Hot Picks for February-March 2006

Book Reviews by Steve Manskar, Director of Accountable Discipleship, The General Board of Discipleship

How Great a Flame: Contemporary Lessons from the Wesleyan Revival
by Dr. James C. Logan
Discipleship Resources, 2005

Dr. James C. Logan taught for many years at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is a highly respected professor of theology and evangelism. His latest book, How Great A Flame: Contemporary Lessons from the Wesleyan Revival, published by Discipleship Resources, is a collection of his 2003 Denman Lectures sponsored by the Foundation for Evangelism.

How Great A Flame is a concise, winsome summary of the key characteristics of the Wesleyan revival. Dr. Logan has a way of bringing John Wesley and the early Methodist movement to life through story and teaching. In ninety-four elegantly written pages, he describes the essentials of the Wesleyan/Methodist movement and what the twenty-first century church can learn from it.

The book contains four concise chapters. In Chapter 1, Logan argues that the practice of regular preaching in public places by Wesley and other Methodist preachers was essential to evangelistic outreach. He proves his point by telling the story of Martha Thompson, who as a young servant girl in London, happened upon one of Wesley's preaching services. She subsequently came to faith in Christ and eventually began a small Methodist society in her hometown where she served as a class leader.

In chapter 2, Logan describes the anatomy of the Wesleyan revival. He names three essential elements that worked together to sustain the movement:

1. Open-air preaching.
2. Organizing of converts into societies and classes.
3. Deployment of lay ministry.

This "anatomy" is a living expression of Wesley's theology of universal grace.

Chapter 3 describes what Dr. Logan calls the "grammar of grace" that was the power behind the movement. And Chapter 4 contains lessons the twenty-first century church can learn from the Wesleyan revival for ministry and mission today.

How Great A Flame should be required reading for pastors and church leaders who seek to help The United Methodist Church live out its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Changed from Glory into Glory: Wesleyan Prayer for Transformation
by Paul Wesley Chilcote
Upper Room Books, 2005, 2005

Paul Chilcote has given the church another gift. He is the author of Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit: 52 Prayers for Today, I book I highly recommend for personal devotional use and for teaching Wesleyan theology and spirituality. His latest book, Changed from Glory into Glory, is a beautiful, elegantly written study of the practice of prayer. To aid in his effort of helping the reader understand and enter into various forms of prayer, Chilcote uses works of art as a means of illustrating his point and as objects of contemplation. To that end, the book contains eight pages of

Changed from Glory into Glory is an excellent resource for personal and small-group study.

Posted 2-16-06


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