The digital copies of this book are available for free at First Fruits website.
place.asburyseminary.edu/firstfruits

Exploring the parameters of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's dual existence as evangelical Christians and as children of Ham, this book explains how the denomination relies on the rhetoric of evangelicalism and heathenism to construct an identity. A. Nevell Owens shows how the Voice of Mission, the missionary newspaper of the church, played an integral role in the definition of the denomination as evangelical vis-a-vis the "heathen African." By looking at the Voice of Mission as a primary source document, this book further examines the extent to which the African Methodist Episcopal Church affectively lived out its existence in two different worlds that were more often than not diametrically opposed to each other.

We Must Speak: Rethinking How We Communicate About Faith in the 21st Century "Pray that I may declare (the message) boldly, as I must speak." - Ephesians 6:20 In "We Must Speak," Larry Hollon addresses the communications crisis in mainline denominations and sounds a call to action for the church: Speak out in today's digital culture or risk irrelevance. Communications technology is connecting people in unprecedented ways, yet many mainline churches have been slow to adapt - and have continued to lose members and status. Other voices and messages are filling the void, offering superficial entertainment and consumerism as poor substitutes for the good news of the church. By embracing communications ministry, churches can transform their communities, change lives and be the presence of Christ for a hurting world. Hollon shares success stories, a theologically grounded vision, and specific steps for local congregations and denominations to tap the power of communications. "Larry Hollon sets out the case for why we need to maintain our voice ... in a world crowded with competing messages and often destructive values." - Mike McCurry, former White House press secretary

We Must Speak: Rethinking How We Communicate About Faith in the 21st Century "Pray that I may declare (the message) boldly, as I must speak." - Ephesians 6:20 In "We Must Speak," Larry Hollon addresses the communications crisis in mainline denominations and sounds a call to action for the church: Speak out in today's digital culture or risk irrelevance. Communications technology is connecting people in unprecedented ways, yet many mainline churches have been slow to adapt - and have continued to lose members and status. Other voices and messages are filling the void, offering superficial entertainment and consumerism as poor substitutes for the good news of the church. By embracing communications ministry, churches can transform their communities, change lives and be the presence of Christ for a hurting world. Hollon shares success stories, a theologically grounded vision, and specific steps for local congregations and denominations to tap the power of communications. "Larry Hollon sets out the case for why we need to maintain our voice ... in a world crowded with competing messages and often destructive values." - Mike McCurry, former White House press secretary

These essays about British Methodists in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, explore the process of collective remembering. Three distinct aspects are probed in this volume: how telling life stories shaped identity for the Methodist movement; how remembering lives was both contrived and contested; how historians' techniques have exposed the process of memorialising and remembering in Methodism.

This book's novel approach shows how to order John Wesley's unsystematic practical theology around what and how he valued as a person and as a Christian. It applies philosophical value theory to John Wesley's theology, specifically the axiological theory developed by Robert S. Hartman,

A new and engaging collection of sermons that embraces the historic 44 sermons that John Wesley approved, plus the 8 more of the North American collection (52 sermons) and to this is added 8 sermons, carefully chosen, to fill things out for contemporary interests resulting in a grand total of sixty sermons. Each sermon (which employs the text from the Bicentennial edition of Wesley s works) is preceded by a brief introduction and an outline.The sermons are arranged in accordance with the order of salvation displayed in the key sermon, The Scripture Way of Salvation, from creation to the fall through justification and every step along the way culminating in the new creation.The purpose of this collection is to foster vital Christian formation for all of its readers."

In The Renewal of United Methodism: Mission, Ministry and Connectionalism, a distinguished group of United Methodist seminary professors celebrate the life and work of Russell E. Richey by presenting essays highlighting important themes around which much of his scholarly research and writing have focused: ministry and mission; denominationalism and connectionalism; ecclesiology and evangelism; and doctrine and theology. The contributors to this volume share the conviction that the genuine renewal of United Methodism is more likely to result from careful attention to and serious engagement with the work of the church's scholars and teachers, exemplified by Russ Richey, than from the proposals of organizational consultants and management experts from the business world. By both precept and example, Russ has throughout his long and distinguished career served as both mentor and model not only for his students but also for his colleagues in both church and academy.

This book documents a carefully planned missionary exposition marketed by church leaders as the "Centenary Celebration of American Methodist Missions." The three-week event attracted over one million visitors, each paying fifty cents to enter the Columbus fairgrounds complex to investigate ways in which American Methodists were positioning themselves to convert the world to Christ. The Centenary celebration pointed Methodists toward the future by challenging fair goers to imagine what Methodist missions at home and throughout the world might look like in the months and years following the completion of the exposition. This book is a product of the 1919 Methodist missionary fair. The speeches and addresses found within this edited collection function as textual sound bites to help readers better understand the ideas, language, and motives of early twentieth century American Methodists.

Deepen your faith and enrich your life through this study of core Methodist beliefs. Written by popular seminary teachers, this book will connect you to the life and ministry of John Wesley, demonstrating relevance for the lives of Christians today as it offers an introductory examination of each.

The Essentials of Methodism is a small group study which focuses on the basic beliefs and ethics of what it means to be a Methodist or Wesleyan Disciple of Jesus Christ. This book contains ten lessons on Methodist Essentials

Committed to Christ: Six Steps to a Generous Life is a six-week stewardship program that presents giving as a lifelong journey in Christian discipleship. This Adult Readings and Study Book is designed for use in the six-week small group study that undergirds the program, as well as by others participating in the program. After an introductory Sunday stressing the importance of commitment to Christ, the next six weeks are spent exploring six steps to a generous life: Prayer Bible Reading Worship Witness Financial Giving Service With each step, readers are asked to assess prayerfully their own level of commitment and to consider increasing that commitment by one step. Equal emphasis is placed on each of the six steps, clearly communicating that this program is not simply about money, but rather cultivating a thankful heart that will lead us to giving more than we can ever imagine. For a program that focuses on the totality of stewardship, there is none better. -Jim Polk, Senior Pastor, El Dorado First United Methodist Church, El Dorado AR"

Title: The life of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M.: sometime Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and founder of the Methodist Societies.Author: Richard WatsonPublisher: Gale, Sabin Americana Description: Based on Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, Sabin Americana, 1500--1926 contains a collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s. Sabin Americana is rich in original accounts of discovery and exploration, pioneering and westward expansion, the U.S. Civil War and other military actions, Native Americans, slavery and abolition, religious history and more.Sabin Americana offers an up-close perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late 15th century to the first decades of the 20th century. Covering a span of over 400 years in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions and momentous events of the time. It provides access to documents from an assortment of genres, sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature and more.Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of original works are available via print-on-demand, making them readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars, and readers of all ages.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++SourceLibrary: Huntington LibraryDocumentID: SABCP03669000CollectionID: CTRG01-B2217PublicationDate: 18310101SourceBibCitation: Selected Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of books relating to AmericaNotes: Collation: 323 p., 1] leaf of plates: port.; 18 cm

This second edition of Richard P. Heitzenrater's groundbreaking survey of the Wesleyan movement is the story of the many people who contributed to the theology, organization, and mission of Methodism. This updated version addresses recent research from the past twenty years; includes an extensive bibliography; and fleshes out such topics as the means of grace; Conference: "Large" Minutes: Charles Wesley: Wesley and America; ordination; prison ministry; apostolic church; music; children; Susanna and Samuel Wesley; the Christian library; itinerancy; connectionalism; doctrinal standards; and John Wesley as historian, Oxford don, and preacher.

John Wesley distinguished between essential doctrines on which agreement or consensus is critical and opinions about theology or church practices on which disagreement must be allowed. Though today few people join churches based on doctrinal commitments, once a person has joined a church it becomes important to know the historic teachings of that church's tradition.

In Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, Ted Campbell outlines historical doctrinal consensus in American Episcopal Methodist Churches in a comparative and ecumenical dialogue with the doctrinal inheritance of other major families of Christian tradition. In this way, the book shows both what Methodist churches historically teach in common with ecumenical Christianity and what is distinctive about the Methodist tradition in its various contemporary forms. Documents examined include The Twenty-Five Articles of Religion, The General Rules, Wesley's Standard Sermons and Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, The Methodist Social Creed, and the Apostles' Creed. En este libro conciso y sencillo, Ted Campbell nos da un breve resumen de las doctrinas mas importantes que la familia de denominaciones wesleyanas comparten. Escrito con un lenguaje conciso y directo, Campbell estructura el material en categorias sistematicas: la doctrina de la revelacion, la doctrina de Dios, la doctrina de Cristo, la doctrina del Espiritu, la doctrina de la humanidad, la doctrina del "camino de la salvacion" (conversion/justificacion/santificacion), la doctrina de la iglesia y los medios de gracia y la doctrina de lo por venir.

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Popular author James W. Moore recalls how several years ago, while delivering the sermon at his church one Sunday morning, he had told a moving story about a boy and his dog. The author s then-five-year-old son, Jeff, was fascinated by the story, but feeling a bit uncertain about some of the details of it, during the family s car ride home from church, Jeff asked his father, Daddy, is that story true, or were you just preaching? Highly amused by Jeff s question, Jim Moore went on to explain to his young son that there are two kinds of stories: TRUE stories, stories that happened factually in history; and TRUTH stories, stories like Jesus parables, which are shared to underscore a dramatic truth in life. The several short chapters and stories in this book are designed to highlight such life-truths, with chapter titles such as Go out Singing, Roadblocks, Should I Forgive? One Step at a Time, Who s in Control Here? What Can One Person Do? Tell Me, Please, How to Be Happy, Why not You? Keep on Keeping On, Jesus: The Message and the Messenger, The Importance of Uniqueness, and others. This book contains a discussion guide."

Handy, helpful prayers to use in public worship during Advent and Christmas. The collection includes invocations, opening prayers, prayers of confession, and pastoral prayers for the Sundays of Advent, and Christmas Eve services. Drawn from a variety of traditions, the prayers in this collection will aid any congregation as it worships throughout the journey of Advent.

Methodism started out as a missional alternative to establishment Christianity, but is now like the establishment Christianity it once critiqued. In this book, Dr. Hunter asks whether enough New Testament Christianity exists in any institutional form of Christianity, including The United Methodist Church, to change the world. If United Methodism is to survive, it must recover bold directions in ministry, in addition to Wesley s theological vision. If only it was so simple as to stand on Wesley s shoulders to see our way forward. This means that laity and clergy must be biblically informed, spiritually energized, and systematically organized. If United Methodism is to thrive, it needs to focus on mission, recalling that early Methodism was an extravagant expression of missional Christianity. Net membership decline is not from losing more people but from reaching fewer people than it used to. The need for the gospel of Jesus Christ is greater than ever. United Methodists must create structures and serve God and neighbor in order to spread, as Wesley admonished, scriptural holiness throughout the land. George G. Hunter III is Distinguished Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He is the author of several books, including Radical Outreach and The Celtic Way of Evangelism, both published by Abingdon Press."

The lifeblood of the United Methodist is passion rather than organizational neatness, entrepreneurial freedom rather than denominational restraint, and agility rather than staid institutional dependence. But if United Methodists want to change and be the church we say we want to be, what must we risk and how can we challenge current practices?

At the heart of becoming a spiritual movement once again is the requirement that we develop a new understanding of connection as Christians and as United Methodists. We are currently at a time in which United Methodists are reinventing denominational connectionalism. One way of framing the issue is to distinguish between members and disciples, or consumers (those who wait for the institution to care for their needs) and citizens (those who are willing to commit themselves to and be held accountable for the whole of the community).

United Methodism has nurtured generations of leaders and congregations that see themselves as consumers of the resources and attention of the denomination. The impulse toward movement is challenging spiritually purposeful leaders and congregations to risk becoming citizens who fully expect to make a difference in the lives of individuals and also in the world through an encounter with Christ.

Built in 1894, the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, NJ, stands alone as a distinctive historic structure from the national Camp Meeting movement of the late 1800s. Authors Ted Bell, Cindy Bell and Darrell Dufresne provide a fascinating account of the history and development of this architectural treasure that occupies nearly an acre and is situated 1500 feet from the Atlantic Ocean. Included in the book are detailed diagrams and photos of the construction of the building, design aspects including original building contracts, and correspondence and observations by persons who were present at the time of its construction. www.oceangrovehistory.org Articles of Agreement and Specifications of Auditorium in Ocean Grove, NJ