Yoke of Obedience

The title of this volume is as old as the Wesleyan movement and apt for the very latest Methodist theological self-designation.Marks of Methodism points back to John Wesley himself and to his efforts to define the movement.Such marks or hallmarks prescribe a basis for Methodist identity, purpose, and unity.They also serve to differentiate Methodists from other Christians, to sketch the boundaries of our movement, and to mark us off.Marks also invite attention to the conjunction of precept and practice, to the considerable recent affirmation of practices as the traditioning and corporate bearers of Christian faithfulness and witness; and therefore as the ground of theology and doctrine, and to Methodist embodiment of and featuring of traditioning practices long before that became fashionable. These marks point to an understanding of church, a doctrine of the church, an ecclesiology, embedded in the everyday structures, policies, organizations, and patterns of Methodist life."

In a time when the United Methodist Connectional System is being questioned throughout the denomination, this volume explains the roots of the system, its rationale, and its success. Chapter essays: Connectionalism and Itinerancy; Constitutional Order in United Methodism and American Culture; African American Methodists; Methodist Identities and the Founding of Methodist Universities; Redesigning Methodist Churches: Auditorium Style Sanctuaries; Wesley's Legacy of Social Holiness; United Methodist Campus Ministry; The Effect of Mergers on American Wesleyan Denominations; Determinants of the Denominational Mission Funding Crisis; and others.

These new essays summarize the latest research by highly respected United Methodist scholars, exploring the distinctive doctrines and discipline of the denomination. Essays include An Untapped Inheritance: American Methodism and Wesley's Practical Theology; The Scripture Way of Salvation: Narrative Spirituality and Biblical Praxis in Early Methodism; Theology, Religious Activity, and Structures of the Lives of Ordinary People; The Doors of Opportunity: Methodist Theological Education, 1866-1925; What Makes "United Methodist Theology" Methodist?; The Church as a Community of Moral Discourse; and Exploring Both the Middle and the Margins: Locating Methodism within American Religious History."

Have you ever felt a tug deep inside to serve other human beings with work that matters? Written forall Christians of any affiliation, this primer challenges readers to think seriously about the nature, role, and work of ordained ministry in the church.

This wise book will help you: recognize the importance of choices about theological education; understand the servant role of the ordained minister; identify the unique work and activities of the ordained minister; and clarify the types of ministers who are sought by various churches."