Welcome to this journey of formation and faithful discipleship.
What you’ll find here isn’t merely information about Christian doctrine, but an invitation into transformation through sound teaching, pastoral wisdom, and the riches of our Wesleyan heritage. This column exists to help you develop a thoroughly Christian worldview, a way of seeing all of reality through the lens of Scripture, historic orthodoxy, and the Methodist tradition of heart religion and scriptural holiness.
What Is a Worldview?
A worldview is the lens through which we interpret everything: ourselves, others, the world around us, and God himself. It answers life’s fundamental questions: Who is God? Who am I? What has gone wrong with the world? What is the solution? Where is history headed? Everyone has a worldview, whether they’ve thought about it consciously or not. The question is not whether you have one, but whether yours aligns with reality as God has revealed it.
Christianity is not a private spirituality reserved for Sunday mornings. It’s a comprehensive way of life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, touching every dimension of human existence: our hearts, our homes, our churches, our work, our neighborhoods, and our engagement with culture. To have a Christian worldview is to see all things in light of God’s creative purpose, humanity’s rebellion, Christ’s redemption, the Spirit’s transforming work, and the Kingdom’s ultimate triumph.
Why a Wesleyan Worldview?
The Wesleyan tradition offers a rich, biblical, and balanced approach to Christian faith and life. John Wesley and the early Methodists weren’t trying to invent something new—they were recovering something ancient: vital Christianity that engages the whole person and extends into the whole world.
A Wesleyan worldview holds together truths that others often separate:
- Grace and responsibility: God’s prevenient grace enables our response; we’re neither saved by works nor passive in our salvation.
- Personal and social holiness: Heart religion that transforms individuals and sends them out to transform communities.
- Word and Spirit: Scripture as our final authority, illuminated and applied by the Holy Spirit.
- Orthodoxy and orthopraxy: Right belief and right practice are inseparable. We don’t merely believe the truth; we live it.
- Present salvation and future hope: We experience real transformation now while longing for complete redemption then.
Wesley’s vision was “to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land,” not just to fill church pews but to see lives changed, families strengthened, communities renewed, and culture transformed by the power of the Gospel.
What You’ll Find in This Column
Each post in A Wesleyan Worldview will explore a different aspect of Christian faith and doctrine, drawn from our Scriptural, Wesleyan, and Methodist heritage. You’ll find:
- Scripture Foundation: God’s Word is our ultimate authority. Every truth we explore will be grounded in biblical teaching.
- Doctrinal Support: We stand in continuity with historic Christian orthodoxy as expressed in the Nicene Creed and the Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith of the Global Methodist Church.
- Wesley’s Wisdom: Insights from John and Charles Wesley, their sermons, writings, hymns, and journals, bring the vitality of Methodist heart religion into focus.
- Theological Exposition: Thoughtful, pastoral teaching that helps you understand not just what we believe but why it matters and how it shapes the way we live.
- Practical Implications: How does this truth impact your personal walk with God, your participation in the Church, and your witness in the world? Doctrine is never abstract, it always has feet.
- Application: Concrete, doable action steps for living out what you’ve learned this week.
- Discussion and Reflection Questions: Whether you’re reading alone or in a group, these questions will help you wrestle honestly with the truth and its claim on your life.
- Prayer: Each post concludes with pastoral prayer, inviting God to do what only he can do, open our eyes, transform our hearts, and conform us to the image of Christ.
Who This Is For
This column is written for:
- New Christians seeking to build a solid doctrinal foundation.
- Long-time believers who want to deepen their understanding of what they’ve always confessed.
- Those preparing for church membership, learning what it means to make covenant vows before God and his people.
- Small groups and Sunday School classes looking for rich, substantive study material.
- Parents and grandparents who want to pass on the faith to the next generation with clarity and conviction.
- Leaders and teachers in the church who desire theological grounding for faithful ministry.
- Anyone hungry for truth in an age of confusion, compromise, and competing worldviews.
You don’t need a seminary degree. You just need a Bible, a willing heart, and a desire to know God and walk faithfully with him.
A Pastoral Word
I write to you as a fellow pilgrim who has spent decades in pastoral ministry, walking alongside people through seasons of faith and doubt, joy and sorrow, victory and struggle. I’ve seen how sound doctrine shapes healthy disciples, strong families, and faithful churches. I’ve also seen the wreckage that comes when people drift from theological moorings, embracing cultural narratives instead of biblical truth.
The tone you’ll encounter here is one of a shepherd’s heart, not harsh or condemning, but clear and convictional. These aren’t mere opinions or preferences. This is apostolic teaching, tested by centuries of Christian witness, confirmed by Scripture, and lived out by faithful saints across time and culture. I invite you into these truths with warmth and hope, fully expecting you to embrace them because they genuinely lead to life, freedom, and flourishing.
God’s commands aren’t burdensome. His way is not restrictive. He calls us to walk the narrow path not because he delights in making life difficult, but because he knows what we’re made for and what will bring us true and lasting joy. This is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and we get to walk it together.
The Kingdom Vision
Throughout this column, you’ll notice a consistent focus on three integrated dimensions of faithful discipleship:
- Personal: How does this truth shape your walk with God: your prayers, your devotion, your private obedience, your spiritual formation?
- Ecclesial: How does this truth shape the Church: our worship, our fellowship, our mission, our accountability to one another?
- Cultural: How does this truth equip us as salt and light in the world: in our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, and civic engagement?
These aren’t separate categories. The Kingdom of God is comprehensive. Jesus is Lord of all, not just our hearts, but our families, our work, our citizenship, our stewardship of creation, our engagement with culture. A truly Wesleyan worldview refuses to compartmentalize faith into a private religious preference. Christianity is public truth that addresses all of life.
Wesley spoke often of “social holiness,” the conviction that we cannot be Christians alone. We’re formed in community, accountable to one another, and sent out together to bear witness to the Kingdom. Personal piety and social witness aren’t in tension; they flow naturally from one another. A heart set on fire by God’s love can’t help but extend that love to the world God loves.
An Invitation
So here’s my invitation: Come and learn. Come and grow. Come and be formed as a disciple of Jesus Christ who knows what you believe, why you believe it, and how to live it out faithfully.
This isn’t light reading for a lazy afternoon. This is holy work, the work of discipleship, the cultivation of Christlikeness, the formation of men and women who can give reason for the hope within them and live with courage in a watching world.
Each post will challenge you. Some will comfort you. Others will confront areas where belief and practice don’t align. That’s the nature of formation, God is always at work, conforming us more fully to the image of his Son.
Formation isn’t a destination but a pilgrimage, a long obedience in the same direction. No one masters these truths in a single pass. There will always be new depths to explore, fresh applications to discover, and areas of life still needing to be brought under Christ’s Lordship.
So let’s walk this road together, the ancient path, the narrow way that leads to life. Let’s recover the vitality of Wesleyan Christianity: heart religion and social holiness, grace upon grace, faith working through love, the witness of the Spirit, entire sanctification, and the confident hope of glory.
This is the Way. This is the Truth. This is the Life.
Welcome to A Wesleyan Worldview.
Soli Deo Gloria
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