Reclaiming the Wesleyan Way of Formation, Stability, and Mission
I. A Pastor’s Question
A Methodist pastor I know recently wrote, “The churches I know about that I’d be willing to uproot my family for are Reformed Calvinist or Roman Catholic. I think there should be Wesleyan/Methodist churches that work like that.”
My initial response was less than enthusiastic, but upon further reflection I began to see that behind his statement lies both a lament and a vision — a lament over the loss of depth and coherence in much of contemporary Methodism, and a vision for a renewed form of Wesleyan life that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best expressions of Reformed and Catholic Christianity. And before going any further I would just say I’m with him in those thoughts.
What his statement captures is that both Calvinist and Catholic communities tend to form believers through clear doctrine, disciplined structure, and visible order, whereas Methodist churches – particularly in my lifetime – though often warm and active, have rarely matched that depth of formation. To recover it, Methodism, as expressed in the newly formed Global Methodist Church, may need something akin to what Rod Dreher called “The Benedict Option” — not a retreat from the world, but a rule of faith and life strong enough to renew it.
II. The Original Benedict Option
When Western civilization began to collapse in the fifth and sixth centuries, St. Benedict of Nursia (480–547) offered a simple but radical vision: communities of prayer and work (ora et labora), guided by a rule that bound life together in holiness, stability, and service. Benedictine monasteries became arks of faith, preserving not only theology but culture, learning, and community itself through centuries of upheaval.
Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option (2017) revived this idea for the modern era: in a post-Christian culture, the Church must again form intentional, disciplined communities to preserve the faith and raise up a countercultural witness. Such communities are not escapes from the world but schools of love, where virtue and vision are cultivated for the sake of the world.
III. Why Global Methodists Need a Benedict Option
At first glance, the Benedictine model might seem foreign to Methodist DNA — monastic vows, cloistered stability, and communal rule hardly fit Wesley’s itinerant, evangelical movement. But at a deeper level, I believe it is safe to say that Methodism was always a lay Benedictine order in disguise.
John Wesley’s Methodist societies in the 18th century were structured communities of disciplined discipleship:
- Societies for corporate worship and instruction.
- Class meetings for accountability, mutual confession, and care.
- Bands for intimate fellowship and spiritual honesty.
- Rules of life governing prayer, fasting, giving, and service.
- Itinerant preachers who served as spiritual directors for lay disciples.
Wesley called Methodism “a discipline ordained of God,” emphasizing that grace is not chaos but ordered energy — what we might call ordered grace.
In today’s fragmented, distracted world, the Church needs that order again. A “Methodist Benedict Option” would not turn Methodists into monks, but revive the communal habits that make holiness sustainable — forming believers who can live faithfully amid cultural disorder.
IV. The Triad of Traditions: Reformed, Catholic, and Wesleyan
Each of the great Christian traditions offers a distinct model of order:
| Tradition | Core Emphasis | Form of Order | Resulting Strength |
| Reformed / Calvinist | The sovereignty of God and the primacy of Scripture | Covenant theology; disciplined doctrine | Intellectual coherence; moral seriousness |
| Roman Catholic | Apostolic continuity and sacramental grace | Hierarchical and liturgical stability | Institutional depth; sacramental life |
| Wesleyan / Methodist | Grace leading to holiness of heart and life | Connexional structure; disciplined community | Missional flexibility; lay empowerment |
The Reformed tradition builds communities of belief, the Catholic builds communities of belonging, and the Methodist was meant to build communities of becoming — people growing together toward perfect love. But when Methodist structures of formation weakened, much of that distinctive “becoming” ethos was lost.
A Methodist Benedict Option seeks to restore that balance: to make Wesleyan grace as formative and disciplined as Benedictine stability or Calvinist clarity.
V. What a Benedict Option Looks Like for the Global Methodist Church
- A Rule of Grace
Churches reclaim Wesley’s General Rules — “Do no harm. Do good. Attend upon all the ordinances of God.” — not as slogans but as a living rule of life. Congregations covenant together around daily prayer, Scripture, fasting, and acts of mercy. - Communities of Accountability
The return of class meetings and bands — smaller groups where Christians watch over one another in love, confess sin, and practice mutual encouragement. These groups become the backbone of discipleship, not optional programs. - Catechetical and Theological Depth
Pastors and lay leaders commit to systematic instruction in Scripture, doctrine, and moral theology. In a distracted age, formation must be deliberate, not incidental. - Liturgical and Sacramental Renewal
The early Methodists combined evangelical fervor with sacramental rhythm — frequent Communion, the Christian year, and daily prayer. Recovering that rhythm forms stability without quenching zeal. - Rooted Mission
Unlike monastic withdrawal, Wesleyan discipline leads outward. Methodism’s genius is its union of holiness and service — “the world is my parish.” A Benedictine Methodist community would stay in place long enough to transform it.
VI. Ordered Grace in an Age of Disorder
Modern life prizes freedom without form, spontaneity without stability. Yet Wesley understood that grace must take form — that love without discipline evaporates, and enthusiasm without structure burns out. His genius was to wed evangelical faith to practical holiness through community order.
A “Global Methodist Benedict Option” is not nostalgic traditionalism. It is spiritual intentionality — a re-centering of Methodist identity around disciplined grace, covenant community, and enduring mission.
In that sense, the pastor’s longing — for Methodist churches that “work like” Reformed and Catholic ones — is not a wish to imitate their systems, but a call to recover Methodism’s own deep order, the one Wesley knew could save souls and renew nations.
VII. Conclusion: The Rule of Love
St. Benedict taught that the monastery was a “school of the Lord’s service.” Wesley’s Methodism was a school of love, where ordinary believers were trained to live holy, joyful, and generous lives.
What our time demands is not a new program, but a re-discovery of that school — a movement of ordered grace. The Methodist Benedict Option calls us:
- To stability amid distraction,
- To discipline amid drift,
- To holiness amid confusion,
- To grace amid all.
And perhaps then, our churches will again become communities worth uprooting one’s life for — not because they are grand or famous, but because, in them, Christ is truly formed in His people.
© 2025 Neville Vanderburg. All rights reserved.
Used with permission. No part of this work may be reproduced without written consent of the author, except for brief quotations in reviews or educational use.
References & Suggested Readings
Primary Sources
- John Wesley. The Works of John Wesley. Vols. 1–14.
– Key sermons: “The Means of Grace,” “The Nature of Enthusiasm,” “The Character of a Methodist,” “On Zeal.”
– The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies (1743). - Charles Wesley. Hymns and Sacred Poems (especially hymns on holiness and community).
- St. Benedict of Nursia. The Rule of St. Benedict. Trans. Timothy Fry. Liturgical Press, 1981.
- John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion.
- *Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican, 1994.
Secondary Sources on Tradition and Formation
- Abraham, William J. The Logic of Renewal. Eerdmans, 2003.
- Collins, Kenneth J. The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of Grace. Abingdon, 2007.
- Dreher, Rod. The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. Penguin, 2017.
- Dreher, Rod & Levin, Michael. Live Not by Lies. Sentinel, 2020. (on community under cultural pressure)
- Hauerwas, Stanley. The Peaceable Kingdom. University of Notre Dame Press, 1983. (for Christian community as moral formation)
- Heitzenrater, Richard P. Wesley and the People Called Methodists. Abingdon, 1995.
- Hunter, George G. III. The Recovery of a Contagious Methodist Movement. Abingdon, 2011.
- Maddox, Randy L. Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology. Kingswood, 1994.
- Outler, Albert C. John Wesley. Oxford University Press, 1964.
- Sittser, Gerald L. Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries. IVP, 2007.
- Watson, Kevin M. The Class Meeting: Reclaiming a Forgotten (and Essential) Small Group Experience. Seedbed, 2014.
- Watson, Kevin M. and Scott T. Kisker. The Band Meeting: Rediscovering Relational Discipleship in Transformational Community. Seedbed, 2017.
Further Reading on Community and Order
- Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Harper & Row, 1954.
- Nouwen, Henri J. M. The Way of the Heart. HarperOne, 1981.
- Smith, James K.A. You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. Brazos Press, 2016.
- Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines. HarperOne, 1988.
- Wright, N. T. After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. HarperOne, 2010.
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