My first infant Baptism
I started this blog in July of 2010 to discuss my ministry experiences in the United Methodist Church. Previously I had served most of my ministry in the American Baptist Churches, USA.
From July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2012 I served as the Associate Pastor of First UMC in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Starting July 1, 2012 I began my new appointment as Senior Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Sioux City, Iowa.
My wife and I are very excited to have begun our new appointment in Sioux City and look forward to all the exciting opportunities for ministry we will have with the members of Grace UMC in the coming years!
Hello Circuit Rider. Are you interested in corresponding about the early Methodist movement? I am currently working on a novel about Francis Asbury. Look forward to your future posts. Blessings.
Al d.
I am always open to talking about my United Methodist family. But you also need to remember I’m not an expert. I’ve only been in the UMC since 2010.
Circuit Rider, I am making a similar journey to provisional membership this year. Did you take correspondence courses (doctrine, history, polity) through GBHEM? If so, could you share what I should what I should expect (course structure, time to complete, amount of reading) and your opinion on the difficulty?
hm jenkins, I’m excited that you are in a similar journey in the UMC! I have finished the UMC history class and am in the midst of the doctrine class. This morning we are starting the Iowa Annual Conference session. So I’m covered up this morning but I’ll be happy to give you a more detailed reply. What I can say about the GBHEM courses just off hand is that because the course is done by mail the course is entirely reading and then writing essays about your reading. I wrote almost 100 pages in essays for the history class. I can tell you more when I get a few free moments during the conference. Blessings! Tim
Tim, so is comparable to a seminary class or worse. That is surely a lot of pages. Is there a recommended order in which to take the classes? Also, do you recommend paying the extra fee to take the class online versus the mail?
It is just different. I would say in some ways it is harder because you have the written work and no classroom discussion. But also it is much cheaper and more flexible on the time frame. It wasn’t my favorite choice but with my distance from a UMC seminary it was a good choice for me.
As to recommended order, History, Doctrine, and then Polity. But I don’t think that is a requirement.
Thanks Tim!