The Early Methodist Class Meeting: Its Origins and Significance

by Watson, David L.

• ISBN13: 9781579109394
• ISBN10: 157910939X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-01
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub

Author Biography

David Lowes Watson is Director of the Office of Pastoral Formation for the Nashville Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church. A native of England, he was educated at Oxford University, (M.A.), Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri (M.Div.), and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (Ph.D.). He has pastored inner city and rural congregations in Illinois and North Carolina, and has served as Executive Secretary for Covenant Discipleship and Christian Formation at the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church. He has taught at Southern Methodist University as the McCreless Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, and at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. as Professor of Theology and Congregational Life and Mission. He has written extensively in the fields of Methodist history and theology, evangelism, and congregational life and mission

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
Introduction: Wesley and the Christian Tradition	p. 1
Wesley's Understanding of the Church
The Anglican Tradition	p. 9
The Puritan Spirit	p. 21
Wesley's Theology of Discipleship: Distinctive Justification	p. 39
The Shaping of Early Methodist Polity: Formative Influences and the "Rises of Methodism"	p. 67
Disciplined Churchmanship: The Religious Societies	p. 68
Spiritual Nurture: The Moravian Bands	p. 75
The Methodist Order: Ecclesiola in Ecclesia	p. 80
The Development of the Class Meeting: The Sinews of Methodism	p. 93
The Weekly Meeting	p. 93
The Class Leader	p. 98
Connectional Discipline	p. 104
Spiritual Maturity	p. 109
Fellowship Beyond the Class	p. 116
The Significance of the Class Meeting: Accountable Discipleship
The Class Meeting in Wesley's Ecclesiology	p. 125
Contextual Traditioning	p. 127
Purpose of Class Meeting	p. 134
Decline of the Class Meeting	p. 145
Three Potential Misunderstandings	p. 148
Notes	p. 153
Appendices	p. 187
Bibliography	p. 243
Index of Names, Places, and Subjects	p. 263
Index of Authors Cited	p. 270
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