Wesleyans, Scripture, and Holy Conferencing Together

And are we yet alive,
and see each other’s face?
Glory and thanks to Jesus give
for his almighty grace!

These words of Charles Wesley are familiar to many in the Wesleyan family because they’re traditionally sung at annual conference meetings. The early Methodists started gathering for conference in 1744 at the New Room in Bristol. You can still visit the building today and see the rooms where John and Charles met with the preachers to determine: “what to teach; how to teach, and what to do, i.e., how to regulate our doctrine, discipline, and practice.”

But these meetings were more than business gatherings, they were opportunities to grow together in mission, to recharge for the work ahead, and to encounter God together. Out of these gatherings, the idea of “holy conferencing” became a part of Methodism. Holy conferencing involves seeking God together for the work of the gospel, both to know the mind of God and to be empowered for the work. 

This past week, the John Wesley Institute held its third Summit. We started these in 2022. Each time we hold a Summit, we gather faithful scholars and church leaders together to worship, pray, and work together. The product of these Summits are lay-oriented books written to convey the beauty of the Christian faith. Many of you have the first book, The Faith Once Delivered. The second book, To Spread Scriptural Holiness, should be out any day now. The third Summit gathered to write a book on Scripture, and it was a wonderful time of holy conferencing together. 

The Wesleyan movement has an awesome (in the proper sense) view of Scripture. We believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture, and that the same Spirit inspires its reading today. We believe that Scripture is true and can see how it points us to the One who is Truth. We believe that Scripture is beautiful, a masterpiece of God’s handiwork, but also beautiful in that it lays out God’s vision for our salvation and how he will ultimately make all things new. 

But Scripture is also a means of grace, a channel through which the power of the Holy Spirit is made available to us, and so we can talk about Scripture as an encounter with the Living God. 

I told the Summit participants that we’re writing a book that should inspire its readers to read another book, in this case Scripture. And having experienced three days with these faithful believers going about the work of producing this new volume—a real experience of holy conferencing—I believe this third volume will do just that.

P.S. I’m thrilled to announce that Dr. Jonathan Powers and Dr. Stephen Rankin have joined the JWI team and will be editor and contributing editor for Good News magazine as we move this formational resource to an online format. Stay tuned for more information and new articles!

Ryan N. Danker is director of the John Wesley Institute, Washington, DC. This is reposted from a weekly JWI newsletter that can be subscribed to here.