Visiting a New Wesleyan Media Resource Hqs

The above photo shows a chandelier of pages from an old Methodist hymnal. Look hard and you might see Charles Wesley or Fanny Crosby. It’s an appropriate fixture for the Nashville area offices of Seedbed, a fairly new media project collaboration sponsored by Asbury Seminary in Kentucky to resource Wesleyan Christians.

Seedbed.com offers blogs, podcasts, and videos by thoughtful Wesleyan thinkers. It also publishes books, Bible studies, and discipleship curriculums.

The Wesleyan movement has not always been fully resourced, especially intellectually, partly because the largest historically Wesleyan communion, United Methodism, spent much of the last century moving away from Christian orthodoxy. Non United Methodist institutions like Asbury Seminary helped to sustain the traditional faith across decades. In recent years, Asbury became the largest producer of United Methodist seminarians, exceeding any official seminary.

Meanwhile, as once predominant Mainline Protestantism became oldline, Evangelicals became America’s largest demographic. In the shift, Calvinism, which already had a formidable intellectual tradition, became ascendant among Evangelicals. Most intellectually inclined young Evangelicals I meet today are Calvinist. Thank God for their service to The Kingdom. But the Wesleyan tradition, largely unsupported by official United Methodism, often has not pulled its own intellectual weight.

Seedbed looks to help reanimate the Wesleyan worldview. Numerous up and coming Wesleyan thinkers are writing for Seedbed. No doubt more will join. In its short history Seedbed has already published an impressive collection of books, many of which I appreciatively procured during my visit. They include a Wesleyan catechism by Asbury President Tim Tennent, who’s also written a reflection on the Apostles Creed. Kevin Watson of Seattle Pacific University has a new book on the Wesleyan class meeting. Famed scholar Ben Witherington of Asbury has a new overview of the Gospel. Longtime Asbury professor Howard Snyder has a new book on homosexuality. Seedbed chief J.D. Walt, who previously directed the chapel at Asbury, has written a study guide on the Apostles Creed.

Leading Seedbed’s publishing arm is my old friend Andrew Miller, a veteran of publishing who reveres the Wesleyan tradition. I enjoyed dinner with Andy and J.D., whom I appreciated meeting for the first time. They have an impressive vision for resourcing United Methodism and the wider Wesleyan universe with media that faithfully interpret our heritage for present times.

Seedbed unapologetically hails the Wesleyan tradition as the “most comprehensive scriptural vision and the most extravagant transformational expression of the Gospel in the history of the Church so far.” The age of modern generic Evangelicalism may soon recede in place of renewed appreciation for the great Evangelical traditions that preceded it. Seedbed will likely play a key role in reviving a spiritually and intellectually rigorous Wesleyan worldview that can inspire future generations of leaders in the Wesleyan family.