A Methofesto

Introducing a new book by those Watson boys

Kevin Watson is my younger brother (in Christ). It’s great to have a younger brother (in Christ) who knows the Wesleyan tradition inside out because, in case you have to write a Methodist manifesto, you can call him to co-write it with you.

A few years ago I was on sabbatical. This is the only sabbatical I’ve ever taken, so I wanted to make the most of it. A friend who worked with a certain publisher-not-to-be-named sent me an email during my sabbatical inviting me to write a “Methodist manifesto.” This was to be a strong presentation of Methodism, one with some sharp edges, a kind of “HERE I STAND” sort of work. I wanted to do it, but I was working on another project and just didn’t have the time. My friend suggested I might identify an appropriate co-author, and I knew just who that was. Kevin Watson was superlatively appropriate. I called. We talked. He agreed. We were off to the races.

We wrote, then, a Methodist manifesto, a strong presentation of Methodism, one with some sharp edges, a kind of “HERE I STAND” sort of work. We sent it to the publisher. We subsequently received a letter telling us they were declining publication. Apparently, the presentation was a bit too strong, the edges a bit too sharp, the standing a bit too here.

Hey… no hard feelings. That’s how the publishing biz works sometimes. But now we had a full-blown Methodist manifesto on our hands with no publisher through whom to manifest it. Thanks be to God, our friends at Seedbed were willing to pick up the project. My predecessor at Asbury Seminary, Dr. Timothy Tennent, was kind enough to write a foreword. And lo and behold, a year or so later, here we are! The Methofesto is complete.

Methofesto, however, is a ridiculous book title (and even questionable for a Substack post). We floated several titles, such as,

Wesleyanism: A Watsonian Account

The Holy Hand Grenade: A New Vision of Methodism

And Can It Be? (I Guess We’ll Find Out!)

and my favorite,

Still in Need of Perfection: How To Have a Solicited Manuscript Rejected

In the end, however, we landed on the title Faith and Fire: Methodism as a Move of God.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the introduction:

The same Spirit who empowered the apostles is available for us today. In fact, the Holy Spirit is moving all around the world. We are in a time of unprecedented growth in Christianity globally. And while we don’t see this trend yet in the U.S. and Western Europe, there are pockets of renewal, places where God is changing lives and moving with signs and wonders. Wesley’s heart was to bring people into a relationship with the living God who would make them into the people they were always meant to be. He wanted to see the image of God shine through in every person, and he knew only the Holy Spirit could make this happen.

To reclaim this vision today will mean relinquishing our attempts to control the church, to conform her to our agendas, and to make her inoffensive. It will require us to place ourselves in the hands of a living God in faith and obedience. Our attempts to attract an unbelieving world by becoming like an unbelieving world haven’t worked. Now is the time for self-examination, repentance, and humility. God wants to move in our midst. His desire is to draw all people to himself through Christ. Yet he will not force us to conform to his will.

Thus we are not simply passive recipients of the Spirit’s work. Early Methodism was clearly a move of God, but God worked in and through human beings as Methodism spread. John Wesley had a clear organizational vision for Methodism, but within that structure, it was God who changed the hearts of those who sought him in sincerity and repentance. Class leaders held class members to standards of faithfulness and growth in holiness. Wesley insisted upon the “ordinances of God,” such as prayer, the reading of scripture, worship, fasting, and holy communion because he believed God would work through them to lead sinful humans into salvation. Behind the organizational program of the Wesleyan revival was a conviction that God would move among the people who earnestly sought him in repentance. The power and work of the Holy Spirit was the driving force behind the revival in his day, and it will be the driving force in any true renewal of the church that happens in ours.

If you’re interested, you can order it directly from Seedbed here or through Amazon here. And let us know what you think!