Category Archives: United Methodism

Permanence

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

Some places up north, the ground is frosty in the winter time. If you want to dig a hole, you wait until the spring thaw. Even farther north, one might find permafrost. If you want to dig there, get your … Continue reading →

Posted in United Methodism, Will Willimon | 1 Comment

Decline of Authoritarianism? Not where I look

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

Martin Thomas writes in The Guardian about the shift from authoritarian to a more horizontal and collaborative style in business. He sees this as a shift from a Platonic to an Aristotelian approach. It may be happening in business, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Ecclesiology, Education, Epistemology, United Methodism | Leave a comment

United Methodists, Catholics and Religious Liberty

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Richard Heyduck

Attacking Catholics has been all the rage for some, since they have responded to the government’s new insurance mandate as if it were infringing their freedom of religion. Some have been painted them as evil and misogynist. Others deny that … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Ecclesiology, United Methodism | 7 Comments

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 →

Posted in Discipleship, Ecclesiology, United Methodism | Leave a comment

Gil Rendle – Journey in the Wilderness

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Richard Heyduck

We will be reading Gil Rendle’s book Journey in the Wilderness: New Life for Mainline Churches here in the North District next month. It is well worth reading for all of us in the United Methodist Church who desire to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, church growth, Culture, United Methodism | Leave a comment

“Liberal” & “Conservative”

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Richard Heyduck

Our special speaker at Annual Conference this year was Adam Hamilton, pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Overland Park, Kansas. In more than three hours of teaching he shared leadership strategies and tactics that have helped him grow his … Continue reading →

Posted in Texas Annual Conference, Theology, United Methodism | 2 Comments

Liberty and the United Methodist Church

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Richard Heyduck

A while back I did a post that included a brief introduction to the concepts of positive and negative liberty. In that post I provided this illustration: When I have negative liberty it means that there are no outward constraints … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecclesiology, United Methodism | Leave a comment

Understanding Leadership

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Richard Heyduck

Max DePree is widely quoted for saying, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” If it is possible that DePree is correct, what can we make of this idea? Surely it is counterintuitive in relation to what … Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Leadership, United Methodism | Leave a comment