A convenient, reliable guide to your polity questions 250+ entries, containing: An important quote from John Wesley or other notable Methodists; a definition and how the entry relates to pastors and leaders; brief notes on historical/theological roots; related Discipline paragraph numbers; other essentials. United Methodist...

Author Dr. William B. Lawrence gives us a gift in this history of ordination in the Methodist tradition. From our beginnings, ordination has always been about the community. The community confirms one's call, helps him/her make decisions about preparation for ministry, and shares in the...

Grace changes everything.  This book invites you to rethink core concepts of the Christian faith in the invigorating, life-giving light of grace that has the power to free us and change everything. We all live with the pressures of life, but those at the margins...

To know the story of Nathan Bangs is to understand American Methodism between the death of Asbury and the Civil War. During the nineteenth century, the Methodist Episcopal Church transformed from an alternative society into a middle-class, mainstream denomination. While some scholars attribute Bangs with...

Join the movement and go make disciples in an ever-changing world. The United States continues to experience change in ways that are increasingly rapid and drastic. Such change is due to a number of factors, some of which include: shifts in religious adherence across the population;...

The history of sacramental authority is key to understanding United Methodist ministerial orders. While sacramental authority is and has been misunderstood and misused, it remains interwoven into United Methodism and is a significant element of the history of Christian ecumenical conversations about ministry. This book...

“…unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.” For Christians, the word “requiem” is a voice of hope. It heralds the promise of resurrection and power of life. A requiem is not about death, rather it is a prayer that accepts the Lord’s redemptive...

United Methodist historian Russell Richey explores various dimensions of the history, theology, and practice of connectionalism in American Methodism. Russell E. Richey is Dean Emeritus of Candler School of Theology and the William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Church History Emeritus in Atlanta, Georgia.

Designed as a companion to mentors and those training mentors, Mentoring into Vocation offers a comprehensive framework for guiding persons into ordained or lay vocations. Written specifically from the perspective of United Methodist polity and theology, the book provides leaders in annual conferences charged with...

Lucia Ann McSpadden offered a penetrating analysis of the struggles as well as the joys and opportunities experienced by persons engaged in cross-cultural-cross-racial ministry in The United Methodist Church. Soon after the book was published, it became apparent that a volume was needed that would...