Covenant Discipleship Groups have never been an end in themselves, but always a means of grace for walking with Christ in the world. They began in 1975 at Holly Springs United Methodist Church in North Carolina, but their introduction to the wider church came in 1984 when they were adopted by the General Board of Discipleship as a connectional ministry. This was also the bicentennial year of the Methodist Church in America, heralded by the new edition of Wesley's Works and followed in 1988 by the 250th anniversary of his Aldersgate Street experience. Methodists were made newly aware of their heritage, and thus were ready for a ministry patterned after the early Methodist class meeting. They welcomed Covenant Discipleship, not only as a way of recoveringthe Wesleyan tradition of discipleship, but also of giving fresh purpose to many of the small groups that had become normative in our congregational life and work.

Euphoria and Nostalgia
It soon became apparent that a great deal of this bicentennial enthusiasm was euphoric rather than substantive and that the widespread interest in the Wesleyan tradition, while indicative of a deep spiritual hunger, was also a hybrid of nostalgia and curiosity. The fact is that early Methodist discipleship did not fit well with the pastoral paradigms that have come to prevail in contemporary Methodism. Many of the congregations that adopted Covenant Discipleship in the hope of a new and invigorating ministry quickly found themselves struggling, often unsuccessfully, to keep the groups from becoming disillusioned. Mutual support and accountability did not necessarily provide an uplifting experience. To the contrary, many of the weekly meetings seemed routine or even boring to members who had joined in expectation of a heightened Christian well-being.

Pastoral Alternatives and Distinctions
As a result, Covenant Discipleship groups have been complemented over the last thirty years by a number of alternative models designed to be more appealing to a wider constituency. While some of these fall into the category of what Wesley described as seeking the end without the means, many of them fulfill a very important function in the church of today as a means of pastoral oversight. Especially in large congregations, they provide hands-on ministry for church members who are doing their best to live the Christian life.

A serious pastoral confusion arises, however, when such groups are described as Wesleyan, and even more when they are linked to the early class meeting, for these alternative models set the bar of discipleship well short of Wesley and the early Methodist societies. The problem is that our bicentennial euphoria blurred an important distinction between church membership in general and the call to a more dependable and reliable discipleship through mutual support and accountability. It was a distinction the early Methodists understood well as they lovingly watched over one another in their class meetings, and it is the key to effective pastoral leadership. It is also the key to forming Christian disciples in our congregations, and we need to grasp it afresh in the church of today.

This article first appeared in the Summer 2005 issue of the Covenant Discipleship Quarterly. Copyright © 2005 General Board of Discipleship. Used with permission.

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