currently leading a class meeting. In the first post, Nick shared his story with you and talked about the role that being in a class meeting played in his recommitting to a life of Christian discipleship. In the second post, Nick talked about the impact that leading a Kitchen Group has had on his faith. The third post discussed the impact that Nick believes that these groups are having on Munger Place. In this post, Nick talks about the impact that he thinks reclaiming the class meeting for the 21st century would have on contemporary United Methodism. I deeply appreciate the time that Nick has taken in writing this series of posts, which will appear throughout the course of this week. He has agreed to follow the discussion and interact with any comments or questions that you may have, so I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to interact with Nick.

What impact do you think reclaiming these kinds of groups could have on the larger UMC?

I personally believe that the UMC should focus on the roots of the Wesleyan tradition. When I was considering a church, denomination was not particularly important although I certainly had some preconceptions of the Methodist church. I think in many congregations they are probably quite true. However, through getting to know Kevin and Andrew, I have been exposed to John Wesley and the early foundations of Methodism. Munger has made a very conscious effort to embrace that heritage primarily through Kitchen Groups (or as I have learned, what Wesley called “class meetings”). For Wesley, being in these class meetings wasn’t just encouraged, it was required. In fact, for a time it served as your ticket to worship on Sunday. I picked up a book on Wesley and developed a crude understanding of Wesley’s theology and the formation of the early Methodist church. I learned that for a time in American history, the Methodist church grew from being quite small in number to becoming the fastest growing and largest denomination in the country. And, there weren’t even enough preachers to go around!

Wesley understood that assembling people into these class meetings was essential for their spiritual maturity. This was a place where they could watch over one another in love, to encourage each other, to encounter God’s grace and to keep people committed to the task at hand. Wesley understood that group participation and interaction would lead to active membership. The groups would create a system where people heard and shared the gospel each week, and groups would allow the church to grow in number through members being actively engaged in ministry with each other. These early groups were able to raise large sums of money to support charity. The members were active in attending to the needs of the least, last and lost in their communities.

I understand that the UMC overall is declining in numbers, and that most congregations have far more members than folks who attend church any given week. I think many people are unsure of what the Methodist tradition is about, even within its churches. Based on what I have learned from reading up on Wesley and through launching Munger, I believe the heart of the Methodist tradition is an active commitment to the church and to Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. It’s about getting your hands dirty, and committing to give financially and to serve in the community. It’s also about grace. It’s about committing to a group knowing that we are going to struggle but that this participation will ultimately keep us engaged in our relationship with God.

It’s also about seeing salvation as the starting line for your relationship with God. Wesley believed that grace allowed us to respond to God’s call in our hearts, but that we were to engage ourselves daily (methodically!) in reconciling ourselves to who God is calling us to be. I don’t find that people are afraid of expectations. People want to be involved in something that matters and they want know what the principals and theology of their church are. Embracing this is resulting in an active community of believers at Munger, many of whom did not come from the Methodist tradition.

Ultimately though, these groups don’t measure us or grade us. They are certainly not there to pressure us or make us feel guilty. They are there to encourage us and challenge us. They remind us each week that our God is a God of second chances and they help us begin looking at our lives as if our faith and relationship with God was the only thing that matters.

– Nick Weatherford

Hearing from a 21st Century Class Leader (Part 3)

23 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Ministry, Wesley

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This post is the third post in a series within a series. Broadly, it is a continuation of my series of posts on the Methodist class meeting for the twenty-first century. (Click here for a link to the last general post in this series, which also contains a link to an outline of the rest of the series.) More specifically, this is the third post in a series written by Nick Weatherford, who is a member of Munger Place Church and a leader of a Kitchen Group, which is a 21st century class meeting. This series will allow you to hear directly from a lay person who is currently leading a class meeting. In the first post, Nick shared his story with you and talked about the role that being in a class meeting played in his recommitting to a life of Christian discipleship. In the second post, Nick talked about the impact that leading a Kitchen Group has had on his faith. This post discusses the impact that Nick believes that these groups are having on Munger Place. In the final post, Nick talks about the impact that he thinks reclaiming the class meeting for the 21st century would have on contemporary United Methodism. I deeply appreciate the time that Nick has taken in writing this series of posts, which will appear throughout the course of this week. He has agreed to follow the discussion and interact with any comments or questions that you may have, so I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to interact with Nick.

What impact do I think these groups are having on Munger?

The groups are certainly becoming part of Mungers DNA. I hope that we are creating a culture where you will feel like you are missing out if you are not actively in a group. Not because anyone is trying to stand up each week and “sell” you on it, but because someone you know at church tells you what they are experiencing in a group, or even better, because you recognize something different about the Kitchen Group members.

One of the things often repeated about Munger is that it feels like home. I believe group participation really fosters this sense. I have never felt more comfortable walking into a church before and I know that part of that is due to the fact that I am going to see someone from my group across the room or chat with them after the service. Having little communities within our church really makes folks feel welcome and even excited to walk through the doors on Sunday. I can’t speak for everyone, but I have heard folks mention that for that Sunday is now their favorite day of the weekend. I imagine there are several reasons for that at Munger, but I believe that part of it is that the group experience prepares you for worship. On Sunday, we celebrate, but during our meetings we do a lot of the heavy lifting, focusing on our personal ups and downs in our faith journeys with a group of fellow believers. We encounter the grace of the Holy Spirit there. We are more aware of where we stand with God, and more eager and ready to experience His loving presence on Sunday.

From a very practical standpoint, I think the groups are accomplishing a lot of work for the church. Whenever we have a service day, an outreach event or need volunteers, the majority of the folks you will see are in one of our groups. Whatever the Lord is accomplishing in our groups is translating into service amongst the members. Part of this is bound to be the comfort zone of knowing folks at these activities and getting to hang out with your Kitchen Group friends, but I think there is also more to it than that.

– Nick Weatherford

Hearing from a 21st Century Class Leader (Part 2)

22 Tuesday Feb 2011

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Ministry, Wesley

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This post is the second post in a series within a series. Broadly, it is a continuation of my series of posts on the Methodist class meeting for the twenty-first century. (Click here for a link to the last general post in this series, which also contains a link to an outline of the rest of the series.) More specifically, this is the second post in a series written by Nick Weatherford, who is a member of Munger Place Church and a leader of a Kitchen Group, which is a 21st century class meeting. This series will allow you to hear directly from a lay person who is currently leading a class meeting. In the first post, Nick shared his story with you and talked about the role that being in a class meeting played in his recommitting to a life of Christian discipleship. In this post, Nick talks about the impact that leading a Kitchen Group has had on his faith. The third post discusses the impact that Nick believes that these groups are having on Munger Place. In the final post, Nick talks about the impact that he thinks reclaiming the class meeting for the 21st century would have on contemporary United Methodism. I deeply appreciate the time that Nick has taken in writing this series of posts, which will appear throughout the course of this week. He has agreed to follow the discussion and interact with any comments or questions that you may have, so I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to interact with Nick.

What impact has leading a group had on me and my Christian faith?

Leading a kitchen group has helped me to recognize that the Holy Spirit is active and is always amazing. Only a portion of our meetings revolve around Bible study. I have honestly struggled with that part of our meetings. I was so nervous the first couple of weeks. My voice shook as I stumbled through our lesson. I wanted them to be blessed by this experience the same way that I have been blessed. Christ’s story isn’t contained by whatever text we are studying though. He is present in the lives of our group members today and we need to hear that story as well. Each believer, strong or struggling, new to the faith or old, brings something to the group each week that someone needs to hear.

We pray each week that the Lord will be amongst us and I have come to realize that God is present, and that no matter how much I try to run a good meeting, no matter how eloquent my prayer might be, etc., the success of our groups has nothing to do with the leader at all. The Holy Spirit is truly active in our group, wanting to bless us with his presence. You cannot convince me otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking miracles and conversions here. Sometimes it’s the small steps or just the love of someone reaching out and offering some encouragement from shared experience. But I can see it. I see it in the relationships that are being formed, the changes occurring in people’s hearts and the resolve of the group to stick it out this time. I have also learned that people long for honest interactions about their faith, doubts, struggles and triumphs. It is difficult to share stories of our faith in work and often with our friends and families.

– Nick Weatherford

Hearing from a 21st Century Class Leader (Part 1)

21 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Ministry, Wesley

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This post begins a series within a series. Broadly, it is a continuation of my series of posts on the Methodist class meeting for the twenty-first century. (Click here for a link to the previous post which also contains a link to an outline of the rest of the series.) More specifically, this series of posts is written by Nick Weatherford, who is a member of Munger Place Church and a leader of a Kitchen Group, which is a 21st century class meeting. The rest of this post and the next three posts will allow you to hear directly from a lay person who is currently leading a class meeting. In this first (and longest) post, Nick shares his story with you and talks about the role that being in a class meeting has played in his recommitting to a life of Christian discipleship. In the second post, Nick talks about the impact that leading a Kitchen Group has had on his faith. The third post discusses the impact that Nick believes that these groups are having on Munger Place. In the final post, Nick talks about the impact that he thinks reclaiming the class meeting for the 21st century would have on contemporary United Methodism. I deeply appreciate the time that Nick has taken in writing this series of posts, which will appear throughout the course of this week. He has agreed to follow the discussion and interact with any comments or questions that you may have, so I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to interact with Nick.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Kevin Watson asked me to contribute a guest post about my experiences in Munger Place small groups to his blog. I must confess that I have been finding excuses not to get started. I have not written about my faith in quite some time and I want to do his great blog justice. Lately, I could talk to you about these things for hours, but putting them down on paper is something entirely different.

First, I thought a little background might be relevant here. I grew up in the church, particularly in the Baptist tradition here in Dallas, TX. I also attended a Christian school here. Therefore, faith was also part of the social structure of my life. It affected my standing at school and I felt like I was always under a microscope. There was pressure to talk the talk. My senior year of high school, I was not required to go to church any longer. Perhaps my mother had hoped that I would desire to go by my own will, but it didn’t happen. I figured I had had enough church: I got it. I didn’t discount it completely but my new found independence did not include anything to do with regular attendance at church. Still, I went off to college counting myself among the faithful. I can’t tell you at what point I started treating Jesus like that friend from childhood that you just didn’t want hanging around anymore, but it happened almost unconsciously for a variety of reasons I’m not exploring here. Anyway, I figured I had it down. I must not need my faith because everything is going great. Besides, I don’t really want to let people in on my little faith secret anyway. I’m having too much fun wrapped up in college and fraternity life. So began my journey through the wilderness of self reliance and self deception. I’ve got the job, the right friends, the house and the car. Weekends are booked. All is well. I was content with those things for awhile. Life was exactly as it was supposed to be. Then, the emptiness started to set in. My answers and my “things” left me feeling spiritually bankrupt. I was empty and aching.

I confess my first attempts to get back into a church were met with the same reluctance that I have felt about starting this blog post. I didn’t really know where to begin again. I dared to pray about it. My brother and his fiancé had been going to the Cornerstone service at Highland Park United Methodist Church. I figured I could tag along safely with them. Well, soon after that I heard about the Munger Place campus that was being started in East Dallas. Then I met the campus pastor Andrew Forrest at the open house. Next thing you know I’m nervously waiting in the car before going up to knock on the door at my first small group meeting (at Munger we call them “Kitchen Groups”).

What has being involved in a small group done for my own Christian faith?

I have come to realize the importance of being called into community with one another and of God’s unrelenting grace. We are not asked to, or intended to do this alone. I would argue from personal experience that our faith will wither away over time if we are not proactively involving ourselves in community with other believers.

I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived for my first meeting. We began with a Psalm, a prayer and then a short Bible study. Next, the question was posed, “How is your life in God?” I had never been asked that question before! What was everyone going to say? I was relieved I didn’t have to answer first. After hearing everyone’s responses I was at ease. This was a group of folks, from different backgrounds and experiences, who were not only willing to, but seemed to look forward to sharing the details of their relationship with Christ. There were other ways given to respond to this same question: “Are you further or closer to where you want to be spiritually?” “When did you feel closest and furthest from God this week?” “When did you most feel love this week?”

I don’t remember what I shared that night. I do remember that everyone listened, was honest and real. There was no pressure for me to pretend I had it together or that everything was perfect. The only expectation was that I show up, and that I share if I was willing. I did not have to measure up to anyone’s standard, this group accepted me as I was, where I was, and were genuinely interested in my personal relationship with the Lord.

Perhaps because of my background, I thought being really actively involved in church was something you did when you were on God’s “good side”, when you were in some sort of right relationship with him and following some set of rules. I have learned that all of us, even our pastors and leaders have rough weeks or periods where they question what God’s will is and whether or not they are brave enough to pursue it. Being honest with others about our faith helps us to be open books before God. Experiencing a little bit of grace each week by being accepted by those in our group with all of our messiness and brokenness has been a gift. I often find I hear just the thing I needed to hear whether it is in the form of encouragement, or if I am being pushed a little bit.

I think we are our own worst enemies and toughest critics. If we are not forgiving ourselves and accepting grace from each other, how can we accept the gift that Jesus has freely given us? The Kitchen Group helps me to do that. And, by more deeply understanding His grace I am more eager to dare to be like Him. So, realizing that we all have the same struggles no matter how long we’ve been at this and that faith does not always come easily for all of us has made participation in our church seem more genuine and authentic to me.

Kitchen Groups foster a community of honesty and personal accountability. The accountability comes not in any prescribed set of rules or confessions (this is not group therapy or a 12 step program) but in learning to understand and respond to all of our experiences, good and bad, through the perspective our relationship with God. I think more about my faith than I ever have in my life, asking myself more and more often “how is my life in God”, even outside of the group setting.

Finally, I think the small group experience provides a sort of spiritual checks and balances. Weeks where I have dragged myself to a meeting because I didn’t like anything that I might have to say for myself, I have gained from the group the strength I need to keep trying. Weeks where I can really feel God’s presence, I am sobered by the struggles of my brothers and sisters and I get to do some encouraging.

I think this helps us learn to approach God even in our weakness, to understand our brokenness. I was reminded just last Sunday that we so often resort to our default answers when we interact with people. Even at Church on Sunday. We smile and say we are doing well when we are asked, sweeping whatever might really be going on under the rug. I am guilty of pretending that I have it together even when I am a mess. At small group I am honest. I am forced to reconcile myself to how I am REALLY doing. I read that it saddens God when we don’t believe that we are totally forgiven and are uncomfortable approaching him. I find that in my life, I sometimes have the hardest time forgiving myself. The group experience helps me do more of that each week.

In contemporary churches, there seem to be ample opportunities for Bible studies and programs, but Kitchen Groups don’t follow any particular curriculum. We just ask you to analyze your own experiences through the lens of faith. What has God revealed to you this week? What do you need to work on? What is holding you back? It doesn’t ask you to measure up to any particular standard other than a genuine desire to be more of who you are being called to be as a follower of Jesus.

– Nick Weatherford

Almost Christian

12 Friday Nov 2010

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living, Ministry

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I recently finished reading Kenda Dean’s new book, Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church. As I said in a previous post that recommended several books I have recently read, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in youth ministry, young people, or the state of the American Church.

To put it differently, if the beginning of Dean’s book doesn’t make you want to read more, then you may not want to read it:

Let me save you some trouble. Here is the gist of what you are about to read: American young people are, theoretically, fine with religious faith – but it does not concern them very much, and it is not durable enough to survive long after they graduate from high school.
One more thing: we’re responsible.
If the American church responds, quickly and decisively, to issues raised by studies like the National Study of Youth and Religion… then tending the faith of young people may just be the ticket to reclaiming our own. As the following pages attest, the religiosity of American teenagers must be read primarily as a reflection of their parents’ religious devotion (or lack thereof) and, by extension, that of their congregations. (3-4)

As Dean says a few paragraphs later, “lackadaisical faith is not young people’s issue, but ours.” (4)

In other words, this book is as much about the current state of the American church as it is about the state of youth ministry or the faith of youth themselves. Dean sees the faith of teenagers as a mirror that shows the American church the faith that it is teaching to them. Part of Dean’s argument is that the church is doing a decent job of forming young people in the faith that they are practicing. The problem is that this faith is “an imposter faith that poses as Christianity, but that in fact lacks the holy desire and missional clarity necessary for Christian discipleship” (6)

Here is the question that should cause American Christians to do some serious soul-searching: “What if the church models a way of life that asks, not passionate surrender but ho-hum assent? What if we are preaching moral affirmation, a feel-better faith, and a hands-off God instead of the decisively involved, impossibly loving, radically sending God of Abraham and Mary, who desired us enough to enter creation in Jesus Christ and whose Spirit is active in the church and in the world today?” (12)

Dean’s work moves beyond Christian Smith and Melinda Denton in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenages and the National Study of Youth and Religion (NYSR), which was the research that informed the book. Here is the central question that Dean explores in Almost Christian: “How can the twenty-first-century church better prepare young people steeped in Moralistic Therapeutic Deism for the trust-walk of Christian faith?” (22)

The argument of the book, then, contains a detailed description of the problem of the “parasite” of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, several positive examples of what it looks like to “claim a peculiar God-story,” and several descriptive chapters that outline suggestions for “cultivating consequential faith.”

Almost Christian has gained attention in many venues. An article about the book on CNN.com even stirred up some controversy. As of this writing, there are more than 5,000 comments to the article. This is an important book that raises some serious questions, not just about ministry to youth and young adults, but about the contemporary state of Christianity in America.

After reading the book, the question I am left with is: What tools or insights does an intentionally Wesleyan approach to Christian formation offer? Admittedly, this is a question beyond the scope of Dean’s book, but I believe the Wesleyan tradition has a rich contribution to make to attempts to “cultivate consequential faith” in Christians both young and old(er)!

Is the Class Meeting Judgmental and Exclusive?

11 Wednesday Aug 2010

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Methodist History, Ministry, Wesley

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This is the fifth post in a series on the contemporary relevance and practical application of the Methodist class meeting. In the first post, I gave a brief history of the origin and development of the class meeting in early Methodism. In the second post I discussed the potential contributions I believe the class meeting can make for 21st century Methodism and compared and contrasted the class meeting to Sunday school classes, small groups and accountability groups. In the third post I discussed the target audience for the 21st century class meeting. In the fourth post I revealed (with tongue somewhat in cheek) ten ways to guarantee that your class meeting will fail. In this post I will discuss one of the main concerns that people have with any form of accountable discipleship – the fear that they will be judged.

One of the main fears or concerns that keeps people from joining a group like a class meeting is that they are afraid they will be judged. Part of the fear is that if I knew who you really were, I would never be able to accept you or continue to love you. And if I don’t meet your expectations, will you exclude me? Will I be told I am not good enough?

Judged. Excluded. Nobody likes to feel either judged or excluded. Most people will actively avoid placing themselves in situations where they know in advance they will feel judged or excluded. And The United Methodist Church has spent millions of dollars on an add campaign that, among other things, tries show that the UMC is neither judgmental nor exclusive.

So, how does this relate to the class meeting?

If we are honest, the class meeting is unavoidably a place where judgments are made. And it is a place of exclusion. But it makes all the difference in the world what judgments are made and what is excluded.

In contemporary Methodism, one of the quickest ways to dismiss something is to label it as judgmental or exclusive. Could it be that there is a place for both in the Church and in the Christian life?

Again, what we are excluding makes all the difference in the world. The first Methodists were obsessed with trying to figure out how best to exclude sin from peoples’ lives. They were clear that there are things that are not of God, that keep us from growing in our relationship with God. If we are to pursue growth in holiness, these things must be excluded. They are not neutral. It is not a matter of indifference if they are allowed to reign over our lives.

I doubt that many people would argue that Christians should not try to remove sin from their lives. The next part may be more contentious. One way of understanding early Methodism is that it excluded people who were not serious about following Christ. The Methodist movement was not designed to make people comfortable in listless apathetic discipleship. Rather, it was designed to help people experience the fullness of the abundant life that God offers every single person in Christ.

Hear me carefully: I believe that contemporary Methodism should welcome every single person, should reach out to every single person with the good news of what God has done for them in Jesus Christ. The gospel is not only for some, it is for everyone. In that sense the message of contemporary Methodism should be radically inclusive. But I do not believe that contemporary Methodism should pass out cheap grace. I do not believe we should tell people that it is ok if they profess faith in Christ, but do not allow it to impact the way that they live their lives.

I don’t have the implications of this fully worked out. I think that Methodism needs to wrestle a bit with whether excluding people who are not interested in following Christ may be necessary in order to help those who are to grow in their faith. Ultimately, the way I would see this working right now, it would not literally involve excluding people from the UMC, but it would involve intentionally not catering to people who are interested in the church only because it makes them feel comfortable, because it is their country club. The efforts and energies of the church should be fully focused on proclaiming the good news and inviting people into the new way of life that is available in the light of this news. This way of life excludes sin in order to more fully love God and serve others. In American culture today, I believe that something like the class meeting has enormous potential to help people live more fully into this new way of living.

What about judgment?

I want to say two things about judgment, as it relates to the class meeting for the 21st century. First, the fear of being judged, seems to me, to be related to a deeper issue – trust. Imagine having lunch with a perfect stranger, someone you have never met. How would you feel if they began to express concerns about the way that you were living your life? Probably not good.

Now imagine having lunch with the person you trust and respect more than anyone else in the world. How would your reaction be different if they expressed similar concerns? I hope your reaction would be very different. There are a handful of people in my life, who, if they sat me down and expressed concerns about the decisions I was making, I would listen very carefully. There are people whom I trust and respect so much that my instinct would be that they could see things about my life more clearly than I can. I would listen and likely take their advice because I know that they love me. I know that they care about me more than about whatever part of my life we are discussing.

My point is this: I am not sure it is healthy to avoid ever being in situations where you are judged. In my own life, I know that it would make me incredibly vulnerable to self-deception or to rationalization. When it comes to being judged, the identity of the person making the judgments makes all the difference in the world.

Having said that, I don’t think the contemporary class meeting is best conceived as a place where other people make judgments about your life. In the classes I have been a member of, it has been rare for someone to judge me or call me to account for something.

This leads to the second point about judgment, the primary person judging you in a class meeting is yourself. The class meeting is a place where you take a weekly inventory of your own life. You make judgments about how things are going in your life with God. Some weeks you will judge that things are going very well, that you have been particularly aware of God’s grace and have cooperated with this grace. Other weeks, for whatever reason, you will judge that things are not going very well. On other occasions, you may be doing everything right, and yet, God seems strangely distant. The point is that in a class meeting, it is not the group’s job to tell you about your relationship with God, or evaluate it. Rather, you are telling the group about your experience from the past week.

Sometimes judgment and exclusion are the bogey men of the Church. Our fear of them can cause us to forget that they are descriptive terms, that can describe harmful events in some contexts and healthy, even necessary, events in other situations. The class meeting has the potential to be a place that is judgmental and exclusive in a negative sense. However, if this happens it is a malfunction of the class meeting, and not its best use. On the other hand, the class meeting has the potential to create a place where we can gather together to make judgments about our own lives with God, with the goal of removing (or excluding) the things that are hindering our growth in grace and nurturing the things that are an asset to our discipleship.

What do you think?

Top Ten Ways to Guarantee that Your Class Meeting will Fail

09 Monday Aug 2010

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Methodist History, Ministry

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This is the fourth post in a series on the contemporary relevance and practical application of the Methodist class meeting. In the first post, I gave a brief history of the origin and development of the class meeting in early Methodism. In the second post I discussed the potential contributions I believe the class meeting can make for 21st century Methodism and compared and contrasted the class meeting to Sunday school classes, small groups and accountability groups. In the third post I discussed the target audience for the 21st century class meeting. In this post I will give you the top ten ways to guarantee that your class meeting will fail.

Yep, you read that right. Is there a lot of pressure in your church, district, or annual conference to start a class meeting in your church? But you don’t really like the idea? Well, here is how you can start one, but torpedo it. If you do these ten things, I guarantee that your class meeting will be an utter failure.

(In case you missed it, that was an attempt at humor.)

On a more serious note, the intent of this post is to identify some of the major things in small group dynamics that can undermine the vitality or long term success of a group. If you are serious about starting something like a class meeting today, you will need to think about how you are going to address some of the challenges that come with starting such a group. Some of the things I will mention can be pretty touchy, and may even make people angry if you call them out on it in the moment. One strategy that can help the group be aware of some of these dangers is to name them before they become a problem. There is a decent chance on any given day nearly everyone in the group will struggle with at least one of these things. Finally, humor can be a way to address serious things in a way that people can hear more easily. So, talking about how to guarantee the failure of a class meeting can be a disarming way to name some things that might make people feel a bit defensive.

Ok, without further ado, here are the “Top Ten Ways to Guarantee that Your Class Meeting will Fail”:

#10: Never start one.

This one is pretty straight forward. The easiest way to guarantee that your class meeting will fail is to talk about it and consider it, but never actually start one.

#9: Meet at an inconvenient or irregular time.

Another way to ensure that your class meeting will fail is to meet at a time that many people who would like to join the group simply cannot attend. This is probably the one that is most obvious, and least likely to be the downfall of a sincere effort to start a class. The more likely obstacle would be failing to meeting regularly and consistently. The group is most likely to succeed if the group meets at the same time and place every week. It may not necessarily be fatal to the group, but if the meeting place changes, someone will inevitably show up at the wrong location one week. Similarly, if the group is meeting at your house and the group does not meet at the same time each week, you will inevitably have someone forget when the group is meeting and show up at your house expecting to meet.

#8. Turn the class meeting into a curriculum driven group.

About 3 – 6 months after the group starts meeting, people will begin to get restless and wonder what is next. A well-intentioned person may suggest that the group read and discuss a book they just read that really inspired and challenged them in their walk with God. If and when this happens, there needs to be a gentle stubbornness by the group, and particularly the leader, that the group is not going to become a study group. Bible studies and other study groups are not bad, but they are not class meetings. For a class to succeed today, the group needs to have a deep commitment that the purpose of the group is to take a weekly inventory of how things are going in each person’s life with God.

#7: Forget the differences between classes and bands.

Classes are groups with men and women, married and single people all together. The group should have somewhere around 7 to 12 people in it. The point of the group is to weekly gather to support and encourage each other in the common goal of growing in faith and being transformed by the grace of God. The basic question of the group is: “How is your life in God?”

Bands are groups that are either all men or all women, and are sometimes also divided based on whether the members are married or single. Bands should have about 5 people in them. The point of bands is to bring actual sins that have been committed into the light, to encourage one another in the common goal of pursuing entire sanctification, or being made perfect in love for God and neighbor. The basic question of the band meeting is: “What sins have you committed since our last meeting?”

If someone thinks they are joining a class, but it functions like a band meeting, they will likely feel that they are in over their heads. Further, there is a greater degree of spiritual maturity required of the band than there is in the class meeting, so if people jump straight into the bands before they are ready, a host of issues can arise.

#6. Select the leader based on anything other than spiritual maturity and spiritual leadership.

The role of the leader in the class meeting is important. They are the one who will gently move the conversation on as needed, ensure that every person has a chance to talk, and otherwise facilitate the meeting. A class meeting that has a spiritual leader of maturity leading the group will have a key person in place to guide the group through its development and through challenges the group may face. This person is also a key person for helping to set the tone for the group by being the first one to answer the question “How is your life with God?” every week and by keeping the group focused on its purpose.

#5. Allow one person to dominate the conversation.

My guess is that this is one that basically every group will struggle with. For one thing, classes will be most comfortable for people who like to talk and process things by talking about them. This is one area that is particularly important to address up front. At the beginning of a new class meeting, the leader should stress that it is important that every person be given the opportunity to talk. The leader may even want to acknowledge that some people talk more easily than others, they may need to challenge themselves to be more concise and aware of how long they have been talking. On the other hand, those who are less comfortable talking may need to challenge themselves to talk a bit more. If this is addressed up front, then it will not seem as personal if the leader gently suggests that the conversation needs to move to the next person during a meeting.

When this needs to happen, and it will need to happen, the leader should not say, “You have been talking for too long, let’s move on.” Almost always, when someone talks too long, even though everyone else may be suffering over how long they have been talking, the person who is actually talking has no idea how long it has been. The best approach is to gently interrupt by thanking them for sharing, briefly identifying one thing they have said that was particularly appreciated, and then simply asking the next person the question, “How is it with your soul?” or “How is your life in God?” The person who is interrupted may feel embarrassed, but if the leader moves the attention to someone else, the person who is embarrassed won’t have to have the double embarrassment of having the attention be on them.

By the way, this one hits pretty close to home for me, because I am one of the people who processes things by talking. As a result, I have to really work to be aware of how long I have been talking. I also have to work on being concise. (I mean, look how much I just wrote about this… just be glad we weren’t talking about this one in person!)

#4. Have all the answers.

This is a catch-all for several ways to ruin a class meeting. In small group dynamics there is often an expert who emerges in the group. You probably know what I am talking about, someone who has all the answers. They are the only person who fails to realize when a rhetorical question has been asked. To them, every question has an answer. And they always know what the answer is. These people also have the best of intentions. They are passionate about their faith and are eager to share what they have learned with others. They really believe they are helping. However, one of the best ways to stifle a conversation is by being a know-it-all. Other people in the group will be less likely to be vulnerable and share doubts, anxieties, or concerns that they are having if there is one person who always has everything figured out and leaves no room for other people to be in flux, or working through things.

Another way this can manifest in a group is if the leader sees herself as a teacher, not a facilitator. This can be deadly, because if the leader is the one causing the problem, it will be very difficult for the group to overcome. So, if you are involved in starting something like a class meeting, know that it is not your job to have a solution to every problem that people in your class raise. You are not there to teach people how to be better Christians, you are there to walk with them as they seek God’s transforming grace. And, you are there because you need them to walk with you as you seek God’s transforming grace in your own life.

One more thing: If you have been in a lot of small groups and have never noticed that this is sometimes a problem of small group dynamics… you are probably the one with all the answers. (Sorry, someone had to tell you.)

#3. Hide during the meeting.

I don’t mean literally hiding, like behind the sofa… though that would certainly be a problem, and really weird. By hiding I mean either not talking or not being honest about what is really going on in your life with God. This doesn’t mean that the class meeting is the place for your to bring all the skeletons that have been in your closet. In fact, the class meeting is not the place for that.

Members who have had a bad week, may be tempted to gloss over their struggles by saying that things have been fine, or ok. If you are in a class meeting for an extended period of time, you will almost certainly have weeks where it is NOT well with your soul. It it ok to be honest about that. In fact, it is vital for the future wellness of your soul to be honest when things are not going well. When it is not going well in your life with God, this is the time when the class meeting may be the biggest means of grace in your life. If you are honest, you will realize you are not alone. You will receive sympathy and prayers from the group. And in verbalizing your spiritual malaise, you may learn about what is going on in your life with God.

Related to this, there is also sometimes a tendency in class meetings to feel like you have to one-up yourself every week. Resist this temptation. Simply be honest and real.

#2. View the group as a place to gather gossip.

One of the best ways to destroy a class meeting is by breaking the confidence of the group. It needs to be clearly said that what is shared in the class meeting is confidential. It is not a topic of conversation with friends or family members outside of the group. If there is some reason that talking with someone else might be helpful to the person who shared, what was said in the group can only be shared with someone outside of the group if the person who shared it gives their permission.

If you struggle to keep secrets, or to keep things to yourself, the class meeting may not be for you. Confidentiality is not optional.

#1. Be unwilling to be challenged to grow in your faith and be transformed by the grace of God.

The class meeting is an invaluable asset for people who desire to grow in their faith and seek to be transformed by the grace of God. When people gather together to support and encourage one another, God will also be there. The class meeting, however, is not for those who do not want to be changed. It is not for those who are content to profess faith in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on Sunday morning and then live the rest of the week as if there is no God. The class meeting is for those who want to a tool that will help them check in to see how their faith is impacting their life.

All of the concerns about what might go wrong cannot be addressed in advance. We are messy people. We are good at sinning. Something could go wrong. But, if we believe that the Holy Spirit is active and present with us, we don’t have to have everything mapped out in advance. We should be prudent in doing what we can to make a group like a class meeting as likely to succeed and be a blessing to its members as possible. However, we should also leave room for the Spirit to guide and direct each meeting.

Nearly in the top ten: Meet for more than 1.5 hours

Initially, the desire to allow the meeting to continue comes because something exciting is happening in the group. Someone has some sort of breakthrough and the group wants to allow them to process it. This is well and good, and even ok if it happens occasionally. However, it should be rare. If a weekly meeting consistently lasts longer than an hour and a half, people will begin to feel exhausted just by the thought of going to the group. The leader of the group should remember that a commitment to attend a group once a week for 1-1.5 hours is already a big time commitment. Leaders should work to formally end the meeting on time by closing with a prayer. Conversation can certainly continue among those who wish to stay, or talk at their cars. But formally ending the meeting gives those who need to leave the opportunity to do so.

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The Methodist Class Meeting for the 21st Century: The Foundation

30 Friday Jul 2010

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Methodist History, Ministry, Wesley

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I want to start this series of posts on the contemporary relevance of the Methodist class meeting by covering the basics of the early Methodist class meeting. For those of you who already know about the early Methodist class meeting, please bear with me. After this post, the remainder of the conversation will be focused on practical application. I do want to take the time to give a brief introduction to the origins of the class meeting in case people find this series who want to know how to start small groups that are focused on growing as disciples, but aren’t familiar with the Methodist jargon of “societies,” “classes,” and “bands.”

The class meeting was started in 1742 when a group of Methodists were trying to figure out how to pay off a building debt in Bristol (pictured above). Captain Foy suggested that the Bristol society be divided up into groups of 12 people. One person in each group would be designated the leader and would be responsible for visiting each person in their group every week in order to collect one penny from them. By this means, Foy believed the building debt could be retired. Someone raised a concern that this would prevent the poorest Methodists from being involved. Captain Foy responded by volunteering to take the 11 poorest members of the Bristol Society into his group. He said that he would visit them each week and ask them if they could contribute. If they were unable, he would pay their penny on their behalf. Then, he challenged the other people at the meeting to do the same thing.

As this plan was put into practice, it became apparent that many Methodists were not keeping the “General Rules,” which were: do no harm, do good, and practice the means of grace (i.e., prayer, searching the Scriptures, receiving Communion, etc.). Almost immediately, Wesley realized that the class leaders (who were the ones that had originally committed to make the weekly collection) were ideally suited to address the lack of discipline in keeping the General Rules amongst Methodists.

In the General Rules Wesley described the duty of the class leader:

That it may the more easily be discerned, whether they are indeed working out their own salvation, each society is divided into small companies, called classes, according to their respective places of abode. There are about twelve persons in every class; one of whom is styled the Leader. It is his business, (1.) To see each person in his class once a week at least, in order to inquire how their souls prosper; to advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as occasion may require; to receive what they are willing to give toward the relief of the poor. (2.) To meet the Minister and the Stewards of the society once a week; in order to inform the Minister of any that are sick, or of any that walk disorderly, and will not be reproved; to pay to the Stewards what they have received of their several classes in the week preceding; and to show their account of what each person has contributed. (3)

Initially, the class leader met each person at his or her own house. However, it was quickly decided that it would be more practical for the entire class to meet together once a week. Wesley reported in A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists that at the class meeting “Advice or reproof was given as need required, quarrels made up, misunderstandings removed: And after an hour or two spent in this labour of love, they concluded with prayer and thanksgiving.” (II.6)*

Wesley further reported on what he believed were the fruits of the class meeting:

It can scarce be conceived what advantages have been reaped from this little prudential regulation. Many now happily experienced that Christian fellowship of which they had not so much as an idea before. They began to ‘bear one another’s burderns,’ and naturally to ‘care for each other.’ As they had daily a more intimate acquaintance with, so they had a more endeared affection for, each other. And ‘speaking the truth in love, they grew up into Him in all things, who is the Head, even Christ; from whom the whole body, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplied, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, increased unto the edifying itself in love.’ (Plain Account, II.7)

The class meeting, then, quickly developed into much more than a capital campaign. It became a crucial tool for enabling Methodists to “watch over one another in love,” to support and encourage one another in their lives with God. In fact, John Wesley thought the oversight and support that the class meeting provided was so important that it became a requirement for membership in a Methodist society. To be a Methodist meant that you were involved in a weekly class meeting.

So what happened in these weekly meetings?

Classes were intended to have between 7 to 12 members in them. They had both women and men in the classes and class leaders were both women and men. Classes were divided primarily by geographical location. In other words, you would have attended a class meeting with the Methodists in your neighborhood. From what we have seen above, the class meeting seems to have focused on three things. First, it held people accountable to keeping the “General Rules.” Second, the class meeting was a place where every Methodist weekly answered the question, “How is it with you soul?” (Methodist historian Scott Kisker has recently rephrased this question as “How is your life in God?”) Third, it was a place where Methodists were encouraged to give weekly to the relief of the poor.

The phrase that I believe best captures what the Methodists believed was so important about the class meeting was “watching over one another in love.” Early Methodists were asked to invite others into their lives and to be willing to enter deeply into the lives of other people so that together they would grow in grace. They were committed to the idea that the Christian life is a journey of growth in grace, or sanctification. And they believed that they needed one another in order to persevere on this journey.

The remainder of this series will be focused on what it might look like to “watch over one another in love” in the twenty-first century. I continue to welcome your questions about the relevance or application of the class meeting for the twenty-first century. You can leave your questions as a comment on the first post in this series, or you can email me at deeplycommitted at gmail dot com. I am looking forward to the conversation!

*(Note: All quotations in this post are from John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, vol. 8., ed. Thomas Jackson, first published 1872. I have used this edition because it is in the public domain, and I am not sure what the copyright implications are for quoting as extensively as I have from “A Plain Account” and “The General Rules.” Having said that, I would highly recommend The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley, as it is the recent scholarly edition of Wesley’s works. Vol. 9 of this edition contains the documents I have cited here.)

Kevin M. Watson teaches, writes, and preaches to empower community, discipleship, and stewardship of our heritage. Connect with Kevin. Get future posts emailed to you.