rowing up in The Methodist Church in the ’60s, the only thing I knew about John and Charles Wesley was that they were the founders of Methodism. I remember hearing that John was a great preacher and evangelist, and that Charles wrote a lot of hymns. I recall wondering why we were called “Methodists.” I wanted to know what made us different from Lutherans or Catholics or Baptists. We were all Christians. We all looked a lot alike. We believed most of the same things about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. But what made Methodists distinctive from my other Christian friends? No one in my church seemed to be able to answer the question to my satisfaction. Answers such as, “They use wine and wafers and we use grape juice and bread cubes for communion” did not satisfy my curiosity. No one seemed to know what was distinctive about Methodists.
I have spent most of my life as a member of The Methodist/ United Methodist Church. I first met John Wesley in seminary. It was there that I learned for the first time who John and Charles Wesley really were; what they believed, preached, and lived. I read books about John Wesley and the early Methodists. It was while reading Wesley’s sermons that I had a profound spiritual awakening. Wesley’s words awakened my heart and mind to God’s amazing grace in a new way. Reading Wesley’s words helped put the pieces of my faith together—the pieces that I had worked so hard to fit on my own. Wesley helped me integrate the faith I had learned from studying the Bible and theology with the whole of my life. Wesley’s ‘practical theology’ helped put my learning and faith to work in love (Gal. 5:6). My life has never been the same.
In my childhood and adolescence I was taught that discipleship was essentially a personal and private affair between me and Jesus. And it encompassed primarily the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible reading and study, worship, the Lord’s Supper, and, for some, fasting. I sought to make these spiritual practices part of my life. They helped lead me closer to Christ. But, at the same time, I felt something was missing. I felt there must be more to living as a disciple than Sunday morning worship and personal devotional practices. The Jesus I read about in the Bible was always out in the world with the poor, the outcasts, and the unwanted. How do I reconcile the emphasis on a personal relationship with Christ with his apparent demand to engage the world through service and love?
I sought answers with my friends who were involved in the social justice wing of the church. I learned about racism and economic injustice. I learned to be angry at the evil that oppressed the poor, racial minorities, women, immigrants, gay and lesbian persons, and others. My liberal friends opened my eyes to a new way of looking at the world. And they taught me that Jesus called his disciples to serve the oppressed and to resist the oppressors. In 1990 I traveled to Nicaragua to witness the plight of an oppressed people first hand . . . but I came home with more questions.
My liberal friends looked with suspicion upon personal piety and the means of grace. They told me they didn’t have time to read the Bible, fast, and pray. There was too much work to do. However, the people I met in the base communities in Nicaragua spent a great deal of time reading and studying the Bible, praying, singing, and worshiping together. They were also engaged in social action for justice. They were the poor with whom Jesus identified himself (Matt. 25:31-46). If they, whose lives were much more difficult than mine, who were themselves the victims of oppression and violence, could take significant time to pray, sing hymns, and study the Bible, why couldn’t I? In fact, it appeared to me that my Nicaraguan sisters and brothers drew much strength from their time together in base community meetings. I came to the conclusion that my liberal friends who had no time for prayer were missing something important, just as my evangelical friends who viewed social action as suspect were missing something equally important.
Seminary was where my questions were answered. In the theology of John Wesley and the practice of the early Methodists I found the balanced, holistic approach to discipleship I was seeking. Wesley combined a fervent evangelical faith with faithful engagement with the world. He preached the good news of Christ to the world in a way that moved the heart and the mind. Wesley understood that responding to Christ required more than an intellectual assent to his teachings, a religion of the mind. If you give your mind to Christ, he requires your heart as well. When a person comes to faith, Christ accepts that whole person: heart, mind, spirit, body. Therefore, faith in Christ means “working out your faith in love” (Gal. 5:6). It means loving him through works of piety: personal and family prayer, Bible reading, public worship, the Lord’s Supper, fasting or abstinence. And it means loving him through works of mercy: doing good to as many as you can as often as you can, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and imprisoned.
Wesley taught me that living as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a “both-and” proposition. We need a vital personal devotional life and we need to be engaged in serving our neighbors in the world. Christ calls us to follow him with our whole self and to hold nothing back. Our prayers make us available to him. Working with the poor brings us closer to him. The more we pray, study the Bible, and worship, the more Jesus will compel us to go out into the world to serve him by serving the poor, hurting, and broken people who are members of his family.
I have experienced this Wesleyan approach to discipleship as a member of several covenant discipleship groups. Covenant discipleship groups have become an essential part of my life. I need the discipline the group provides me. I need the prayer support and love I receive from the group. And I need to support my sisters and brothers in Christ in their discipleship and growth in grace.
Covenant discipleship provides the balanced and varied approach to discipleship that is faithful to Christ. It helps people live his commandments to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The balance between the personal (devotion and compassion) and the social (worship and justice) help keep me from getting caught up in the means of grace I prefer. My commitment to Christ and to my group makes me get outside of myself to engage in works of justice and to participate more fully in worship. The covenant and general rule stretch me beyond my comfort zones and cause me to grow in grace.
My study of Wesley has given me a theology that makes sense. The balance between piety and mercy--the holistic nature of discipleship--is healthy and faithful to Christ. Wesley taught me that an evangelical piety and a call to work for social justice fit together. They are not mutually exclusive. In fact, for either to have any power, they need to work together. Wesley helped me put the pieces of my faith and discipleship together. “All that matters is faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6).
I am very excited to be joining the staff of the General Board of Discipleship as Director of Accountable Discipleship. As you can probably tell, I have a passion for this work. I am looking forward to working with congregations, pastors, annual conferences, seminaries, and lay people who are seeking to recover our Wesleyan heritage. Or who are simply looking for a tried and true way to make disciples of Jesus Christ and leaders for his church.
Introducing . . .Steven Manskar
Steven grew up in North St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1976, he graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a major in cellular biology and a minor in biochemistry. After college he worked for nine years as a Medical Technologist at a community hospital in the Philadelphia area, returning to Minnesota in 1984 to begin working for Unisys Corporation as a systems programmer.
A long-time member of The United Methodist Church, Steven experienced God’s call into ministry at a men’s retreat in 1981. However, he says he worked very hard at avoiding, discounting, and ignoring the call until 1988, when his pastor encouraged him to test his call by enrolling in a seminary class. Having enjoyed that first class so much, he enrolled in the M. Div. program at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. In 1989 he left Unisys and Minnesota to enroll in the student pastor track program at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC. While at Wesley he served West Liberty United Methodist Church. It was at Wesley that he first learned about covenant discipleship groups and came to know David Lowes Watson. He says his experience convinced him that covenant discipleship groups and class leaders were one of the keys to the formation of faithful leaders for the church and disciples of Jesus Christ.
In 1993 Steven graduated and returned to Minnesota. His first full-time appointment was to the Preston and Lanesboro United Methodist churches in southeast Minnesota. Then in 1995 he was appointed to serve Chester Park United Methodist Church, Duluth, Minnesota.
Ordained Deacon in 1991 and Elder in 1995, Steven is a member in full connection of the Minnesota Annual Conference.
He and his wife Gina have been married for twelve years, and they have a five-year-old son, Noah.
Steven says, “I am very excited about joining the staff at the General Board of Discipleship. I believe God has great things in store for us.”
A Reflection on Discipleship | Covenant Discipleship Groups in OIMC
Accountable Discipleship Training of Trainers | Resources
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