Circuit riders, traveling great distances across the frontier and overseeing multiple communities, had to employ a leadership strategy that was shared, relational, decentralized, and self-organized. Their approach has implications for the network society today.
Category Archives: Revitalization
Part Three – Reimagining The Parish
Bringing back the circuit rider for a new missional frontier requires us to rethink what we mean by “parish.” If the world is truly our parish, how do we re-envision what a circuit might look like? In the previous post, I described how digitality creates a new kind of space and makes possible new formsContinue reading “Part Three – Reimagining The Parish”
Bring Back the Circuit Rider
Part Two – “Digital Circuits and Riding the Flows“ The early circuit riders crisscrossed wide swaths of terrain on horseback. 21st century circuit riders are traveling a new global mission field accessed through internet connected screens. In Fresh Expressions in a Digital Age: How the Church Can Prepare for a Post Pandemic World,Continue reading “Bring Back the Circuit Rider”
Bring Back the Circuit Rider
Part 1 “The Lost Genius of Early Methodism” In A Field Guide to Methodist Fresh Expressions, I suggested we need to rethink and reemploy the tradition of the circuit rider.[1] In response to the missional imperative, John Wesley, and the early Methodists in eighteenth century Britain innovated the practice of traveling place to place toContinue reading “Bring Back the Circuit Rider”
Resurrection is the Monkey Wrench
To all my friends who have not seen the inside of your sanctuaries for over a year. If you have known the pain of long-time members leaving to worship or even join the so-called “open” church around the corner. I want to give you a word of hope and encouragement.