Overview

"How should the Methodist tradition continue to embody its evangelistic mission? Some believe effective evangelism requires ecclesial adaptation seeking relevance to attract outsiders. But does this strategy result in the church's embrace of consumer market practices, pandering to a world of church shoppers? Others suggest the most evangelistic thing the church can do is to be the church, displaying to the world the attractive beauty of a holy community. But could this ironically distance the church from its context and neglect the many ways the church is called to engage the world? The Wesleys formed a people called Methodist, embodying an evangelistic mission combining commitments to disciplined spiritual life and vital social engagement. In this book, Conklin-Miller suggests faithful (United) Methodist evangelism requires living in the tension between the church and the world, """"leaning both ways at once,"""" emphasizing the holiness of the church as a particular people, but at the same time, being a people sent to intercede in the world as servants, advocates, and witnesses. This understanding constitutes not only a broader reframing of evangelistic mission but also a vision for the identity and agency of the church in the Wesleyan tradition: a Methodist missional ecclesiology."

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9781498291484

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Reviews

Conklin-Miller probes what it means to be 'the church' in the post-Christendom setting of the twenty-first century, with an eye toward identifying distinctive evangelistic church practices appropriate to this setting. A thoughtful and helpful discussion! --Randy L. Maddox, Duke Divinity School In this work Dr. Conklin-Miller shares the fruits of carefully integrating years of pastoral experience and scholarly study to describe the nuanced role of the church between God and the world in ministries of evangelism. This is a timely and significant contribution to assist the people called Methodist in discerning its role in God's reign in a complex and hurting world. --Laceye Warner, Duke Divinity School Jeff has achieved what few others have done in the field of evangelism. In Leaning Both Ways at Once he offers a theological vision for evangelism that is rooted in tradition and compatible with social innovation. Readers will be struck by his image of evangelism as interceding between God and the world in a manner that allows for a unique Methodist ecclesiology which avoids the trappings of making church and world congruent. Those seeking a theological exploration of evangelism that integrates many of the best thinkers in Christian history will see this as a must-read. --F. Douglas Powe Jr., Wesley Theological Seminary 'What is the world?' I frequently receive this question when teaching evangelism at church or seminary. Many Christians want to learn how the church understands the world to which they are sent, but not many books on mission and evangelism carefully address the question as Jeffrey Conklin-Miller's new book does. He offers a robust Wesleyan and ecumenical understanding of the church/world relationship. I highly recommend you read his insightful proposal for evangelism as the church's intercessory presence in the world. --Sangwoo Kim, Duke Divinity School and Epworth UMC, Durham, North Carolina

"""Conklin-Miller probes what it means to be 'the church' in the post-Christendom setting of the twenty-first century, with an eye toward identifying distinctive evangelistic church practices appropriate to this setting. A thoughtful and helpful discussion!"" --Randy L. Maddox, Duke Divinity School ""In this work Dr. Conklin-Miller shares the fruits of carefully integrating years of pastoral experience and scholarly study to describe the nuanced role of the church between God and the world in ministries of evangelism. This is a timely and significant contribution to assist the people called Methodist in discerning its role in God's reign in a complex and hurting world."" --Laceye Warner, Duke Divinity School ""Jeff has achieved what few others have done in the field of evangelism. In Leaning Both Ways at Once he offers a theological vision for evangelism that is rooted in tradition and compatible with social innovation. Readers will be struck by his image of evangelism as interceding between God and the world in a manner that allows for a unique Methodist ecclesiology which avoids the trappings of making church and world congruent. Those seeking a theological exploration of evangelism that integrates many of the best thinkers in Christian history will see this as a must-read."" --F. Douglas Powe Jr., Wesley Theological Seminary ""'What is the world?' I frequently receive this question when teaching evangelism at church or seminary. Many Christians want to learn how the church understands the world to which they are sent, but not many books on mission and evangelism carefully address the question as Jeffrey Conklin-Miller's new book does. He offers a robust Wesleyan and ecumenical understanding of the church/world relationship. I highly recommend you read his insightful proposal for evangelism as the church's intercessory presence in the world."" --Sangwoo Kim, Duke Divinity School and Epworth UMC, Durham, North Carolina"

Author Information

Jeffrey Conklin-Miller is E. Stanley Jones Assistant Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Christian Formation and the director of the Methodist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.

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