Heart and Church

The founder of the American Methodist Church, Francis Asbury, endured major division in the fledgling denomination, a prolonged event that caused him considerable spiritual heartburn. The trauma gave birth to this, his only book. In the fashion of his English mentor, John Wesley, he pulled together “extracts” from other highly regarded authors who addressed the causes of discord, in both the heart and the church. Mincing no words, the diagnoses are unanimous—such divisions are most often triggered by worldly-minded self-interests, resulting in grievous disregard of scriptural admonitions. The surface issues may have appeared different in Asbury’s eighteenth century, but he knew the underlying principles were timeless. In the twenty-first century, those same biblical principles are still valid.