Following the theology of mission developed by John Wesley, thousands of men and women have engaged in domestic and international missions. But why did they go? Why do they continue to go today? In The Use of the Old Testament in a Wesleyan Theologyof Mission, Gordon Snider examines the Wesleyan understanding of mission in the light of the Old Testament. What theology from God's Old Covenant gave Wesleyans their drive to impact nations, and how did it shape their missionary strategies? Drawing upon a range of primary sources, he examines how a number of influential speakers in the Wesleyan tradition, particularly the founders and spokespeople of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, have used the Old Testament to inform theirtheology of mission. Snider provides an insight into the works of the important theologians Thomas Coke, Jabez Bunting, Adam Clarke, Richard Watson, Daniel Whedon and Edmund Cook. Focusing on the movement of Wesleyan Theology from Great Britain to North America, Snider analyses how this affected Wesleyan ideas of holiness, eschatology and divine healing. Readers of this volume will discover why Wesleyan Christians go into the world and gain a deeper understanding of missions.

The promises of God formed the basis of John Wesley's optimism of grace. Wesley believed God not only could but in fact would fulfill all his promises to bring salvation to the nations; to make new heavens and a new earth; to liberate the whole creation from its bondage to decay (Rom. 8:21). This collection of essays by respected Wesleyan theologian Howard A. Snyder reflects the spirit of Wesley's optimism of grace. The first half of this collection offers an overview of Wesley's theology and practice, particularly with regard to gospel, mission, and culture. Part Two examines the inter-dynamic between church renewal and global mission. The collection also includes Wesleyan appraisals of Clark Pinnock's theology and the ecclesiology of Karl Barth. Howard A. Snyder serves as distinguished professor and chair of Wesley Studies at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Previously he was professor of history and theology of mission in the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky from 1996 to 2006. He has also taught at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, and pastored in Chicago and Detroit. He has written numerous books, including " The Problem with Wineskins " (IVP), " The Radical Wesley " (IVP) and, most recently " Populist Saints: B. T. and Ellen Roberts and the Birth of Free Methodism " (Eerdmans). "

John Wesley boasted that he was a “man of one book,” but he was also a thoughtful student throughout his life and an author of many books. As breath gives life, John Wesley inhaled and exhaled the words of Scripture, shaping his thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behavior. And like our eighteenth-century ancestor, the Bible is central to us for continued faith formation. In this invitation to Scripture, the general editor of the Wesley Study Bible and biblical scholar, Dr. Joel Green, summarizes Wesley’s understanding of key themes and topics of key books of the New Testament. Using brief excerpts from Wesley’s writings (in updated language), Dr. Green explains the importance of Wesley’s thinking as it directly applies to everyday life and faithful practice. Each chapter ends with questions suitable for private devotion or group settings, to help you apply your study to daily living. This book will be your trusted companion to the Wesley Study Bible as you love God with a warmed heart and serve God with active hands.

Winner of a 2006 Christianity Today Book Award! Honored as one of the "Fifteen Outstanding Books of 2005 for Mission Studies" by International Bulletin of Missionary Research From Cairo to Calcutta, from Cochabamba to Columbus, Christians are engaged in a conversation about how to speak and live the gospel in today's traditional, modern and emergent cultures. The technical term for their efforts is contextualization. Missionary theorists have pondered and written on it at length. More and more, those who do theology in the West are also trying to discover new ways of communicating and embodying the gospel for an emerging postmodern culture. But few have considered in depth how the early church contextualized the gospel. And yet the New Testament provides numerous examples. As both a crosscultural missionary and a New Testament scholar, Dean Flemming is well equipped to examine how the early church contextualized the gospel and to draw out lessons for today. By carefully sifting the New Testament evidence, Flemming uncovers the patterns and parameters of a Paul or Mark or John as they spoke the Word on target, and he brings these to bear on our contemporary missiological task. Rich in insights and conversant with frontline thinking, this is a book that will revitalize the conversation and refresh our speaking and living the gospel in today's cultures, whether in traditional, modern or emergent contexts.

Despite wide acceptance of the "Wesleyan quadrilateral", significant disagreements have arisen in both academic and church circles about the degree to which Scripture stood in a place of theological primacy for Wesley, or should do so for modern Methodists, and about the proper and appropriate methods of interpreting Scripture. In this important work, Scott J. Jones offers a full-scale investigation of John Wesley's conception and use of Scripture. The results of this careful and thorough investigation are sometimes surprising. Jones argues that for Wesley, religious authority is constituted not by a "quadrilateral", but by a fivefold but unitary locus comprising Scripture, reason, Christian antiquity, the Church of England, and experience. He shows that in actual practice Wesley's reliance on the entire Christian tradition - in particular of the early church and of the Church of England - is far heavier than his stated conception of Scripture would seem to allow, and that Wesley stresses the interdependence of the five dimensions of religious authority for Christian faith and practice.

The Bible was central to John Wesley’s faith and the Christian movement he founded. In Scripture and the Wesleyan Way, you will discover a Wesleyan approach to the Bible and the Christian life through a Bible study using Wesley’s own words. In this study, authors Scott and Arthur Jones use John Wesley’s sermons to illuminate the Bible passages at the heart of Wesley’s understanding of what it means to be a real Christian. Each chapter explores a key Scripture text and one of Wesley’s sermons on it. Through their insightful and engaging study, Bishop Jones and his son Arthur show how the teachings of Wesley address questions that many of us in the twenty-first century still struggle with today. Chapters include: What is the Bible’s Message? Am I a Real Christian? How Can I Be Saved? Do I Have to Obey the Law? Am I a Sinner? Why is the Christian Life Not Easier? Am I Going to Heaven? What about My Money? Additional components for an eight-week study include a DVD featuring Scott and Arthur Jones and a comprehensive Leader Guide. As readers study the Bible with John Wesley, they will encounter his call to live a real Christian life and be inspired to respond to this call with faith and boldness. John Wesley discovered a challenging yet hopeful message in the Bible, which profoundly shaped his personal life and the Methodist movement he founded. As you study the Bible with John Wesley, you will hear his call to live a real Christian life and be inspired to respond to this call with faith and boldness.

Congregations are made up of people with all sorts of theologies. Pastor Mike Slaughter even says that these can stand in the way of the church’s mission of social and personal holiness. But most people do not adopt a theology on purpose, mostly they merely breathe in the prevailing cultural air. The theology "de jour" seems to be Calvinist, with its emphasis on “the elect” and “other worldly salvation.” In fact, there is so much Calvinism saturating the culture, that some do not even know there is an alternative way of thinking about their faith. They don’t know where to go to find a viable option; they don’t even know the key words to search Google. So people are left thinking like Calvinists but living with a desire to change the world, offering grace and hope to hurting people in mission and ministry—loving the least, the last, and the lost. In other words, they are living like Wesleyans. This book shows what Calvinist and Wesleyans actually believe about human responsibility, salvation, the universality of God’s grace, holy living through service, and the benefits of small group accountability--and how that connects to how people can live. Calvinists and Wesleyans are different, and by knowing the difference, people will not only see the other benefits of Wesleyan theology but will be inspired to learn more. By knowing who they are as faithful people of God, they will be motivated to reach out in mission with renewed vigor. And they won’t be obstacles to grace and holiness, but they can be better disciples and advocates for Christ through service in this world.