Category Archives: Discipleship

Church as Laboratory

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

In their On the Moral Nature of the Universe, Nancey Murphy and George Ellis say, “The church is a laboratory for imagining and practicing new forms of social life.” What do they mean by this? Our first thought might be … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Ecclesiology, Ethics | Leave a comment

Just Whose Idea Was It?

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

Will Willimon notes: Ministry, in any of its forms, is always God’s idea before it is ours. While we may eventually enjoy our clerical vocation, we do it first of all not because it causes us bliss but rather because … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Discipleship, Ministry, United Methodism, Will Willimon | Leave a comment

Change or Die, part 2

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

Change is good! New is good! Growth is good! It’s so nice to deal with abstractions. In my last post I mentioned some forms of growth that aren’t very desirable. Cancer. The bloat of decomposition. In this post I’m going … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Discipleship, United Methodism, Will Willimon | Leave a comment

Change or Die

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

I’m picky when it comes to shoes. I want shoes that fit well and are comfortable all day. I want to spend as little time and money as I can when I acquire them. For now, I’ve settled on a … Continue reading →

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Individual vs. Collective

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

Listening to Peter Harrison’s fifth Gifford Lecture as I drove to Marshall today, I heard his description of a shift from natural philosophy to science in the early modern period. Under the old paradigm (and I use Kuhn’s term intentionally), … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Discipleship, Leadership, Spirituality, Theology, United Methodism, Will Willimon | Leave a comment

Growth Drivers

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Richard Heyduck

We United Methodists have been rather obsessed with growth of late. Unfortunately, our obsession seems to be often driven by a fear of decline. We know the reality of decline too well. Many of our churches are shrinking, many are … Continue reading →

Posted in church growth, Discipleship, Perry Noble, United Methodism | 1 Comment

Church and Seminary

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Richard Heyduck

There’s a discussion about the  “Future of Seminary Education” going on at Patheos. One of the responses to a post by Fred Schmidt led me to make a comment. It ran a bit long, so I thought I’d post it … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Ecclesiology, Education, United Methodism | 2 Comments

Discipleship Teeth

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Richard Heyduck

From Gil Rendle’s newest book, Journey in the Wilderness: Part of the current challenge for leaders in our mainline churches is the dual task of not only knowing what to do but also knowing what not to do, what to … Continue reading →

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Christian Perfection

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Richard Heyduck

Christian Perfection is something John Wesley taught. It has been retained in the current United Methodist Church in the question asked of those being ordained Elder: “Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?” The expected … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Perfectionism, Sin, Spirituality | 1 Comment

Grades in Church?

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Richard Heyduck

Back in the olden days, I did fairly well at school (in spite of avoiding my homework as often as possible). I valued making good grades. I set high standards for myself and tried to keep them, though high school … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Discipline, Spirituality | 4 Comments