This month, we will continue to explore John Wesley’s seven ways to share faith and explore how we can practice these Wesleyan practices. The details can be found in Wesley’s 7 Ways to Share Faith.

Practice 5: Place Everyone in a Small Group for Spiritual Growth

As Wesley began preaching outdoors, he noticed a troubling pattern. Without intentional support and encouragement, people who felt a strong relationship with God while Wesley was preaching would gradually move away from that feeling during the week. To help this situation, Wesley would only preach in venues where spiritually awakened people were placed in small groups. His goal was for the small “spiritual group family” to experience faith in Christ together, rather than individually during the week, and then return to the full worship service on Sunday.

Practice for SUMC:

  • Expand the number of small spiritual family groups in our church

  • Create spiritual groups in all mission, nurture, and outreach teams, along with project teams, such as Halloween and Pumpkin teams

Practice 6: Give the Ministry to the Laity

Wesley allowed laypersons, both men and women, to oversee small groups and preach. When he released the energies of the laity, the ministry multiplied even faster.

Practice for SUMC:

  • Seek opportunities for the laity to preach

  • Seek opportunities for laity to witness

  • Seek opportunities to combine the services to increase laity faith energy during service

Practice 7: Use Mass Communication to Get the Word Out

Wesley wrote numerous sermons, treatises, and books that were distributed to a wide audience to fuel the movement. Thousands of people who never heard him speak came to know Christ and grow in Christ through his writings.

Practice for SUMC:

  • Select new ways to provide sermons to our targeted geographic area

  • Select witness projects to deliver sermons with worship service to area assisted living, etc.

  • Develop worship service at the playground—invite all kids to hear the “message”

  • Provide sermons in large print to assisted and skilled living centers, etc.

  • Create a list of available, downloadable contemporary music