Methodist Evangelism American Salvation

Powerful ideas have the capacity to inspire great good. They also have the capacity to prompt unspeakable acts of evil. The ideas of "America" and "the gospel" have been used for both. The situation was no different when the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) brought these two ideas together in its evangelistic work from 1860 to 1920, including during the Civil War and the First World War. Methodist Evangelism, American Salvation traces the MEC's home missions among African Americans and whites in the South; among Native Americans, Mexicans, and white settlers in the West; and among newly arrived immigrants, their children, the poor, and the rich in the East's burgeoning cities. It shows the innovative and courageous work of the MEC to improve the quality of life for these most marginalized populations in the United States. It also shows the fear the MEC had that these populations would overthrow American civilization if they did not conform to the values held by white, middle-class, native-born Americans.

Powerful ideas have the capacity to inspire great good. They also have the capacity to prompt unspeakable acts of evil. The ideas of "America" and "the gospel" have been used for both. The situation was no different when the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) brought these two ideas together in its evangelistic work from 1860 to 1920, including during the Civil War and the First World War. Methodist Evangelism, American Salvation traces the MEC's home missions among African Americans and whites in the South; among Native Americans, Mexicans, and white settlers in the West; and among newly arrived immigrants, their children, the poor, and the rich in the East's burgeoning cities. It shows the innovative and courageous work of the MEC to improve the quality of life for these most marginalized populations in the United States. It also shows the fear the MEC had that these populations would overthrow American civilization if they did not conform to the values held by white, middle-class, native-born Americans.

Our world is hungry for salvation, but we don't always know how to talk about it. Christians agree that God cares about people's lives both in this world and into eternity. But the ways we describe salvation often separate the spiritual from the material. Many groups emphasize one at the expense of the other, limiting the picture of what God has to offer. Mark Teasdale works to bridge the gaps by taking up Jesus' language of abundant life. This life is something Jesus invites us to participate in—to seek both for ourselves and for others. It's rich and multidimensional, not splitting spirits and minds from bodies and material needs. By connecting biblical perspectives of holistic salvation to contemporary concepts of well-being, Teasdale also shows how Christians can both better communicate in secular settings as well as partner with all people regardless of their faith to seek the common good. Incorporating concepts of material standard of living and subjective quality of life, Teasdale argues, gives Christians common language to share the promise of abundant life with those who hold to secular commitments. Yet we must also boldly present Jesus' invitation to eternal life and discipleship. For churches, ministry leaders, and laypeople Teasdale offers ideas to improve and measure methods of promoting all dimensions of salvation for the good of others.

The United States has a long history of religious pluralism, and yet Americans have often thought that people’s faith determines their eternal destinies. The result is that Americans switch religions more often than any other nation. Lincoln Mullen traces the history of the distinctively American idea that religion is a matter of individual choice.

A rallying cry for preachers to engage in the work of evangelism.

When lobbyist Faith Lockhart stumbles upon a corruption scheme at the highest levels of government, she becomes a dangerous witness who the most powerful men in the world will go to any lengths to silence in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller. In a secluded house not far from Washington, D.C., the FBI is interviewing one of the most important witnesses it has ever had: a young woman named Faith Lockhart. For Faith has done too much, knows too much, and will tell too much. Feared by some of the most powerful men in the world, Faith has been targeted to die. But when a private investigator walks into the middle of the assassination attempt, the shooting suddenly goes wrong, and an FBI agent is killed. Now Faith Lockhart must flee for her life--with her story, her deadly secret, and an unknown man she's forced to trust...

On September 7, 1881, Matthew Simpson, Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in a London sermon asserted that, "As to the divisions in the Methodist family, there is little to mar the family likeness." Nearly a quarter-century earlier, Benjamin Titus (B.T.) Roberts, a minister in the same branch of Methodism as Simpson, had published an article titled in the Northern Independent in which he argued that Methodism had split into an "Old School" and "New School." He warned that if the new school were to "generally prevail," then "the glory will depart from Methodism." As a result, Roberts was charged with "unchristian and immoral conduct" and expelled from the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Old or New School Methodism? examines how less than three decades later Matthew Simpson could claim that the basic beliefs and practices that Roberts had seen as threatened were in fact a source of persisting unity across all branches of Methodism. Kevin M. Watson argues that B. T. Roberts's expulsion from the MEC and the subsequent formation of the Free Methodist Church represent a crucial moment of transition in American Methodism. This book challenges understandings of American Methodism that emphasize its breadth and openness to a variety of theological commitments and underemphasize the particular theological commitments that have made it distinctive and have been the cause of divisions over the past century and a half. Old or New School Methodism? fills a major gap in the study of American Methodism from the 1850s to 1950s through a detailed study of two of the key figures of the period and their influence on the denomination.

To what degree is Wesleyan theology part of the church's catholic witness? This book explores this question from a number of angles and goes on to embody some of these possibilities in conversation with other major traditions and figures within the Christian church. Overall, the volume shows that Wesleyan theology does draw from and can contribute to conversations related to the catholic Christian witness.