A Wesleyan Finds Nice Things to Say About Calvin

I am an affirmed Wesleyan and will always defend Wesley's view of grace against Calvinism. One day, maybe I'll blog about what's wrong with Calvinism, but I won't be able to say anything original.

 However...

 I had the opportunity to go to Geneva a few months ago and found myself inspired by Calvin in several ways. Geneva continues to be an international city where people who speak many languages live and work together. Calvin created an environment in which people who were persecuted for their faith in their home countries found a home and a community that transcended their national identities. I saw a beautiful bas relief in French that said, "Geneva, city of refuge." That's a beautiful heritage.

 But the thing that's inspiring me now is Calvin's approach to his ministry as a pastor. The center of his ministry was being with the people while teaching and preaching the Bible. Calvin had extensive lectures on the Bible three days a week during the week every other week. His commentaries can be easily accessed online. I learned recently that he didn't produce these commentaries--students took notes on his lectures and wrote them up later. Calvin did everything pastors do--administration, meetings, pastoral care, leadership development, worship planning, etc. But everything sprung from being with the people and helping them to encounter the God of scripture through the scriptures.

 I don't want to sound like a fundamentalist here. I'm certainly no fan of bibliolatry. But I do believe that more and more pastors are letting their interest in all kinds of things squeeze out their central calling. So much of the "leadership" literature uses the resources of the business world to more effectively build religious institutions. It's helpful to use those resources. But if we aren't about our central task, what's the point? Programming is great, being relational is great, cool music and cool graphic art is great, building buildings can be helpful. But these things are supposed to serve the task of developing disciples who discover God's presence through God's book.

 So, I'm thinking it's really important for pastors to be proclaimers and teachers of the Word first, and to let everything else spring from there. John Calvin's a good inspirational figure on that score. I think that's going to inform the kind of pastor I want to be.