Timothy Tennent

The Millennials are Coming!

Most of us would agree that whoever invented the “airbag” for cars (whether he or she was a Christian or not) was doing so as an expression of a Christian world-view. It is one thing to have faith and to trust God for our lives as we drive, it is another to trust God and […]

The Sunset of Christian Kitsch

Like many Christians around the world, I take time at the turn of the New Year to reflect on the past and hope for the future. Some of my hopes are bound up with my own life as I reflect on the many practical steps I want to take to be more like Christ in […]

Gospel Clarity vs. “The Fog”

By God’s grace I have enjoyed decades of involvement with the church on four different continents. It has been a means of grace for me, because I gradually gained a deeper understanding of why some church movements are in decline and are dying, and others are vibrant and full of life. I have had first-hand […]

Advent: Remembering our Nakedness

The last verse before the biblical account of the Fall is the rather candid statement, “both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame” (Gen. 2:25). I always thought that was simply stating the obvious; namely, that they did not have on any clothing. It was from John Paul II’s Theology of […]

The “Moon Shot” Calling of the Wesleyan Movement in the 21st Century

I am indebted to J. D. Walt, Jr., our Sower-in-Chief at Asbury who both envisioned and heads up our Seedbed operation who reminded me recently of the need for a “moon shot” initiative. What he was alluding to was that electrifying moment on October 25, 1961 when J. F. Kennedy stood before Congress and said, […]

Alice Was Right. Thoughts On Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy and Homodoxy

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory’ Alice, of Alice in Wonderland, once asked Humpty Dumpty. He smiled contemptuously and said, “Of course you don’t – till I tell you. I mean “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!” “But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’ Alice objected. “When I use a word,” […]

Moving from Tepid Devotional Reading to a People of One Book.

Brothers and sisters, we have a big problem. A rather large portion of the western so-called “mainline” churches do not seem to be offering any substantial defense against the relativistic forces of post modernity. How quickly the “mainline” churches have become “sideline churches” while other, more robust Christian movements have emerged. I rejoice in the […]

Four Great Wesleyan Distinctives (Part III)

This is the last entry of a three part series. Read Part I and Part II. — Third, the Wesleyan view of the holy Christian life. A doctrine of justification separated from a robust doctrine of sanctification has left the church in a weakened state which compromises our witness to the world, dishonors Christ and […]

Four Great Wesleyan Distinctives (Part II)

This is the 2nd of a 3 part series. Read Part I and Part III. — It is in this context alone that we can now speak properly of Wesleyan distinctives. Without understanding the four interlocking foundations we improperly think of our distinctives as weapons which we wield against other Christians. Distinctives should never be […]

Holiness: Personal, Social and Global

There are few more established routines in life than the famous bedtime story. When our children were small it was the only way a day could be brought properly to an end. The number of stories which we read, remembered from our own childhood or, quite frankly, made up on the spot during that sacred […]