Loading up the covered wagon...

I mentioned awhile back that my family and I were preparing to begin a new chapter in our lives. Well, I'm happy to report that the new chapter has just begun!

After spending five wonderful years in the Doctor of Theology program at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, I was invited to join the faculty of Memphis Theological Seminary to teach historical theology & Wesleyan studies. Needless to say, this is a wonderful opportunity to serve God in just the way that I believe I have been called to do: by helping to train pastors and laypersons for ministry in the church through a teaching ministry.

Although I'll teach courses on a number of different subjects within the field of church history, a special part of my appointment to M.T.S. will also be to teach courses in Wesleyan studies to help prepare the seminary's Methodist students for ordination. Both tasks are of great interest to me. I am eager to help all of the seminary's students gain a deep grounding in the tradition of the church catholic, even as I am also excited to introduce the Methodists among them to the rich heritage of the Wesleyan tradition.

I can't tell you how excited I am! Memphis Theological Seminary is a school that is both diverse and ecumenical, an institution committed to the church and a wonderful place to pursue a teaching ministry. As one of the officially-recognized theological schools by the University Senate of the United Methodist Church, its location in the heart of the Mid-South means that it trains clergy from a number of annual conferences, including Arkansas, Memphis, Mississippi, and North Alabama. I had the chance to meet with a number of faculty and students during a visit to the M.T.S. campus several months ago, interactions that have led me to believe that an exciting and stimulating community await me as I prepare to begin teaching this fall.

In the past, I haven't shared a great deal of my personal life on this website. But I wanted to share this bit of news, as our move to the Memphis area has been the dominant concern for my family over the past few months. We are still in our covered wagon right now. But we'll be settling in to our new home over the next few days ... and before you know it, it'll be time for the fall semester to get underway!

Getting up-to-date

I've been doing a little housekeeping on this website over the past couple of days. I know some people use the archives of my online writing in the lefthand sidebar to access older columns in the United Methodist Reporter and the Covenant Discipleship Quarterly (now published as the Covenant Discipleship Connection).

I stay pretty current on the UM Reporter archive but had been behind a few columns lately. I've fixed that now, so you can access all my columns up to the present one by clicking on this link. That includes the column that was just published on the flow of life at the Duke Youth Academy (which has gotten more than the usual number of hits, I'm happy to say!).

The Covenant Discipleship Quarterly archive (or "CDQ" in the lefthand sidebar) has been a different story. I'm not a regular writer for the General Board of Discipleship publication at present, but between 2006 and 2010 I did write about a dozen articles for it. When the GBOD revamped its website awhile back, all the links I had created for those columns went dead, and I neglected to update the archive. But I've fixed that now, so you should be able to access all the old columns at this link. Just realize that you'll have to use the archive menu to either select the year (or else click "see all articles"), since there's nothing added for the current year of 2011.

I'm planning a more extensive overhaul of this site in the coming year, and I'll be excited to share that with my readers when the time comes. But until then I'll try to keep on top of making sure that everything listed is current!

Youth and Christian Discipleship

My new column in the United Methodist Reporter takes a look at the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation, a summer program on the campus of Duke University for rising juniors and seniors in high school.

DYA has been a subject of my blogging before. To see previous posts check out this link.

I think one of the things that Christians struggle with in our day is how to go about living our whole lives in the light of our faith. Things are so fast-paced and our communities are so fragmented that it seems as if discipleship is something we have to squeeze in to personal calendars that are already very full.

This is a problem. A huge one, in fact. And one of the things that I think DYA does extremely well is to offer high school youth (as well as the adult staff) a vision of how Christian discipleship can and should serve as the pattern for all of life.

Check out the column, and if you have the chance stop by the DYA page on Duke Divinity School's website. If you know youth who will be a rising juniors and seniors next summer, encourage them to apply when the applications go live in a few months!

Summertime thoughts on the Church

A lot of my writing in the United Methodist Reporter recently has been around issues facing the United Methodist Church.

In May I took a look at the GracePoint UMC controversy that occurred in the Kansas West Annual Conference in 2009, suggesting that the connectional organization and accountability of our Methodist polity was ultimately vindicated in that matter.

I also wrote in May of the "mainline" label that is often applied to the UMC - a label I think is worse than useless - and basically argued for a view of Wesleyan evangelicalism as that which best represents authentic Methodist identity. I drew on Scott Kisker's recent book, Mainline or Methodist?, in making that distinction.

My columns in the month of June were centered on questions of renewal in the church. The first took a look at the concept of vital congregations that features prominently in the Call to Action Report issued by the Connectional Table. While there is much in the CTA report to debate and discuss, I believe that vital local churches are fundamental to the faithful witness of the gospel and the formation of strong discipleship.

The second June column also focused on renewal efforts in the church, this time taking a look at the Imagine Ministry proposal that was recently adopted by the Arkansas Annual Conference. Imagine Ministry is, to my mind, evidence of the effectiveness of pursuing structural and philosophical reform at the level of the annual conference (rather than the general church). The annual conference structure is truly at the heart of the Methodist connectional polity. It is there that we should be undertaking the hard work of discerning how best to equip ourselves and our churches for the work of ministry.

I don't have a lot to add to the brief descriptions above, other than to encourage readers to click on the links to those columns and check out the full content for yourselves. We are in a critical time for the church's future, and I am hopeful that Wesleyan Christians in the United Methodist Church are on the cusp of receiving the power of the Holy Spirit for our formation as disciples of Jesus Christ and, ultimately, for our salvation. It is that same power that will give us the ability to worship God in faithfulness and truth, and also to witness faithfully to the work of God in the world.

I pray that the same Spirit would come quickly.

Death Penalty issues

In the past I have claimed to hold what I call a "pro-vita" ethical position on the issues of abortion and capital punishment. I understand it as a Christian moral position, and by it I mean that I believe God's desire for all those created in his image is for life and redemption.

The conventional positions that what I'm calling pro-vita would align with would be the pro-life position on abortion and the anti-death penalty position on capital punishment. Conventional liberals and conservatives often differ on these two, obviously. By trying to articulate a pro-vita reasoning, I want to get both liberal and conservative Christians to consider how they think about these two moral issues with regards to their discipleship to Jesus Christ.

I'm bringing this up in a blog post today because I read a column I think it is worth checking out.

Professor David R. Dow of the University of Houston has written a recent op-ed article in the New York Times that comments on some of the problems with the death penalty. As he points out, it is hard to take a serious look at the way capital punishment is enforced by the states and conclude that it is anything other than racist and arbitrary.

Of course, there is a bit of an issue with hanging one's opposition to the death penalty on the manner of its enforcement. And it is this: presumably racism and arbitrariness could be removed by certain reforms within the justice system. If your only issue with capital punishment is its unfairness, then such reforms might well satisfy you. But if you oppose capital punishment per se, then you need some other basis of reasoning than the mechanics of its application.

I do oppose capital punishment per se, and I do so for theological reasons. My reasoning begins with what it means for Christians to live as a people who understand Jesus Christ's command to love one's neighbor as oneself as the second greatest commandment of all. From that basis I know there's a need to do further work on who our neighbor is and what it means to love. But I think this is absolutely the place to start.

Interview with (Ir)Regular Christian

My friend and fellow pastor, the Rev. Casey Taylor, publishes the (Ir)Regular Christian blog that I've recommended in the past. He recently interviewed me after reading Generation Rising: A Future with Hope for the United Methodist Church.

I initially thought that Casey's interview would be fairly brief, focusing on the content of Generation Rising. And while we did discuss the book quite a bit, Casey also delved deeply into a lot of other issues facing the United Methodist Church.

The result was a more extensive interview that took place both via phone and e-mail. I thoroughly enjoyed it! And I also appreciate the time and effort Casey put into the project. He has now posted it on his website. Here are the links:

"Generation Rising" - Andrew Thompson Interview Part One

"Generation Rising" - Andrew Thompson Interview Part Two

Feel free to leave feedback and comments either here or over at (Ir)Regular Christian. And thanks again, Casey!

Mid-Summer Update

It has been a couple of weeks since I've been able to post. From mid-June to early July, I was working with the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation, a program run by the Duke Divinity School each summer for rising juniors and seniors in high school. It is a tremendous program that allows both students and staff of the youth academy to experience something of the fullness of Christian community together. And this year's summer session was as wonderful as previous ones have been.

[If you'd like to read previous posts I've written on DYA, just click on this link.]

My family and I are preparing for an upcoming move to the Memphis, TN area, where in August I will join the faculty of Memphis Theological Seminary. There's much to do between now and our move date, so my blogging may be somewhat irregular. But I'll try to keep posting, even if the posts themselves are a bit briefer than usual.

I hope my readers are enjoying this summer. I know I am!