wfn.org | Commentary: Wesley's 300th offers time for renewing faith

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March 6, 2003 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn. 
   10-71BPI{124}

NOTE: A photograph of the Rev. Steven Manskar and an illustration of John
Wesley are available. 

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Steven W. Manskar*

This year, world Methodism is celebrating the 300th anniversary of John
Wesley's birth.

To mark this milestone, which occurs June 17, many local congregations and
annual conference sessions will offer special worship services, workshops,
studies and learning opportunities that will introduce people to the life and
ministry of Methodism's founder. Those who are more adventurous are joining
Wesley heritage tours that will travel to England this summer and fall. They
will attend the special events offered by the British Methodist Church and
will visit places important to Wesley's life and the rise of Methodism:
Epworth, Oxford, Bristol, Newcastle and London.   

The temptation on such occasions is to idealize and venerate Wesley and the
early Methodists. When we do that, we can keep them at arm's length, safely
in the past. But when we make the effort to read Wesley's sermons, journal,
letters and other writings, we find a man who challenges us still. Therefore,
it is important in this tercentennial year that we honor Wesley's life and
ministry by engaging his writings and reflecting on what he has to say to us
in the 21st century. The times in which he lived were very similar to today
(the 18th century saw huge and rapid social, economic and scientific changes
that transformed the culture), so we will find that Wesley has much to teach
the United Methodist Church.

The United Methodist Board of Discipleship is offering a different kind of
Wesley heritage "tour." The plan is to gather 25 United Methodist women and
men, lay and clergy, in England Aug. 12-17. Sarum College, located in the
close of Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, will serve as base for the group.
We will make day trips to Bristol, Oxford and London - places important to
Wesley's life and the rise of Methodism. At each place, the group will
encounter Methodist leaders who are keeping Wesley's work alive and striving
to help the church be faithful to its mission in a rapidly changing world.  

Tim Macquiban, principal of Sarum College, and I will lead the group.
Macquiban, a Wesley scholar and historian of the Methodist movement in Great
Britain, will host the group and provide interpretation for the visits to
Bristol, Oxford and London. I, as director of accountable discipleship at the
board, am focused on helping congregations reclaim the tradition of the
Methodist class meeting - small groups for mutual accountability and support
for Christian discipleship - as a powerful means of Christian formation. 

Wesley was optimistic about the future of Methodism, but not without his
fears: "I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease
to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only
exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this
undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine,
spirit, and discipline with which they first set out" ("Thoughts Upon
Methodism," Vol. 13:259, The Works of John Wesley, edited by T. Jackson). 

The Board of Discipleship's Wesley study trip to England holds wonderful
possibilities for renewal and transformation for those who participate, and
for the congregations and annual conferences they will represent.   

The deadline for reservations for the Wesley study trip to England is May 31.
For details, go online to www.gbod.org/smallgroup/cd/england or e-mail
smanskar@gbod.org.

Anniversaries are important opportunities to remember who we are and where we
came from. They are also occasions for self-examination, reflection and
looking to the future. The 300th anniversary of Wesley's birth provides an
opportunity for all of us to take a fresh look at the founder of Methodism
and our ministry in light of his.

# # #

*Manskar, an ordained elder from the Minnesota Annual Conference, is the
director of accountable discipleship at the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn. 

Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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