I am going to say somthing very bluntly: I am glad to be on the outside of the Wesleyan bubble.
It was very divine when and how God plucked Lynn and I out of the Wesleyan network we were ministering in, bringing us to the Baptist church we now serve. God did a marvelous work in our hearts during this transition, opening our hearts and minds up to see Him in a completely new light, with completely new brothers and sisters in Christ. This experience enriched our hearts and lives more than we could describe. We were literally healed in our souls by the grace, peace, and genuine warmth with which we were received... Don't get me wrong, we are not Baptist. But we are not Wesleyan either. God allowed us the opportunity to be... just believers. Not really belonging to anyone, but Him and the body of Christ as a whole. What a beauitful thing!!
I felt so much stress and tension in the Wesleyan circles we had found ourselves in. In truth, I could barely see God anymore. The kind of intensity that is required to live that kind of faith, as Wesley or other celebrated ministers gone before, is not for me. I need time to reflect and ponder. I need a peaceful and restful environment to worship and meditate on the Scriptures. I don't need to be wondering, "Am I intense enough to be a Christian? Am I measuring up?" To be honest I felt like I was constantly judged and criticized, mostly by people's assumptions of me rather than the real me, since no one had the time to really discover who I was or what made me tick after all.
There is so much to enjoy in our world today. My eyes were not really opened to it until we made this transition. Here, we have just as many unbelieving friends as we do believing. Poeple swear around us, drink around us, say balderdash things about life and God, and we have never been happier :). We feel free to be who we are and allow others to be free to be who they are. God is so much bigger than one experience of him!!
I think, if you cannot sit back and see the benefits outside your "world", or how Lynn perfectly put it, "if you cannot see God in someone else's world", I think you are all the worse for it. How then can you relate to unbelievers if you cannot even
acknowledge the good in who they are and how they experience God? Because you can be sure that they are. One way or another God is speaking to their hearts, showing up in their routine, coming forth with sunshine to bless them in their day. God honors them and respects them and blesses them. If we cannot honor them and respect them when God is honoring them and respecting them, and then think we can show them God???? I think we will end up doing more harm then good for the true witness Jesus would like to have in their lives.
