Kirjahaku

The current trend in church leadership involves looking for a highly gifted leader who will take over, direct the future, cast a vision, and attract the faithful to a new mission or purpose. This desire for a leader to come to the rescue is eerily reminiscenet of the desire of the Israelites for a king, so they could "be like every other nation." In spite of Samuel's warnings, the people insisted, so God reluctantly gave them King Saul. That didn't go so well. While we always need good, new, and talented leaders, we also need leaders who know how and when to be good followers. Particularly in a culture of distrust, leadership must be granted, earned, and supported by those who are willing to follow. Leading begins with the counter-intuitive command: "Come, follow me." This imperative is far from easy. Many turned away from Jesus, unable to follow. However, one excellent model of "followership" stood out from the rest - the little-known disciple Andrew. In fact, Andrew is the model and paradigm for being a Lead Follower. Excellent Christian leadership is more about following Jesus than it is about learning the latest fads or tricks from business, the marketplace, or the academy. Being an excellent Christian leader involves first and foremost being an excellent and faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Do we act, live, and breathe our faith?What do United Methodists believe? Do people notice a difference between the way United Methodists practice faith in the church and in the world?A Year with John Wesley and Our Methodist Values is an engaging and provocative study of the practices of discipleship that are of "the Methodist way." Brief scholarly reflections on Wesleyan themes are followed by short essays making recurring Wesley tenets timely and relevant to today's world.Covering one aspect of distinctly Wesleyan theology a month, the collection of essays contained in this book provide an in-depth yet easily approachable 12-month survey of the Methodist tradition for clergy and laity alike."A Year with John Wesley reveals and makes plain the essence of John Wesley's life and witness," writes one reviewer. "A Methodist way of living becomes accessible through these great themes expressed in contemporary language and situations. Those who read and reflect upon these pages will gain understanding of United Methodist theology, polity, and practice, but even more significantly, they will learn what it means to walk with Christ in our contemporary world."