Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit

John Wesley (1703 - 1791), one of the greatest preachers of all time, preached more than 40,000 sermons. Wesley’s sermons centered on God’s unconditional love, freely offered to all through Christ. Wesley preached at coal mines and in fields and sparked a great spiritual renewal. Wesley’s published sermons instructed the people in Christian discipleship and explained the core understandings of the Methodist movement.

Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit offers contemporary readers an approach to Wesley’s spiritual depth. Author Paul Chilcote has transposed 52 of Wesley’s standard sermons into flowing devotional prayers that are written in contemporary language, yet faithful to Wesley’s message. A scripture reference and a hymn by Charles Wesley accompany each prayer. The prayers offer a means of reflecting on such topics as salvation by faith, yearning for God, and Christian perfection. Like Wesley’s sermons, these prayers show a concern to reveal how God works in the world. The prayers also engage the head and hands and heart in the same way that Wesley understood Christian discipleship.

With 52 prayers, readers may pray one prayer a week for a year and immerse themselves in a “short course” in Wesleyan thought and theology. This one-of-a-kind prayer book will introduce readers to a rich heritage of Christian discipleship and is a must have devotional book for those active in the Wesleyan tradition. A Scripture Index and a Hymn Index are also included.