We’re having a grand old time at Camp Crystal Lakewood, where John and Charles have found themselves fighting the Calvinist theology of one counselor, only to learn a nationalist has led a few other children away. (The comic starts on Part 1)
The masked figure in today’s comic has represented the Young Life and Campus Crusade model of para-church ministry. Though not directly affiliated with a denomination or local church, these ministries go where the young people are to share the gospel with youth who may not ever grace the doors of a church building. This is an incredibly Wesleyan practice, though I think it is safe to say that it is more rooted in George Whitefield than John Wesley. Both men took the gospel to the people, hoping to “spread scriptural holiness over the land” (from Wesley’s “Large” Minutes). I think Wesley would be encouraged to see that ministries beyond the local church have formed over the centuries in the hopes of sharing God’s love where the people are, rather than waiting for the people to find you. This is typically referred to as relational, even incarnational ministry, making Christ present.
Wesley’s hang-ups with Whitefield, and in my comic I am imagining with certain para-church organizations, were more to do with theological claims that he believed to be problematic. Wesley found Whitefield’s Calvinism to be a harsh view of predestination that either rendered hopelessness in those who believed themselves bereft of salvation, or laziness in those who believed themselves so saved that they need not live holy lives. Similarly, there have been arguments made in the last almost 20 years that organizations like Young Life have moved towards a “corporate-driven fundamentalism,” requiring it’s leaders to teach and believe very specific “non-negotiables” that espouse little room for disagreement. I personally have a complex and complicated relationship with Young Life, as I appreciate the commitment to young people, to training and equipping college students to share the gospel. This is admirable, and just because I do not share all of the same theological convictions is no reason for me to disparage what they do. How would I be any better if I reject another for not sharing my own “non-negotiables”? Yet, it is not lost on me that Young Life does not allow LGBTQ leadership and teaches against it, so there is no space for me in that community for me to negotiate in the first place.
I’ve drawn Wesley’s arguments from his classic sermon, Free Grace (1740), a response to the teachings of George Whitefield, a Calvinist Methodist. In this document, Wesley espoused that God’s grace is free for all, and free in all, meaning that there is no one born who does not have a spark of the Holy Spirit alive in them, going before them every step of the way, leading them in love to full faith in Christ. This teaching is in opposition to a particular view of Calvinism, where God predestines some to salvation and many more to damnation, and that there is no hope for those God has chosen to damn. Wesley argued that this logic makes God to be worse than the devil, language I employed in today’s comic because I find it to be a useful Wesleyan turn of phrase. While Calvinism is firmly rooted in scripture, so is Wesley’s alternative. Wesley’s theological read of scripture holds God’s love revealed in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a love that unleashes grace freely to everyone, no exceptions. Any scripture or theological read on scripture that indicates otherwise must be decentralized, and reimagined in light of the central message of grace which enables holiness.
I hope you’ll come back next week as we continue to explore these themes and challenges to these themes in the Camp Crystal Lakewood series of Wesley Bros Comics!