Serving as an overseer of urban congregations, a church raised a concern as to what they needed to do with the growing number of youths in the church and noisy children who were distracting regular worship. After much consultation they made a deliberation to have all the children and youth attend youth church, but before implementing, they proposed to inquire some “wisdom.” Burdened by their concern I asked the elders several questions:

1. Do you perceive members with children as a blessing or a bother, how would you want them to participate in worship with peace of mind?
2. When the children and youth get separated from the main church service, when and how will they learn, to sing, pray, worship with the rest of the congregation members?
3. What avenues can the church incorporate these groups as part of the worship service so that they benefit from one another? 

In the current station of service, there are people of all ages, stages and generations made of citizens and immigrants. The concept of intergenerational worship is God ordained and timely. During the main service, the youths, adults, and seniors all congregate in the sanctuary and help with different aspects of the church service. Ushering, worship music, media operations. The young adults’ ladies and women of the church help with making tea and snacks for fellowship time. The men come with the younger men, their sons for men’s breakfast events. As the sermon is done in the main church so the children and youths are released to classes for age appropriate learning.

In the work “Nurturing Faith: A Practical Theology for Educating Christians” Fred P. Edie and Mark A. Lamport rightfully raise the necessity of intergenerational communal processes of faith. Spot on they declare that, “…faith communities are … essential greenhouses for nurturing faith.[1]” Essentially the “ecology effects both the young and old. The failure to do so lead to the loss of the “…distinctive language, gestures, practices, dispositions of the heart, and vision which are the ingredients of faith.[2]

Unlike the “Sunday School” models adopted by most Christian Educationists, appropriate Spiritual ecology responsible for intergenerational disciple making transcends “learning about” to incarnational “living out.”[3] Edie and Lamport offer some broad strategies for communal faith formation, which incorporate, developing catechetical culture, where new Christians reaffirm and reflect their faith learning, by “repeating faith.”[4] Offering leadership for congregational change through normalizing, adult, children, and young adults functioning together in intergenerational worship, through access for all methodology, that impacts all ages and stages of the congregation. Foster summarizes this as “Preparation, Participation and Reflection through the churches’, ritual practices, of worship and in mission. Intergenerational dynamics is enabled through a healthy congregational ecology of practices.[5]

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^[1] Edie, F. P., Lamport, M. A., Foster, C. R., Percy, M., Wright, A. M., Dykstra, C. R., … Groome, T. H. (2021). Pg 312. Nurturing faith: A practical theology for educating Christians. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 

^[2] Ibid. (2021). Pg 314. 

^[3] Ibid (2021). Pg 315. 

^[4] Ibid (2021). Pg 318. 

^[5] Ibid (2021). Pg 324. 

In episode ten of “the mini-series From the Earth to the Moon. It traces the learning journey Air Force and Navy fighter pilots went through to become competent lunar geologists.” Demonstrating to the whole of humanity that “it can be done.” This competent team of pilots defied the odds of their profession, political and boardroom squabbles, the earths gravitational pull to prove that the scientist “Galileo was right” and that knowledge well packaged and delivered can be transferred and effected. Eager learners, appropriate content, and relevant context create a conducive environment. The fact that the pilots were seasoned never meant that they could not be trained as “Geologists,” they just needed the correct motivation.

The episode opens with the journalists being taught in a highly sophisticated geology class with a professor using formulas and scientific terminologies, probably keen to convert the “Pilots” into Geologists. The critique made on this “pilot” learners was that they were deficient of scientific minds and that is why they were not getting the concepts taught, within the shortest time that had been stipulated. The team leader confronts the transmitters of knowledge instead to identify a teacher with the capacity to “bring up the scientific in all of the pilots.” The learners’ source for a professor who had the capacity to transmit such knowledge but who is hesitant to become part of the program. Again, the team leader is persistent to inquire that if the transmitter was preoccupied why not teach the Astronauts to know how to identify the resources they need. The focus shifts from “converting them to become “miniature geologists” to equipping them with the knowledge to identify the required “resources” from the Moon.

Besides, the Class is shifted from the “standard” classroom, learning concepts to the field, to interact with rocks and landscapes. Another transformation happens in the boardroom when the “professionals” cannot agree on where the landing on the Moon should be done. The learners are engaged to give their opinion amidst diverse differences from the conflicted “professionals.” The learners take the challenge to attempt the most difficult landing to get the best results, because all along they were part of the process and were ready to get it right from the start. From the experience and exposure of the Pilots, we see them becoming not just “lunar geologists, but competent and passionate renaissance men” ready to put their lives at stake to attempt the “greatest lip for mankind” on the Moon. Men who could observe and translate the big picture to minute details, that the rest of humanity could now learn from them way out in space.

Similarly, speaking to my thousands of pastoral colleagues who have the rear privilege to declare the oracles of God from every pulpit around the world, we need an “upgrade.” Every pastor on the pulpit must shift from seeing the soul of its members as “a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lit.^[1]” Our aim as mandated by Christ is to stir the souls with a passion to seek the truth for themselves by the urging of the Holy Spirit who is at work in every heart. What relevance then, does the astronauts preparation for their lunar mission have for the contemporary leaders, inspiring communal or even congregational spiritual formation? 

1. Redeeming time: “Time is everything and preparation is critical” says the professor in the mini-series From the Earth to the Moon. Similarly, Paul reminds the Ephesian believers the essence of Redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). Every opportunity to stir the souls on our pulpits must be used skillfully and urgently for the most impact when it is still “day”!
2. Relevant Content and Context: Just like the professor attempting to convert the astronauts into “mini geologists”, the pulpit teachers thrive to raise “mini theologians” with concepts we can barely pronounce and miss to equip the Christians in their arears of passion, our pulpit curriculum must transmit knowledge but answer needs.
3. Reduction from broad to Specific: Just like a skilled painter or artist who begins his work with broad strokes to minute details, the pulpit teacher must help the hearers see the “big picture” to “specific details” of God’s plan for their lives. 

The pulpit ministers are daily aware that the Christians’ warfare “gravitational pulls” are not human created, rather they wrestle “principalities, forces of darkness,” sometimes not visible with the human eye. Yet by the power of the risen Christ, such forces are brought submissive to the authority of Christ, with divine powers to destroy strongholds, defy every “gravitational pull” that stops the believers from achieving their utmost potential. The Sunday pulpit curricula must thrive to achieve this goal just like Geologist Lee Silver assists Dave Scott and his Apollo 15 crew in becoming field observers on the moon.

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^[1]primevideo://detail?asin=B07TV8G7KS&action=download&territory=US&ref_=atv_dp_btf_el_est_sd_tv_dwld_t1BLAAAAAA0wr0_atv_dwld_web_unknown_dp

The Anglican Church of Kenya raised a red flag on the demise of the “influence” of the Church in the education sector. The provosts’ desk noted, “Christian churches have played a pivotal role in providing primary, secondary, and higher education in Kenya. In the 18th century, the Church managed education in Kenya. In every mission center, the missionaries established three institutions: a church, a school, and a health center to cater to the holistic human need.” Due to the inability of most churches impoverished with personnel and finances to run the schools efficiently, “…The government has slowly but intentionally removed the Church from school ownership to school ‘sponsorship.’” [1] The shift of support has also led to a change in Christian authority in the management and curricular development of the schools. The more government influence the school has, the more likely its Christian ethos will be endangered.

The basic understanding of “Christian Education,” as taught in most bible school curricula, is the ability to inculcate “Christian ethos” into every area of study, be it humanities, social sciences, or art. Intentionally weaving into “all fields of study” the essence of godliness. Unfortunately, where applicable, the understanding of this has been limited to Christian teachers beginning the class with “Prayer” use of “God” vocabulary scantly. The challenge with this methodology is that most teachers lack the understanding and embodiment of education that is “Christian” in themselves.

To reclaim the Church’s lost birthright to influence matters of education demands a clear understanding of “Christian Education.” Beyond education incorporating “God language,” James’s Relay articulates that which informs the Christians’ ethos, including a “…conceptualization …informed by Scripture, living the Christian tradition, and articulating theology in the content subjects and teaching process.” [2] In essence, there is no way of teaching the “evolution theory” in a Christian way when the truth is that “God created” the world. In pursuing the desire to entrench the Christian ethos, Christian education must correct the ideology first and inform the people what is “theologically” unsound. Incorporating the content and teaching process demands an intentional shift from “disintegration to wholistic integration.”[3]

The result is education that bears “integrity, conspicuously distinctive, gives clear direction, bears biblical content, contains set parameters, filled with divine conviction, able to nurture souls, engaging an intentional process, and utilizes lenses to filter the knowledge being transmitted.[4] Africa Gospel Church, Kenya, my home denomination, has over five hundred schools that offer basic and higher education. Including mid-level tertiary institutions, a bible college, and a university. While the biases of my training may lead me to value theological training as a discipline, I am deeply concerned about the hundreds of teachers who interact with the students in these “church-sponsored schools” in teaching “social sciences.”

 On a scale of one to five, I would give myself a four on the emphasis of theology to prepare for pastoral ministry and a two on the interest in social sciences. Yet, the discipleship mandate demands that I shift my missiological focus to the hundreds of social science teachers who interact daily with the souls of the youth in the Church-sponsored schools. What improvements should the denominational leaders make to reclaim the Church’s birthright in providing Christian education? The mandate lies with the discipleship department in the following areas:

1. Denominational leaders have a “holistic” understanding of what it takes to get an “education that is Christian.”
2. Discipleship leaders analyze its institutions and institutional leaders to know what levels of “disintegration” exist in the church system.
3. In partnership with its institutional leaders, the Church will develop a holistic integration curriculum.
4. Intentional discipleship of all stakeholders to embrace the content, context, and processes that make “Christian education.” 

I realize that the dichotomy of theology and social sciences is an injustice to our formation as gospel ministers. Robing “education” off “theology” is taking away the “perfect lenses” that inform the social sciences from shifting to post-modern ideologies that tend to idolatry, all manner of deceptive social evils, that eventually lead to the disintegration of our societal fabric, which is the concern of the global village today. The church must take its place in impacting the spheres of society, be it family, religion, media, education, government, business, and entertainment.

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^[1] “All Saints’ Cathedral – Nairobi, Kenya.” n.d. https://www.allsaintsnairobi.org/514-2/.

^[2] Estep, J. R., Anthony, M. J., & Allison, G. R. (2008). A theology for christian education, (ch2 p1).  Nashville, TN: B & H Academic. 

^[3] Ibid, (ch2 p6).  Nashville, TN: B & H Academic. 

^[4] Ibid, (ch2 p13).  Nashville, TN: B & H Academic. 

Church growth scholars enumerate five ministry dynamics that inform a healthy congregational outreach, these are:

1. Teaching (didache)
2. Preaching (kerygma)
3. Prayer/Worship (leiturgia)
4. Fellowship (koinonia)
5. Service (diakonia)

The aspects above can either be explicitly implemented or implicitly happens unnoticed depending on the church ecology, leadership, and sensitivity to the working of the Hoy Spirit. Recalling these five ministry dynamics and the working of the Holy Spirit in Upendo Baptist Church, Dallas Texas there are aspects that have greatly impacted the formation and disciple making aspects of the UBC church community. 

Some explicit “didache” teachings incorporated include Sunday schools for children, organized specialized group workshops among the men, women, youth, and young adults, which may involve the invitation of guest speakers to handle specific topics like family disciple making. The result is natural family talk interest stirred among the families and members of the church. 

During the “kerygma” pulpit preaching ministries, the pastoral team aims to stir the congregation to living God’s word implicitly at home, work, and church. The pastoral team recognizes that members are in church for two hours every week, but twenty-four hours at home or in their market space, which is their place of influence. 

In response to “leiturgia” worship and prayer, every ceremony done in church must be purposeful. Every ministry service, be it child dedication, baptism, eucharist, weddings, funerals and memorials are intentionally planned to let the congregation know what God’s word say’s about the circumstance at hand. 

The “koinonia” fellowship moments are planned to enhance continual growth beyond the “Sunday” meeting. Most gatherings are rather informal, this may involve to take advantage of every group gathering in church and intentionally introduce a disciple making moment. Fellowship groups meet weekly in homes as life groups “doing life together.” To inculcate purpose for meetings every group has the opportunity to expose its members to service.  Such “diakonia” moments like compassion, benevolence, or care moments are naturally adopted where members are part of a fellowship. The expectation is members of every group feel cared for in celebrations and crisis moments even in the absence of the pastor.

The study of biblical and historical small groups shows that the formation and posterity of the “disciple making groups” demonstrate the need of factors like, living values, practicing cooperate accountability, clarity in mission and identity, vision sharing, bearing, and caring, openness to outsiders and newcomers, consistency in practicing discipline, adaptability and sensitivity in appreciating the diverse settings as platforms for “Spiritual formation.”^[1] “Disciple making” groups are further propagated by a healthy Church ecosystem, group purpose, sound content and context, pastoral engagement in equipping and recognising specialised support groups.^[2] It is not farfetched to acknowledge that sound intentional explicit approach stirs implicit activity and creates a movement.

Denominational commitments can both propagate or hinder the five ministry approaches. Organisations tied down with bureaucracy and office protocols may find it hard to cope with congregations that keep evolving as their members seek contemporary solutions to address their day-to-day ministry dilemmas. In contrast healthy denominational leadership gives credibility, sustainability, and accountability in ministry.

Addressing the stability and impact of the UBC Fellowship within the local context is provoking. Currently the church ministers mostly to immigrant Kenyan communities, most live far from the church but come because it is a “Kenyan” community church. Over time other nationalities and races have identified with UBC fellowship as their church. The church though “old” in occupancy is a stranger in this neighbourhood. There is need to design methodologies to incorporate the needs of the Garland community in the church outreach, if UBC Fellowship will have to show spirituality beyond Sunday among its members and neighbours

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^[1] Bill Donahue and Charles Gowler, “Small Groups: The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever?,” Christian Education Journal: Research on Educational Ministry 11, no. 1 (2014): Pg 100-103, https://doi.org/10.1177/073989131401100110.

^[2] Boren, Scott, and Jim Egli. “Small Group Models: Navigating the Commonalities and the Differences.” Christian Education Journal: Research on Educational Ministry 11, no. 1 (2014): Pg. 163. https://doi.org/10.1177/073989131401100112. 

STOP! Take a deep breath…. PAUSE.

The COVID-19 global pandemic pressed the pause button, causing life to slow and literally stop on many occasions. Many have wondered whether such moments are fate, human making, or divine intervention to provoke human attention; whatever the case, it worked.

The world dynamics slowed down to a halt! I am reminded of the fourth commandment on “Sabato” (Swahili for Sabbath) that God gives the Hebrew people a national constitution to govern their lives. (Exodus 20:8-11)

What could have been God’s intended purpose for observing Sabbath to his chosen people? My interaction with the passage in the light of contemporary human activity and natural occurrences demonstrates that the law of the sabbath is essential for:

1. Remembering: The evolution of the clock, the dawn of industrialization, and the 24-hour, 7-day economy have put pressure on more production than provided time. Priority has shifted to work, causing many to forget the need for space in time. Rest creates a moment of “reflection” over occurrences and sobriety of response to the cause and effect.^[1]
2. Keeping: Knowing about the sabbath (Hebrew) “rest” is insufficient. I knew I was entitled to annual leave, but I got so busy working, that the organization could not release me for my “efficiency,” instead, they chose to pay me my leave days to keep working. The result of such behavior is the reason “church workers” like me die of exhaustion and burnout, “spiritual suicide.” The “keeping” has several components:
   • Sacredness: “Keep the Sabbath Holy.” The Hebrew people are instructed to a season of worship concerning the creator. Appreciating the “Lord of the Sabbath,” God is giving a moment for the creature to reflect on the Creator. Christ assures his critiques that “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27
   • Business: On the Sabbath, “YOU SHALL DO NO WORK.” Disengagement from work is the second component, the call to create space to keep the Sabbath intentionally.
   • Ethics: The institution of justice mechanism ensures that individuals, their family members, employees, settlers, livestock, and farmland are preserved from abuse due to overuse.
   • Rejuvenation: The writer of Leviticus quickly reminds the Hebrew people of the consequences overtaking them because of neglecting the sabbath. The people would be sent by God as a punishment into captivity as refugees scattered around the world to give the land room to “rejuvenate” for the years they disobeyed the sabbath. (Leviticus: 26:31-35) Our personal and corporate lack of “sabbath” robs us today of the opportunity to experience intellectual, physical, spiritual, social, and economic wholeness and invites chaos as life is shaken out of rhythm.

What? Yeah, those days we spend in isolation and admission seclusions, to recover from mental disorders, lifestyle diseases, habitual therapies, conferences on climatization, and global starvation interventions … name them, are a taste of the consequences of neglecting years of Sabbath-REST for humans, animal, and plant life! In our digital age that is continuously “on,” I invite you to PAUSE! And welcome the “Sabbath” as a response to Christ’s invitation, “Come to me all who are weak, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

God breaks seasons in Days and Nights, times to function and replenish. The preacher in Ecclesiastes is right on point that “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. As stewards of God’s time, every day, create hours for rest; every week, take a day of rest; every month, make space to retreat; and every year, seek a break to rejuvenate. An invitation to “Remember” and “Keep,” for “God presents the sabbath as a shelter we can enter” (Charles R. Swindoll)^[2]

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^[1] https://www.journeyfilms.com

^[2] https://brightspace.indwes.edu/content/enforced/209232-2SU2023CONG-630-41A/Thoughts%20on%20Sabbath%20Keeping_TGrimm2.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=ZuGiLD6o0b5qa8qkTqJ7012ak&ou=209232

In a world that craves a “full package” in one delivery, John Wesley goes to great lengths to explain to his generation what the whole package of salvation offers. As one reflects on what happens “Before, Beneath and Beyond” Salvation, the Christian gets treated to a cocktail of sorts, which is the work of the Holy Spirit in “convicting, converting, consecrating and comforting” the soul to an eternal hope.

Every Christian believer claiming to contain the “full package” of Salvation must demonstrate the characteristics of a Christian believer, what John Wesley called “Full Salvation.” The apostle Peter was concerned with the slothfulness of the early Christian believers and asked them a question worth our response today. Since the world and all its elements will be destroyed with the coming of Christ to establish his kingdom, “…what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness…?

In response to elder Peter’s concern, I believe our generation must embrace the “full salvation” by:

1. Loving God: with all our intellectual, physical, social, and emotional faculties. Active love engages our passions, mind, and strength through intentional spiritual disciplines that draw us to God and “draw God to us.”
2. Loving Neighbor: The current Israeli and Palestinian war are poking holes in the gospel of love, yet amid the turmoil but great to see that the “Red Cross” and “Red Crescent” are working together to alienate human suffering, the Christian community must “Redden our crosses” and engage the hurting wounded world to see the love of Jesus.
3. Full of the Spirit: One who gets filled with wine shows the “joy and glow” of the winery, and so must we who claim to be filled with the “new wine.” We must desire, seek, and live in the fullness of the Spirit expressed through infectious Joy. Wesley was concerned that “It is incumbent on all that are justified to be zealous of good works… And these are so necessary that if a man willingly neglects them, he cannot reasonably expect that he shall ever be sanctified.” [1] The world recognizes that the Christian believer is full of the Spirit only when we overflow. The church must continue to uphold the Christian faith as upheld in the Acts of the Apostles and the sound tradition of the Christian community.
4. Full of the Holy Scriptures: In African Christianity, many still wait for “Men of God, Prophets, and Apostles” to read and interpret scripture. Many have fallen prey to cultic false teachers who reap from them, leaving the flock wounded and naked. I have taken steps to train the church to read, study, and obey the Holy Scriptures, as the word of God is essential for the rule of life.[2] There is a need to uphold the supremacy of scripture over human ideology and phraseology, which entails respect for the soundness of scriptural interpretation as practiced in the Christian faith.
5. Longing Hope: Beyond Salvation is the living in hope of complete restoration of the Kingdom of God, with the second coming of Christ.

Soteriology encompasses the “plan, power, and posterity” of the Holy Scriptures on matters of “Salvation,” that is, “Full Salvation.” Despite the Holy Spirit working incognito from the inside, the fruit is evident on the outside.

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[1] (“The Scripture Way of Salvation” in Sermons II [vol. 3; ed. A.C. Outler; Abingdon, 1985], 164).

[2] Character of a methodist, pg 34.

Do you feel guilty, judged, you do not deserve, you have fallen short of the standard, be encouraged for today: “… God’s grace that brings salvation has appeared to all…” through Christ Jesus (Titus 2:11). Nothing is too dark that God’s grace cannot satisfy!

Among the Samburu community of Kenya, if a person accidentally commits murder, they must undergo a cleansing ritual. The community identifies a traditional healer who takes the individual through the stipulated steps of “redemption” to receive grace to continue being a community member.

The guilty man is called “black” because he has committed a “dark deed.” To appease the community a “dark” mediator in complexion is sought from a neighboring community to perform the cleansing ceremony. The “dark” mediator slaughters a spotless sheep or goat, empties the bowels, and smears the victim with the bowel contents of the sacrificed animal from head to toe. During the cleansing season, this guilty victim cannot enter any homestead and even receive water to drink. After the season of banishment, a sacrifice is done to cleanse the victims and restore them back to the community.

Similarly, today, you have been “…sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). God’s grace has ushered in your salvation, ending your abandonment like the “dark” man. You have now become part of the community of the children of God. Besides, God’s grace empowers you for service and commissions you for a mission to form others in the likeness of Christ. Better still, God’s grace assures you “hope” a life of eternity with God in the Kingdom of Christ.

Welcome to the grace of God that is “redemptive, rewarding, and restorative.”

An African Analogy on Wesley’s Means of Grace

In the attempt to describe the “means of grace,” some have attempted to explain it as a “Pipeline.”[1] While appreciating the analogy of the “pipe” as a conduit to God’s graces, Dr. Tammie Grimm takes issue with the simplicity of the analogy as a “transmission system” to explain the complexity of the means of grace as a “continuum.” Dr. Grimm explains “means of grace” in the faith growth as “…a divine resource available in abundance.” Pastors and those engaged in the spiritual formation of communities and congregations will, from time to time, seek means of how to communicate the need for spiritual maturity.

Emanating from an African oral culture that thrives in storytelling from one generation to another, I would modify the “Pipeline” analogy to discuss the Christian as a “Bamboo at the Master’s disposal.” It is said of the “Bamboo” that was so precious and would dance in the Master’s Garden at the center of the field. The Master was so impressed with the “Bamboo” that he demanded, “Bamboo, I need to use you.” Bamboo, excited that the Master needed him, worshiped the Master and said, “Master, take me and use me.” The Master was quiet and, in sudden urgency but in deep sorrow, said, “Bamboo, Bamboo, if I have to use, I must cut you open, rip you apart, and empty you completely.”

The Bamboo stopped his dance and appealed to the Master to use him as he was upright and steady. To which the Master replied, “Bamboo, Bamboo, if I do not cut you, rip you, and empty you, I cannot use you. Thus, it is said that the Bamboo yielded to the Master was cut open, ripped apart, and emptied completely. The Bamboo that was once “alive” in its “dead” form got laid on the ground as a conduit to water a dry field, and thousands have been fed from the yield since the Bamboo died.

The complexity of the Bamboos’ life in the Master’s hand is Paul’s analogy of “…treasures in jars of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Reflecting on the “means of grace” among the Christian community, it is proper to say that, the “Divine Grace” is endowed to us by God’s favor, poured in us for God’s service, and used in us for God’s glory.

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[1] “Tammie Grimm ~ A Pipeline of Grace: Pros and Cons – Seedbed,” n.d., accessed September 20, 2023, https://seedbed.com/tammie-grimm-a-pipeline-of-grace-pros-and-cons/.

A study of John Wesley’s Teaching on Salvation.

Contemplating the journey of faith since I made an intentional commitment to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior as a young Anglican youth thirty-six years ago, the readings in soteriology have made me rethink my understanding of “salvation.” The “orienting concerns” emerging from my faith formation can be grouped in three dimensions, that is “Before, Beneath and Beyond.”

Before Salvation

First, my expectation is to emulate the thought of John Wesley to interrogate the belief “Before” that led to my faith in Christ. Those experiences some “mundane” and others “strange encounters” like Wesley at sea with the Moravians accompanied by what John Wesley would come to call the “Prevenient Grace”, as the workings of God to get the most beautiful works of a thirsty soul.

“Before” salvation as in John Wesley’s study defined that human problems are caused by sin and the solution is found in God’s gracious redemption through Christ Jesus. Currently as the lead pastor daily I am faced with individuals, families and communities that are wrestling with “Hurts, Habits and Hang-ups” desiring to be broken fee.

Beneath Salvation

“Beneath” Salvation, seeks to appreciate the power behind the redemptive work of Christ as John Wesley saw God as source of all existence and value.[1] While rebuking the vices that hold captive the human soul, it is evident that the solution is found in Christ. Beneath salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit to restore and empower the believer to a victorious life. John Wesley sees this as God’s initiative while the human response in the process of salvation is obedience and complete faith in Christ to procure redemption.

Beyond Salvation

In sync with John Wesley that salvation is not the end of things, I desire to explore the workings of God “Beyond” salvation into eternity. My expectation is the need like John Wesley, to engage “theology on the go.” I endeavor the Implementation of practical theology that addresses issues of life of the daily ordinary fork in their day-to-day business.[2] In this emphasis John Wesley helps me realize the present and future dimensions of the reign of Christ and means of salvation.[3]

Secondly the hopes, expectations, questions, or concerns I have for the class, will develop through the daily engagements in the program. I will be seeking from my colleagues to help me understand what became of “Wesleyan Movement” in the Methodist church. The pain of division and theological departures that have seen the Methodist ministry once revered today is shrouded in splits and spiritual deviations.

Finally, as I integrated the readings with my daily practice of faith, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I can commit to myself, my colleagues, to God, to my professor, the Africancommunity I serve in the Dallas Metroplex to relieve the tenets of the marks of a Christian believer. Beyond stating the Character of a “Methodist” today my focus shifts to the Character of Christian believer in the church today. I commit to “believe, belong and build” the Kingdom upon the solid rock that is Christ.

Conclusively, “Before, Beneath and Beyond” Salvation, seeks to engage the believer to appreciate the “plan, power and posterity” of the Divine economy on matters “Salvation.”

[1] Ibid.

[2] Maddox, Randy L.. Responsible Grace (Kingswood Series) (p. 17). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

[3] Maddox, Randy L.. Responsible Grace (Kingswood Series) (p. 235). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.