Newsletter

Check out our Pentecost series newsletter today!

Fires of Revival

Rev. Jenny Smith Walz

Like the first disciples, John Wesley was shaped by the world he inhabited. Those first disciples, and also Wesley, were formed by people steeped in the faith and in love with God (Jesus & Samuel & Susannah Wesley). The disciples and Wesley were, at their core, willing and teachable spirits. The disciples and Wesley had been burnished in the fires of suffering and opposition, and found a deep well of perseverance. As Pentecost people, may we find these qualities in us too, and may they stir fires of revival within us. 

Pentecost | June 8, 2025

A Longing for Holiness

Rev. Tayler Necoechea

In John Wesley’s young adult years he was driven by a desire for holy living. 1 Peter invites us to pursue a holy life, one that is full of obedience to the truth, love for each other, and finding life through the enduring word of God. 

June 15, 2025

A Crisis of Faith

Rev. Jenny Smith Walz

Though John Wesley was becoming a well-known preacher who strove to do good at all times, he became unconvinced of his faith and salvation. He even wonders if he should stop preaching. 
In this crisis of faith, his friend (Peter Bohler) urges him to see that he is saved by grace; not because of his good works, rather through Christ alone! 

June 22, 2025

The Necessity of Faith

Rev. Jenny Smith Walz

Wesley, who has begun to accept God’s justifying and saving grace, responds by preaching this gift of grace to the people of Bristol. Even when Wesley was told he had no business preaching this in a parish, he proclaims, “the world is my parish” and continues to preach this message in the open fields. Nothing could stop Wesley’s passion for his vocation because he believed, just as Ephesians tells us, that we were made for good works! 

June 29, 2025

Works of Mercy and Justice

Rev. Jenny Smith Walz

We don’t do good works (justice & mercy) to earn salvation or God’s love. Rather works of mercy and justice are the fruit of faith, justification, grace, and salvation. And at the same time, doing justice and mercy are also ways that we both receive and share the gift of God’s grace with others. 

Wesley’s “middle way” was a refusal to let faith or the practices of the church settle into one side of a binary or the other. The Foundry is an apt name and location for the melding and molding of this kind of faith - forged by heat and fire. 

July 6, 2025

Persevering & Perfection

Rev. Jenny Smith Walz

God's grace and God’s kingdom are transformative, bringing reversals, changes of priority, and power. This will, necessarily, bring resistance and opposition. In the fires of opposition, Wesley (and Jesus, Paul, the disciples, the martyrs) persevered. And, as we move on to perfection in love, doing works of mercy and prophetic justice, we too will face opposition. While never easy, we too are called and empowered to persevere as we call one another and the world to righteousness and justice.

July 13, 2025