This book assesses the conceptualisation of international mission in the Methodist Church Ghana. It demonstrates that Ghanaian Methodists possess a robust ecclesiology with roots in the Akan concept of "abusua" and an evangelical theology rooted in John Wesley. The author gives interpretations to the ways mission takes place and proposes twelve models of mission whereby members of diasporic communities are agents of mission. As mission is seen a responsibility of the whole church, mission is a common theme related to the migration of Ghanaian Methodists to other contexts, often understood in terms of in the global North. The church's presence in North America and Europe presents challenges and opportunities that must be negotiated in a broader Methodist mainline milieu.

Published in 1817, The Doctrines and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first definitive guide to the history, beliefs, teachings, and practices of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Beginning with a brief history, the book moves into a presentation of the ""Articles of Religion,"" including the Trinity, the Word of God, Resurrection, the Holy Spirit, scripture, original sin and free will, justification, works, the church, purgatory, the sacraments, baptism, the Lord's Supper, marriage, church ceremonies, and government. Immediately following the articles is an extended four-part catechism that more fully explicates the meanings and implications of the doctrinal statements.

The theology of Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius has been misinterpreted and caricaturized in both Reformed and Wesleyan circles. By revisiting Arminius theology, the book hopes to be a constructive voice in the discourse between so-called Calvinists and Arminians. Traditionally, Arminius has been treated as a divisive figure in evangelical theology. Contributors: Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs Mark G. Bilby Oliver D. Crisp W. Stephen Gunter John Mark Hicks Mark H. Mann Thomas H. McCall Richard A. Muller Keith D. Stanglin E. Jerome Van Kuiken"

This is an invaluable handbook on Methodism containing an introduction, dictionary of key terms, and concentrates on key themes, methodology and research problems for those interested in studying the origins and development of the history and theology of world Methodism. The literature describing the history and development of Methodism has been growing as scholars and general readers have become aware of its importance as a world church with approximately 40 million members in 300 Methodist denominations in 140 nations. The tercentenary celebrations of the births of its founders, John and Charles Wesley, in 2003 and 2007 provided an additional focus on the evolution of the movement which became a church. This book researches questions, problems, and resources for further study.

A near death episode in the Rev John Smithies' earliest missionary work raises the principal question of this book, namely, what motivated Wesleyan Methodist mission in the first half of the nineteenth century? At first glance, the question may be answered simply: the quest to make Methodist converts or to Christianise indigenous inhabitants of newly conquered territories of the British Empire. However, in this reappraisal of Methodist mission in the century after John Wesley, a new perspective is explored, one which challenges these more common and simplistic interpretations.

Published in 1793-6, amid controversy following the death of John Wesley (1703-91), this two-volume work vied with others for status as the most authentic biography of the Methodist leader. Wesley had left his papers to his physician John Whitehead (c.1740-1804) and the ministers Thomas Coke and Henry Moore, but Whitehead monopolised the papers in the preparation of his biography, refusing to allow his fellow executors access. Volume 1 traces John's career up to 1735 and includes a substantial life of his brother Charles (1707-88), fellow founder of Methodism. Volume 2 continues the narrative from Wesley's voyage to America in 1735 until his death. It also includes assessments of his character and writings, as well as Whitehead's analysis of the state of Methodism at the time of writing. This remains an important critical appraisal of the movement's early history, offering researchers valuable insights into the contemporary debates over the future and structure of Methodism.

This is an introduction to the Methodist way and method of doing theology. This book is written to capture the imagination and engage the reader in conversation. Methodism is not a doctrinaire society, yet it is clear about what it believes. Methodists confidently develop their theology through conversation with the world of secular knowledge, with other Christian traditions and other religious faiths, drawing on contemporary biblical scholarship and with careful attention to the Christian tradition. Methodism is serious about worship, public and personal, since it wants to celebrate the reality of God's presence with God's people - that is, as Methodists understand it, with all God's people. Methodist theology is grounded in the grace of God that it proclaims to be free for all. Methodist theology is essentially Christological; it puts Christ at the centre of faith, but therefore, (not 'as well'!) is focused on God, the Holy Trinity. Methodism is one Society and is keen to draw others into its fellowship. Hence the Methodist Church does not have missionary societies; it is, properly understood, a Society organised for mission. "Doing Theology" introduces the major Christian traditions and their way of theological reflection. The volumes focus on the origins of a particular theological tradition, its foundations, key concepts, eminent thinkers and historical development. The series is aimed readers who want to learn more about their own theological heritage and identity: theology undergraduates, students in ministerial training and church study groups.

British Methodism is reshaping itself. At a time of uncertainty about the future, owing to declining numbers and an ever-closer relationship with the Church of England, a collection of the liveliest theological minds in contemporary Methodism have written a book which shows how recent theology can be a resource for the future. Methodism has always had an active concern with both evangelism and social welfare and by means of its central organization it is able to coordinate efforts in these areas. The book asks challenging questions about how this may develop in the complex post-modern secular world.

Korean version of the original text by Richard Heitzenrater.

A major new biography of the 'mother in Israel' so greatly admired by King George III, George Whitefield and all the leaders of the Evangelical Revival, rescuing the Countess from undeserved obscurity and misrepresentation.

This book explores the relationship between the practices of pastoral care and the practices of spiritual direction with the aim of enabling pastoral caregivers to draw upon the guiding principles, resources, and techniques of spiritual direction within the Christian tradition. With an emphasis on both "practice" and "presence", the book reclaims the tradition of "soul care" for the pastoral ministry, thereby complementing the medical, or crisis intervention, model of pastoral care with a wellness/growth model of pastoral care.

Listening for the Soul:
-- Challenges clergy to take seriously the relationship between pastoral care and spiritual direction.
-- Integrates theological and psychological insights with issues of spiritual life and formation.
-- Includes a chapter on the spiritual formation of children.
-- Provides practical guidance for integrating spiritual direction with pastoral care.
-- Tends to the pastoral caregivers own needs for spiritual deepening.
-- Includes reflection questions and case studies to enable the text to function on both the individual reader and classroom levels.

A study of skilled artisans in the 1820s and 1830s whose evangelical faith raised suspicions toward capitalist innovations.

When industrialization swept through American society in the nineteenth century, it brought with it turmoil for skilled artisans. Changes in technology and work offered unprecedented opportunity for some, but the deskilling of craft and the rise of factory work meant dislocation for others. Journeymen for Jesus explores how the artisan community in one city, Baltimore, responded to these life-changing developments during the years of the early republic.

Baltimore in the Jacksonian years (1820s and 1830s) was America's third largest city. Its unions rivaled those of New York and Philadelphia in organization and militancy, and it was also a stronghold of evangelical Methodism. These circumstances created a powerful mix at a time when workers were confronting the negative effects of industrialism. Many of them found within Methodism and its populist spirituality an empowering force that inspired their refusal to accept dependency and second-class citizenship.

Historians often portray evangelical Protestantism as either a top-down means of social control or as a bottom-up process that created passive workers. Sutton, however, reveals a populist evangelicalism that undergirded the producer tradition dominant among those supportive of trade union goals. Producers were not socialists or social democrats, but they were anticapitalist and reform-minded. In populist evangelicalism they discovered a potent language and ethic for their discontent.

Journeymen for Jesus presents a rich and unromanticized portrait of artisan culture in early America. In the process, itadds to our understanding of the class tensions present in Jacksonian America.

With the conclusion of the Civil War, the beginnings of Reconstruction, and the realities of emancipation, former slaves were confronted with the possibility of freedom and, with it, a new way of life. In The Times Were Strange and Stirring, Reginald F. Hildebrand examines the role of the Methodist Church in the process of emancipation--and in shaping a new world at a unique moment in American, African American, and Methodist history.Hildebrand explores the ideas and ideals of missionaries from several branches of Methodism--the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and the northern-based Methodist Episcopal Church--and the significant and highly charged battle waged between them over the challenge and meaning of freedom. He traces the various strategies and goals pursued by these competing visions and develops a typology of some of the ways in which emancipation was approached and understood.Focusing on individual church leaders such as Lucius H. Holsey, Richard Harvey Cain, and Gilbert Haven, and with the benefit of extensive research in church archives and newspapers, Hildebrand tells the dramatic and sometimes moving story of how missionaries labored to organize their denominations in the black South, and of how they were overwhelmed at times by the struggles of freedom.