Shane Raynor
20.8K posts
Shane Raynor
@ShaneRaynor
Christian. Friend of Israel. Publisher of Methodist Prayer.
Austin, Texas Sumali Aralık 2008
604 Sinusundan6.4K Mga Tagasunod
@markdtooley Methodism was a half-baked attempt to revive a tradition (Anglican) based on the sandy foundation of political expediency.
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Nondenominational typically means Baptist without the name. So USA Protestantism is close to 60% Baptist ethos. In 19th century one third of all Americans & likely over half of Protestants were Methodist. What caused the shift?
Ryan Burge 📊@ryanburge
In 1972, 32% of Protestants were Baptists. It's 29% now. Methodists have dropped from 22% to 8%. Non-Denoms have risen from 3% to 30%.
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I agree, Mark. We do have plenty of solid Wesleyans out there, and they’d be excellent communicators online. I wonder whether it’s humility, shyness, or fear of technology that keeps them out of the game. How many younger people understand Wesleyan theology well enough or care about it enough to articulate it boldly on social media?
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@ShaneRaynor There are many fine Wesleyan theologians & preachers who decline to be active online, which is a mistake. Wesley called us to be "vile" for the Gospel, and that includes communicating online in difficult contexts.
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You have to be bold and know what you believe to gain much traction online. Many Methodists, frankly, have been taught a milquetoast, halfhearted version of the faith.
@markdtooley@markdtooley
Presumably today's equivalent is podcasting, TikToking, YouTubing, etc. And Wesleyans are bizarrely absent online.
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@Alex_Clary1 @RealMattFradd Too bad you can’t have a potluck online. Methodists would dominate! 🤣 Seriously, though, you’re right. Most Methodists haven’t been taught to embrace and be confident about the things that make Wesleyan theology distinctive, let alone take it deeper!
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@ShaneRaynor I yearn for a Methodist equivalent of @RealMattFradd Pints with Aquinas- long-form, deeply academic dialogue that boldly promotes Wesleyan ideals. Most online Methodist content is the equivalent of a fellowship conversation with light theology sprinkled in or a comedy routine
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Lucas has a growing presence online because he’s bold and knows his stuff. He’s not afraid of friendly debates with people from other traditions and he’s even willing to punch up. I’ve been on his podcast and it was a fun experience and our episode got thousands of views. Not Joe Rogan numbers, but not bad by any measure! @MethodMinistry
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@markdtooley Not completely. There is @method_ministry on the Conservative Methodist side & a UMC pastor channel the Connexionalist engages directly with RZ and others in a great way IMHO> @TheConnexionalist" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube.com/@TheConnexiona…
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Presumably today's equivalent is podcasting, TikToking, YouTubing, etc. And Wesleyans are bizarrely absent online.
Shane Raynor@ShaneRaynor
Methodism was a frontier movement that grew in large part because of open-air preaching. What is 2026's "frontier" and what is its "open-air preaching"?
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At the end of the day, I want people to know Jesus and grow spiritually more than I care whether they’re Methodist or not. But I do believe Methodism has some useful tools to help Christians understand their faith, grow in Christ, and overcome evil. The church universal is better because Methodism is part of it.
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@JohnIrishAnglcn @JHGoodman8404 If a little is good, more is better, right? 😉
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@ShaneRaynor @JHGoodman8404 I mean the BCP is already the streamlining of a Benedictine Breviary
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A Methodist congregation need not be forced into choosing between evangelical/low church and liturgical/high church worship. Wesley & those who followed him simplified the Anglican order of worship in their day and made it work for the frontier. We can do both.
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I suspect some Pentecostal churches now are pretty much Baptist too with a few people praying in tongues under their breath. :-)
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Mark is correct about Baptists. Most of those “community churches” and “-pointe churches” are Baptist and the rest are store brand Pentecostal/charismatic. People are thinking post-denominationally now.
@markdtooley@markdtooley
Nondenominational typically means Baptist without the name. So USA Protestantism is close to 60% Baptist ethos. In 19th century one third of all Americans & likely over half of Protestants were Methodist. What caused the shift?
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@JHGoodman8404 I agree, BCP is about the best thing going, but I do think there's value in simplifying for certain settings and creating derivative forms. Wesley did it for the American church and later for the English Methodists.
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@ShaneRaynor I’m with Joseph Pilmoor I think the Book of Common Prayer is best. Pilmoor was one of Wesley’s missionaries to PA and ultimately left the connexion for the Church of England and the BCP
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I'm not disparaging Baptists... they're brothers and sisters in Christ who do a lot for the Kingdom. (Boy do they know how to evangelize!) But we don't need Methodist churches to replicate Baptist churches exactly. There should be some obvious differences, IMO.
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The challenge with post-denominationalism is this: we don't want Christianity to lose the theological influence of Methodism. So some of these "Community Churches" and "-pointe churches" ought to be Methodist with Methodist theology and some distinctive worship components. If Methodist churches essentially become little more than Baptist-lite churches, then there's not much need for Methodists.
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@MethodMinistry I knew an older Baptist woman once who would tease her Catholic friends (good-naturedly), "The Bible says I'm a saint... pray to me!"
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There are no New Testament examples of icon veneration or prayers to the saints.
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I agree. Actual open-air preaching certainly isn't dead. Social media has given it new life. But it has evolved. I'm thinking of the Q&A formats (Charlie Kirk, Cliffe Knechtle come to mind) that have been resonating online.
Matt Judkins@MattJudkinsX
@ShaneRaynor Maybe we overthink this and it’s still open-air preaching. I see tons of young evangelists doing this on social media. Thoughts?
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In the structured prayer on the Methodist Prayer site, there are built-in times for silence and for extempore (impromptu, spontaneous) prayer. When I pray, I often go "off script" as the Spirit leads. But the structure helps me focus and move back on track when I need to.
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Methodism was a frontier movement that grew in large part because of open-air preaching. What is 2026's "frontier" and what is its "open-air preaching"?
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One of the things I want to do with Methodist Prayer site is experiment with creating orders of worship that would work for house churches & small groups. I believe modern Methodism can and should fuse evangelicalism and Anglicanism with some Pentecostal-lite thrown in for good measure. :-)
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