“My dear children, I travailed in the child-pangs of birth so that Christ may be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).
The Francis Asbury Society is a group of people who receive, model, and share the transforming love of God for the redemption of the world. In this covenant with one another, we believe that God shares himself with us by placing (by grace through faith) his very Spirit, who is holy, in us. We share this gift of God’s saving work through:
- Evangelism
- Exponential discipleship (meaning faithful disciples who go make more faithful disciples)
- Education (the Great Commission says: “teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you”)
This weekend I spent the Lord’s Day with my wife in a little country church in the Kentucky mountains. It was a great joy to meet brothers and sisters in Christ from their community. It would be hard to over-exaggerate the Spring beauty of that mountain community! As we drove to that church, it was truly a “How Great Thou Art” moment. One stanza of the hymn says, “When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze”—we were there, and the greatness of God was our welcome mat!
Over the past two months, I (and sometimes, we) have been among Society members either preaching, teaching, or visiting in Tennessee; Georgia; several towns in Florida like Lutz, Tampa, Lakeland, and New Smyrna Beach; up through Charleston, South Carolina; Albemarle, North Carolina; Gatlinburg, Tennessee; over to Jefferson City, Missouri, back to Wilmore, Kentucky, for our board meeting; and then up to the mountains in Zoe, Kentucky. With all our people in all locations, God was working to form the spiritual image of Christ in the hearts of his people. Everywhere I went, people were testifying to the transforming love of God at work in their lives. I have come to discover afresh and anew that the transforming love of God, a self-giving love from his heart to ours, makes the world a much better place. Remember sisters and brothers: “Love never fails.”
I believe in these days of enormous social complexity, God still uses the simple things “to confound the wise.” LOVE! The love of Christ is a world changer—one person, church, and community at a time. If we receive his love, model his love, and share his love, it will so change his world that the world itself will be redeemed. No wonder John Wesley could say, “The world is my parish!”
Here at the Francis Asbury Society, we want to echo his sanctifying love. And we want to be in a social network of people who do the same. It makes a world of difference!