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News

Wesleyan Institute to Focus on Helping People
Connect with God

(Nashville, Tenn., August 30, 2006) –– The General Board of Discipleship and the Council for Accountable Discipleship are co-sponsors of the Wesleyan Institute, September 25-28, 2006, at the Scarritt-Bennett Center, 1008 19th Ave South, in Nashville. "Opening Ourselves to Grace: From Membership to Discipleship" is the Institute theme. The Council for Accountable Discipleship is a GBOD affiliate organization.

"Opening Ourselves to Grace: From Membership to Discipleship" will be a time of Christian conferencing with leaders in the church seeking to help Christians take their discipleship to a new level. Participants will explore how spiritual disciplines, known in the Wesleyan tradition as "means of grace," help to form faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

"The purpose of this three-day institute is to help Christians grow from church membership to discipleship. Our prayer is that participants will experience a deepening of their spiritual life so they can actively engage in God's mission to transform the world," said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, top executive (General Secretary) at The General Board of Discipleship, a national agency of The United Methodist Church.

"When we consider the fact that a largely unlettered populace changed the spiritual and moral compass of England, with all her colonial power and might, we are certain God can do the same in this day," said the Rev. Vance P. Ross, associate general secretary of the Discipleship Ministries Division of the General Board of Discipleship.

Ross suggests that a return to the spiritual principles that compose authentic Wesleyan Christianity will not only have an impact on the structures of this church; it will signal spiritual power for congregational and denominational transformation.

If the church is to faithfully live out its mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ, it needs to help people connect with God. The Wesleyan tradition offers a simple, practical way of life for ordinary people that helps them to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and love those whom God loves, as God loves them.

"The warming of John Wesley's heart at Aldersgate Street has long been a touchstone for discipleship in the Methodist tradition. A new generation of Wesleyan studies is now making clear that how he lived out his encounter with Christ is no less a touchstone. This Institute provides a compass heading away from the cheap grace that Wesley so vigorously censured and toward the reliable and dependable discipleship that first gave Methodism its name," says Dr. David Lowes Watson, chairperson of the Council for Accountable Discipleship.

"The Wesleyan Institute reminds us that Christian faith is not just a set of ideas or beliefs; it is a way of life. This event will help the church nurture Christians into discipleship through historic practices that open us to God and God's grace. This Wesleyan Institute will help the church recover the practices, those means of grace, that help us to grow up and become mature in Christ," said Bishop Ann B. Sherer of the Nebraska episcopal area.

The institute will help spiritual leaders practice the means of grace in their own lives and help teach others to do the same. Local church leaders will be able to employ an intentional process for disciple formation that is contextually relevant.

According to The Rev. Tom Albin, Dean of the Upper Room Chapel, "This event will connect us to God and to the deepest sources of spiritual vitality in the Wesleyan tradition."

"Opening Ourselves to Grace in the Methodist spirit means loving God (works of piety) and loving neighbor (works of mercy). The design of this event will engage us all in the mystery and the majesty of the cross. This encounter with God will be holistic and Trinitarian. There is nothing more important than this for The United Methodist Church, the Nazarene Church, and all the other denominations that share in our Wesleyan heritage," said Albin.

While the institute targets leaders in discipleship -- especially people who have been involved with Covenant Discipleship groups -- pastors, lay leaders, lay speakers, district superintendents, directors of connectional ministries, deacons, certified lay ministers, and Christian educators are invited to participate.

Among the speakers are:

• Henry H. Knight, III, Donald and Pearl Wright Professor of Wesley Studies at Saint Paul School of Theology. He is author of The Presence of God in the Christian Life: John Wesley and the Means of Grace and Eight Life-Enriching Practices of United Methodists. Knight is one of the foremost authorities on the means of grace in the Wesleyan tradition.
• Ann B. Sherer, Bishop of the Nebraska Annual Conference. She is President of the Council for Accountable Discipleship.
• Tom Albin, Dean of The Upper Room Chapel and Director of the Upper Room Program Unit. He is a recognized authority in Wesleyan spirituality and Christian formation.
• Carmen Gaud, International Editor of El Aposento Alto, the Spanish edition of The Upper Room. Gaud was one of the translators of Obras de Wesley, a project that gave Spanish-speaking readers access to a significant portion of John Wesley's work.
• Sandra King-Shaw, a life-long member of Asbury United Methodist Church in Washington, DC. She coordinates the Class Leader Ministry. She recently retired after more than years as Deputy Director of the Girl Scout Council of the nation's capitol. She is a member of the Council for Accountable Discipleship.
• Steven W. Manskar, Director of Accountable Discipleship at the General Board of Discipleship. Manskar is the author of Accountable Discipleship: Life in God's Household; A Perfect Love: Understanding John Wesley's "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection"; and A Disciple's Journal.

The $297 registration fee includes three nights lodging in a private room and eight meals at Scarritt-Bennett Center, a copy of A Disciple’s Journal: Daily Bible Reading and Guidance for Reflection (Year C) by Steven W. Manskar. Commuters may register for $95. To register, visit www.Wesleyaninstitute.org or call 877-899-2780, ext. 7059, Monday-Friday, between 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Central Time), and ask for Becky Caudill.

For more information contact, Jeanette Pinkston, Director of Media Relations, at jpinkston@gbod.org.