It was announced last week that the United Methodist Church has removed Asbury Theological Seminary from their list of approved seminaries for pastors in their denomination seeking ordination. You can read about it from the UM News here and Asbury’s response here.

While not surprising given how far the UMC has moved away from traditional orthodox theology around the issue of marriage and sexuality, it grieves me nonetheless. Asbury has been the training ground for so many United Methodist pastors, and it’s sad to think about a Wesleyan denomination suddenly closing the door on a thoroughly Wesleyan seminary.  It’s sad to think about a place I love and respect and admire essentially being told they are no longer welcome. And it’s sad to think about the Asbury pastors I love and care for who are still in the UMC and are now forced to unnecessarily defend their choice of seminary.

I was a sophomore in college when I felt the call to ministry. After months of prayer and discernment, I decided on the United Methodist Church as the place to live out this call. Ashley and I visited several UM seminaries: Perkins at SMU, St. Paul in Kansas City, and Garrett Evangelical at Northwestern in Chicago. Our next stop was Asbury in Wilmore, Kentucky, “The Holy City” as it was called. Within minutes of stepping on campus, Ashley and I both felt the power of the Holy Spirit in that place and knew this is where God wanted us to be. I sat in on a couple of classes, and we attended Chapel where we were fortunate that they were singing what’s known as the Asbury Fight Song, “And Can it Be” by Charles Wesley (you can listen to it here). We moved to Wilmore in 1992 and spent three wonderful years there while getting my Masters of Divinity. We would move back to Wilmore in the summer of 1998 for a year-long residency doctoral program called the Beeson Program for Biblical Preaching and Leadership. While I never completed the D-Min, it was such a life-changing year for me for many reasons, one of which was that I learned from my mentor Dr. Ellsworth Kalas how to preach without notes!

Needless to say, Asbury means a lot to me. It also means a lot to our other pastors. All five of us attended Asbury at different times, and while we are no longer United Methodist, we are still all proudly Wesleyan. Each one of us greatly benefited from this place that taught us how to be, “Well-trained, sanctified, Spirit-filled, evangelistic ministers spreading Scriptural holiness around the world.” I thank God for Asbury, and I encourage you to join me in praying for them as they faithfully move forward in fulfilling their mission.