All the Good Leader Guide

Journey Through Advent with John Wesley's Means of Grace.

The season of Advent offers time and space for Christians to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas through reflecting on the story of salvation.

In All the Good: A Wesleyan Way of Christmas, a group of diverse Wesleyan scholars will take you on an Advent journey guided by the practices in John Wesley’s means of grace. John Wesley’s emphasis upon practices of piety and mercy―or good works―drew from the larger Christian tradition. Such practices are often referred to as means of grace.

Each chapter guides participants through one of the four weeks of Advent by reflecting on biblical passages in light of an aspect of Wesleyan means of grace highlighted by illustrations and stories. Readers will look at preparing the way for God, the impact and significance of prayer, the substance of good works and caring for others, and sharing God’s mission to the world.

The Leader Guide includes session outline for each group meeting with Scripture, prayer, opening activity, discussion questions, activity, and ending call to action. A DVD with weekly video segments and a book are available separately to create a four-week study for Advent.

Laceye C. Warner is Royce and Jane Reynolds, Associate Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Methodist Studies and Associate Dean for Wesleyan Engagement at Duke University Divinity School. An elder in the Texas Conference, Dr. Warner was appointed to the faculty at Duke Divinity School in 2001. She is the author of several books including Knowing Who We Are; The Method of Our Mission: United Methodist Polity and Organization, and a contributing editor to the Wesley Study Bible. Dr. Warner enjoys living on a flower farm with her family and many of God’s creatures.

Rev. Dr. Amy Valdez Barker currently serves as the Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Education and Mission Innovation at Candler School of Theology in Emory University. She has held executive roles at The Connectional Table and Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. She is an ordained Deacon of the North Georgia Annual Conference and a graduate from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She has authored a book on trust called Trust by Design: The Beautiful Behaviors of an Effective Church Culture. She loves spending time with her two teenage children, her husband and their Bernedoodle, Gryffin in their sweet little community of Lilburn, Georgia.

Jung Choi is a scholar-teacher trained in the New Testament and Early Christianity (M.Div., Harvard; STM, Yale; Th.D., Harvard). Before coming to Duke, Dr. Choi was an assistant professor of religious studies at North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, N.C. She is committed to expanding access to theological education and has worked enthusiastically with diverse groups of students, with ample experience in implementing innovative pedagogies and designing programs and courses. Dedicated to church ministry both at local and connectional levels, Dr. Choi is an instructor for the New Testament courses for the Deaconess and Home Missioners for the United Methodist Women and is working on a textbook on the New Testament by the invitation of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) of the UMC. She serves on the steering committee of the Wesleyan and Methodist Studies unit at the American Academy of Religion and Korean Biblical Colloquium Unit at the Society of Biblical Literature. Dr. Choi is a Woman of Color Fellow of GBHEM, a John Wesley Fellow with A Foundation of Theological Education (AFTE), and a participant of Wabash Fellowship for Religion Faculty in Asian and Pacific Islander Descent at Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. Her academic interests lie in prophecy in both the ancient Mediterranean and contemporary world concerning race, gender, and power.

Sangwoo Kim (Th.D., Duke) is a consulting professor, senior director of the Methodist House of Studies and the Wesleyan Formation Initiatives, and co-director of Asian House of Studies at Duke Divinity School. He is an elder of the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church, experienced in multicultural and cross-cultural ministries. His academic and pastoral interest includes systematic & liturgical theology, spiritual formation, and Christian prayer.