Cradle Methodist Discipline

These five areas that Warren (1995) presented are essentials that will aid in the church being driven by purpose. For the church to stand, it must have a solid foundation. Warren (1995) states, a foundation is laid “by clarifying in the minds of everyone involved exactly why the church exists and what it is supposed to do” (p. 86). When people have an understanding of their purpose, it will induce cohesiveness in the ministry. It is vital for the leader to define the churches’ purpose, organize around them, and application is imperative. Therefore, once the church has reached a definitive purpose, it is time to carry out the Great Commission. Understanding the demographic area and who the church is going to serve with help with carrying out the purpose of the ministry. Therefore, when the church gets understanding of the people that they are going to target, it will help them to implore a strategic plan. According to Warren (1995), “The more your target is in focus, the more likely it is that you will be able to hit it” (p. 172). It is critical for the church create a process to work through their purpose. When there is a process to their purpose, it will help the purpose to be carried out daily. However, the ministry shouldn’t focus on growing a church with programs but focus on growing people with a process (Warren, 1995). Warren (1995), emphasized that his “deep conviction that anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart” (p. 216). It is the act of love that will help the purpose driven church to meet the people’s needs. When the ministry has the people attending the church, it is the pastor’s job to teach the principles of the Bible. It is the word of God that is going to change the hearts of the people.

(189) If congregants give negative feedback about a preacher/speaker's teaching/preaching is because they did not understand the sermon or the sermon was long with no substance. Anderson proclaims that the pastor is a steward over the people salvation and do not stand between their relationship with them and God. However, he/she corrects and lead/prepare them for the coming Christ. (204) Preparing the congregants about the coming of Christ is not to teach/preach about self-righteous doctrines. The doctrine of self is not the way, the truth and the life. Anderson also states after a church has been spiritual abused, they can recover through reconciliation. (212) For this to happen, the pastor needs to come forth and admitt his selfishness, and arrogance and apologize to the church and to the ones that left so that healing can begin, and the people will not walk around harboring bitterness and regret.

In today 's culture the congregational expectations on a pastor are quite different from the vocational spiritual disciplines required for faithful pastoral ministry. The office of the pastor, for the congregation, has become nothing more than a managerial position of running a religious organization. In response to this Eugene Peterson offers his take on the distinctive work of the pastor and the practices that shape pastoral integrity. In his book, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, Peterson outlines the practices of prayer, Scripture and spiritual direction as the backbone of faithful pastoral ministry. The following will discuss these practice, there benefit to pastoral ministry and why Peterson call to these practice are important to pastors today.

A church whose pastor and others in leadership have failed to put in place a proactive plan for discipleship for Believers is usually a “growing” church — growing stagnant, growing cold, growing spiritually immature Christians, and eventually, many growing closed. Patte said, “There is much at stake in accepting or rejecting the challenge of discipleship…” When a pastor or a church makes a conscious decision to make discipleship of Believers a primary focus in their

Scriptures- United Methodist share with other Christian faith community that scriptures is the primary sources in which we base our decision-making. We believe that through scriptures we see Christ because the scriptures is Christ. Apostle Paul says “ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for training in righteousness.” In all our decision making one must rely on the scriptures for guidance. Scriptures is a sources of life and wisdom from God for all mankind and especially us who are faithful to God. In Scriptures, we find love, forgiveness, faith, and hope for example, we find in 1 Corinthians

Fundamentally, the role of the Baptist Faith and Message was to adopt statements that would “clarify the atmosphere and remove some causes of misunderstanding, friction, and apprehension” These confessions of faith were implemented to confirm repentance to God, perpetuate faith in Jesus Christ, and fulfil the Great Commission. Further, the statements are intended to clarify and provide guidance of the basic beliefs that stands as the foundation of the Baptist’s faith, witness, and worship. As an autonomous body, the local congregation is considered to be independent in its faith and fellowship of the gospel.

One of the most shocking statistics noted in Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good by Amy Sherman is that if one attends church on a weekly basis, they spend 5 percent at most of their waking hours at church. The other 95 percent are spent out in the world. This illustrates the importance of why this book matters. Sherman starts off by setting the tone for readers – she gives a background as to why she found it necessary that she write this book – and how she read a book by Michael Lindsey in which he discussed research of prominent evangelical business leaders and how their faith impacts their behaviors and decisions at work. A few stood out, while the rest stated they kept a Christian plaque in their office or wore a cross around their neck. They did not fulfill their religious identity in conjunction with their careers. There was a complete disconnect between the two sectors of their lives, and Sherman recognized that. Kingdom Calling is a guidebook for anyone who has ever been concerned about living a divided life – especially for pastors and religious leaders, but for lay people and congregation members as well. In Kingdom Calling, Sherman sets up a three-part framework on how to grow and empower a congregation, a specific group in the church, or a single member.

May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.

While reading this book, the differences between the ideas of Wesleyan belief and Fundamentalism become clear. In the introduction, Al Truesdale lays out the book’s thesis, saying that, “We shall see that differences between fundamentalism and Wesleyan theology are so important that denominations in the Wesleyan tradition cannot adopt fundamentalism without forfeiting essential parts of what it means to be Wesleyan.” (pg.8). Both traditions have high views of scripture, but the main differences that the book describes is that Weslyans, “developed a doctrine of scripture that focused on its role in transforming the believer’s inner being as the ground for reordering behavior. Fundamentalism, developed a doctrine of scripture that tended to focus on reordering behavior in obedience to a body of propositional truths.” (pg. 27). In other words, many of the differences between fundamentalists and Wesleyans are due to their differing views on how the Bible should be viewed. Throughout the book, this viewpoint holds true throughout each topic of

Breaking from Protestant tradition, in which church services tended to be muted and formal, Methodist services often included “crying, moaning, and shouting”8. For Methodists, this expression of true rapturous love for God was an outgrowth of the great personal love each person had for his or her creator; for Methodists, loudly and passionately expressing your religious feelings was to embrace God with all of one’s being. This was a common thread among many reformers during the time period: the idea that the church services being practiced by the mainstream Protestant church were too far removed from the passionate love of God that many believers felt from within their hearts. Methodism and its focus on personal relationships and contact with God would prove very popular among disaffected Protestants, and would eventually become among the most well-known and populous Protestant

James Shaver Woodsworth was one of the famous Methodist minister, social worker and politician in Canada. He was the founder and first leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. He spent his whole life fighting for Canadian social wealth. In this article, I will introduce the life of Woodsworth, as well as discussing his contribution to the Canadian society.

Until the Methodist Union of 1932, Primitive Methodists continued to be considered a political people. Although many individual Nonconformists were regarded as such, the Primitives were still notably political. In 1914 Rev G. A Guest, a former Wesleyan minister who was resigning his ministry for ordination within the Anglican Church, complained that:

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

The focus of this week’s reading is on creating a future for the United Methodist Church. The first four pathways which Bishop Jones and Ough put forth are a comforting notion that the leadership found in our denomination shows legitimate concern for the local church people (potential ones and current) and their immediate leaders. However, when compared to the reading pertaining to itinerant pastors, the four pathways begin to sound better in theory than in practice for me.

As religious men, we should avoid the peril of becoming so engrossed in our theological studies that we neglect our personal devotion. Warfield’s caveat to us is Christian service or work alone cannot replace the depth of Christian affection to God. Work does not equal prayer it is the combination of work and prayer that will develop as ministers. By maintaining a strong devotion to God we are setting an example of holding fast to the confession of our hope. We must frequently examine ourselves against God’s Word to verify our hearts. It is as Warfield says, we should have our hearts on fire brightly so that in our innermost being we are men of God. The greatness of our calling as ministers should flow from the depth of our understanding of the unsurpassed greatness of God. This understanding should motivate, empower, equip and direct us in our