Evangelism Resources

Essay by Dr. Jeffrey E. Greenway Lead Pastor of the Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church in Reynoldsburg, OH

Occasionally, one gets the chance to be a part of something that has the chance to be significant—and you don’t even know it. Sometimes, the reason is naiveté—such as that experienced by the new parents who have a sense of awe for the privilege that has just been afforded them, yet have no clue what the future will hold. Other times, it is sheer ignorance—like the young spiritual leader who leads her congregation to do what others have failed to do for years—all because she didn’t realize she couldn’t. Sometimes, it is because of our hard work and ingenuity—such as the business leader who follows best practices to the end that what he is involved in begins to respond as it should. If he is not careful, he can think it is because of him and take more credit than he deserves. Other times, it is sheer providence—we do the same things that others do—yet there seems to be a measure of favor that is inexplicable. Such as the leaders of two neighboring churches—same location—same community—same approach—same philosophy—same everything—yet one flourishes and the other does not. Who can understand how that works?

The Calvinist would attribute it all to the providence of God, but the Wesleyan would trace the reasons to grace. Grace is all of its forms—prevenient, justifying, sanctifying and glorifying—is the most powerful force in the universe, and we have the choice to respond to it.

Sometimes, we are surprised by grace—God’s unmerited, undeserved, unlimited love and favor. We can be involved in something that becomes so much more than we ever dreamed it might be. Such is the case in the birth of the idea for the development of a new study Bible from a distinctively Wesleyan perspective. The Wesley Study Bible (Abingdon 2009) is a welcome addition to the toolbox of those who are charged with imbedding a Wesleyan approach to the Christian faith in the hearts, minds and lives of the people in their congregations, ministries or classrooms, but it began its journey to reality in a conversation between a pastor and a layperson.

One of the great aspects of the Wesleyan movement is that we are at our best when clergy and laity partner together in mission and ministry. The idea for the Wesley Study Bible was born in that kind of partnership. During my early days as the President of Asbury Seminary, the dream for the Wesley Study Bible was shared with me by Phillip Connolly—who was a Trustee at the time. Phillip is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Marysville, OH. He has served as a delegate to six General Conferences, and has held various leadership positions in his local church and the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. He and I have known each other since 1996—when we served as Trustees on the board of the Foundation for Evangelism. In all my days as a pastor, judicatory leader, and seminary president, I have never met a layperson who was more passionate about preserving, living and advancing the Wesleyan way as Phillip. He is thoroughly and passionately Wesleyan—and had the vision for what has become the Wesley Study Bible long before they began rolling of the presses at Abingdon. We had little idea what that conversation would lead to.

While there had been a previous effort at this type of publication, it was Phillip’s belief that the time was right for a more comprehensive effort—that would utilize a more widely accepted translation, would tap leaders in the academy and the pastorate to provide introductory, footnote and application content, would be published by a major publishing house, and have a chance for wide distribution and use. He could see what the possibilities were. I was intrigued—because of my perspective that the mainstream of modern evangelicalism was being shaped by a theological perspective that expressed a Calvinist/Reformed theological worldview.

Shortly after this conversation with Phillip Connolly, I shared the idea with Dr. Joel B. Green who was serving as the Provost of Asbury Theological Seminary at the time. Joel is widely known as an excellent Biblical scholar in the Wesleyan tradition, and he immediately saw the viability and marketability of a project like this. He was intrigued by the idea, as well. I am not sure of how the rest of the process unfolded. I do know that Phillip, Joel and I have moved on to other fields of service, but the Wesley Study Bible project has moved from idea, to proposal, to print galleys, publication and release to the marketplace.

Let me attempt to ask and answer several questions related to the need and relevance of the Wesley Study Bible.

Why? Why did we need this to be published? After all, one simply needs to Google “study Bible,” and hundreds of alternatives can be found—but this one is unique.

In my opinion, the trend of the majority of modern evangelicalism has a Calvinist/Reformed bent. This theological world view dominates the lyrics of contemporary Christian music, the majority of Christian publishing and broadcasting, and the content of most Christian bookstore best seller lists. The church that I serve has hundreds of people in it who have been exposed to curriculum, books, DVD’s and a variety of other media that advocates this theological worldview—and over time has begun to drift from the distinctively Wesleyan approach to living faith, reading scripture and applying theology into benign evangelicalism. I do not think that the church I serve is alone—many of those who trace our roots to the Wesley’s can describe this form of general, benign cultural Christianity.

However, I also believe that the world and culture in which most of us find ourselves is ripe for a resurgence of a Wesleyan approach to faith and practice. However, we needed to have a study Bible that reflected our unique theological perspective and approach to reading the scriptures. People all round us are looking for a faith expression that will integrate head, heart and hands as it invites us to be a part of changing the world through acts of compassion, justice, worship and devotion—that is the heart of the Wesleyan way. I believe the Wesleyan approach to doing the Gospel is very attractive the contemporary culture around us, and that the Wesley Study Bible can be a helpful tool in that work.

I will leave the debate about the merits of a Wesleyan/Arminian theological worldview’s superiority over a Calvinist/Reformed worldview to those who are much more qualified than me, but this deep conviction that was critical in the development of the Wesley Study Bible.

Who? Who are the contributors?

When I read the pages of contributors, I found a Who’s Who of leading pastors, leaders and scholars who are representative of the various roots of Christian tradition that trace their spiritual heritage to the family tree of the Wesleyan movement. The biblical, theological, academic and pastoral contributors represent the best of the depth and breadth of our tradition. It may be the first time that scholars and pastors from the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the Church of the Nazarene, the Church of God (Anderson), the Free Methodist Church of North America, The Salvation Army, the United Church of Canada, The United Methodist Church, and the Wesleyan Church have worked collaboratively together on something of this scope an scale.

A careful reading of their contributions reveals the very best of our tradition in a balanced presentation. The support materials in the Wesley Study Bible also represent the wide bandwidth of the Wesleyan movement.

What? What difference will it make? Time will tell. It will not unify us on every issue, but it will help us to frame the conversation in a distinctively Wesleyan way.

The Wesley Study Bible’s auxiliary materials—the introductions, the footnotes, the pastoral sidebars—give credence to the balancing of all aspects of our Wesleyan theological worldview.

There is much room for improvement when it comes to living into the full promise of our Wesleyan tradition. In my tradition (United Methodist), we have tended to bifurcate the Wesleyan message. Those who would call themselves conservative and evangelical have embrace the personal salvation and personal holiness aspects of the theology of John Wesley. We are so concerned with saving souls that we can sometimes be so confused with saving souls that we may ignore human pain and suffering. Those who would call themselves liberal and progressive have tended to embrace the social gospel and social holiness justice aspects of the theology of John Wesley. We can become so concerned with meeting needs that we do not share the saving message of Jesus with those who have been ground down by our culture. The result of this polarization of the Wesleyan approach to faith is “a dead sect that has all the form of religion, but lacks the power.”

Unless we begin to embrace the whole of the Wesleyan message—personal salvation and social gospel—personal holiness and social justice—we are not thoroughly Wesleyan and our gospel impact is diminished. The genius of Wesley was the marriage of a religion of the heart and head that engaged the hands of Christ-followers in the redemption of the world.

Who? Who will use it and benefit from it?

While there are some things that could be done to improve it (i.e. add red letters, add a concordance and cross references), the content of the Wesley Study Bible will be a gift to pastors who want to readily connect the scriptures with living faith, the to the Sunday School teacher who Is struggling to interpret curriculum into a Wesleyan context, the person who is will use it for their daily devotions, the young person who is trying to figure out how their belief in Jesus should impact their life, and countless others.