Category Archives: Discipline

Hauerwas – “What Do You Mean ‘We’ Kemosabe?”

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Richard Heyduck

The essay we’ve been looking at, “Discipleship as a Craft, Church as a Disciplined Community,” was written with a particular audience in mind. He writes, In this respect it is interesting to note how we—that is, those of us in … Continue reading →

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Can We Argue with God?

Posted on July 1, 2025 by Richard Heyduck

How would Jonah’s story have been different if he’d taken time to engage with God, to ask questions and even to argue? Could he have come out the other side in a better relationship with God and with a better … Continue reading →

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Don’t Avoid Prayer

Posted on March 7, 2025 by Richard Heyduck

Tyler Staton in Pray Like Monks, Live Like Fools: To pray is to risk being naive, to risk believing, to risk playing the fool. To pray is to risk trusting someone who might let you down. To pray is to … Continue reading →

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Deepening Accountability

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Richard Heyduck

One of the ways to look at the genesis of the Global Methodist Church is as embodying a desired “return to accountability.” Some hear this and think, “Now we will have bishops and leaders who are accountable and not just … Continue reading →

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Positive and Negative in United Methodism

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Richard Heyduck

Since reading Alasdair MacIntyre’s Whose Justice? Which Rationality? thirty-something years ago, I’ve found great value in the definition of a tradition that he he offers there (p. 12). A tradition is an argument extended through time in which certain fundamental … Continue reading →

Posted in Alasdair MacIntyre, Discipline, Diversity, Doctrine, Ecclesiology, Theology, Tradition, United Methodism | Leave a comment

The Spirit of the Disciplines – Chapter 1

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Richard Heyduck

Dallas Willard begins his account of how to become the kind of person who can consistently live as a disciple of Jesus. In a key sentence he says, “A successful performance at a moment of crisis rests largely and essentially … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Discipleship, Discipline, Holiness, Spirituality | Tagged | Leave a comment

Wesley’s Sermon on The Catholic Spirit

Posted on July 21, 2022 by Richard Heyduck

I’m working through some of Wesley’s works to help United Methodist churches in the discernment process many are in now. Throughout the document, I provide analysis of what Wesley is saying and questions for consideration. My intention is that these … Continue reading →

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Our United Methodist Mission

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Richard Heyduck

The mission of the United Methodist Church is “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” As a slogan goes, it has deeper rooting in the Christian tradition than our marketing slogan, “Open Hearts, Open Minds, … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Discipline, Diversity, Doctrine, United Methodism | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Against Separation, Part 1

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

When I was ordained, Bishop Oliphint asked me and the other candidates a series of questions inherited from John Wesley. Methodists of various sorts have been asking and answering these questions for a couple centuries now. There’s nothing new here. … Continue reading →

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Surprised by… Sin?

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

If you watch tv, I bet you’ve seen a show where someone no one suspected turned out to have deep, dark secrets. A man everyone knew to be a loving and engaged father was really a molester. A woman who … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Discipline, Sin, Will Willimon | Leave a comment