The #BeUMC campaign reminds us of who we are at our best — the spirit-filled, resilient, connected, missional, faithful, diverse, deeply rooted, committed, disciple-making, Jesus-seeking, generous, justice-seeking, world-changing, grace-filled people of God called The United Methodist Church.
We are transformed, forgiven people journeying toward holiness. We embrace a Church where we experience our triune God in personal and community relationships, transforming our own lives, the lives around us, and the entire world.
The NC Conference Media Center recommends these DVD studies, books, and youth curricula on grace, the means of grace, and the Wesleyan theology of grace.
DVD Studies on Grace
A Grace-Full Life: God’s All-Reaching, Soul-Saving, Character-Shaping, Never-Ending Love by Jorge Acevedo & Wes Olds. Examine a Wesleyan understanding of grace for the common person. Learn about various forms of grace—prevenient grace, justifying grace, sanctifying grace, and glorifying grace—and come away knowing how God’s grace truly works in your life.
Hebrews: Grace and Gratitude by David A. deSilva. New Testament scholar David deSilva helps us to see the connection between God’s grace in our lives and the gratitude we can express for our salvation when we answer the call to invest ourselves in God’s mission in the world. Discover a bold perspective on the meaning and significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection in light of the Old Testament, allowing us to hear afresh God’s call to a life of faithfulness.
The Grace of Les Miserables by Matt Rawle. Pastor Matt Rawle dives into six ideals found in the story—grace, justice, poverty, revolution, love, and hope—each represented by a character in Victor Hugo’s story. Rawle brings us to the intersection of church and pop culture by drawing parallels between the iconic story and musical and our Christian calling, inspiring us to both understand our faith and live it out in the world.
A Crazy, Holy Grace: The Healing Power of Pain and Memory by Frederick Buechner and Michael S. Poteet. Learn about the healing power of memories and about how to use past goodnesses and graces from God to close old wounds. Study questions and prompts, which are included for each of Buechner’s essays, lead your group into discussions about letting go, the power of hidden secrets, rising from the ruins, and listening for the quiet voice of God.
What’s So Amazing About Grace? Updated Edition by Philip Yancey. In this revised and updated video Bible study, Yancey explores the concept of grace—the one thing the world cannot duplicate and the one thing it craves above all else—and explores what it looks like in action. He also examines how Christians, as the sole dispensers, are doing at lavishing grace on a world that knows far more of cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy.
Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News? by Philip Yancey. Yancey shows the desperate need our world has for grace and how Christians can truly make the gospel good news again. Participants will explore what kind of news is good to a culture that thinks it has rejected the Christian version. Wading deep into the transformative power of grace, they will hear illuminating stories of how faith can be expressed in ways that disarm even the most cynical.
DVD Studies on the Means of Grace
Five Means of Grace: Experience God’s Love the Wesleyan Way by Elaine A. Heath. This study guides readers through the five means of grace that John Wesley called “instituted,” meaning these are spiritual practices in which Jesus himself participated and which he encouraged his followers to do. One of the beautiful aspects of Wesley’s theology is that spiritual practices are seamlessly integrated with practices of loving our neighbors well. This is why Wesley said there is no holiness but social holiness.
Opening Ourselves to Grace: Basic Christian Practices. This study explores the basic practices of Christian faith and life from a Wesleyan perspective. Containing both a DVD and a CD-ROM with video content and written resources, this product includes a 4-chapter video presentation on Wesley’s understanding of spiritual practice and a 6-week Bible study based on the video.
The Means of Grace: Traditioned Practice in Today’s World by Andrew C. Thompson. Thompson presents a clear and accessible explanation of the core tenets John Wesley instilled in the early Methodist movement. Each means of grace is drawn from biblical examples and paired with a framework to offer a real, practical model for a life marked by holy love and holy transformation.
Books on Grace
Simply Grace: Everyday Glimpses of God by Bruce L. Blumer. Rich with examples, this book will inspire you to become more aware of God in your everyday life. This book will help you discover the grace all around you and help you share this Good News. When we accept that we are loved, that we cannot earn a place with God, and we have already been forgiven, it changes our relationship with God and with each other.
The Cycle of Grace: Living in Sacred Balance by Trevor Hudson and Jerry P. Haas. You can learn the rhythm of living that Jesus demonstrates — the Cycle of Grace — throughout the Gospels. Trevor Hudson introduces each part of the Cycle of Grace in a short video segment (available on YouTube). In the workbook, Jerry Haas provides practical exercises for individuals and groups, complete with suggestions for journaling and preparing for group sessions.
The Way of Grace by Marjorie J. Thompson and Melissa Tidwell. This 9-week study in the Companions in Christ series explores the Gospel of John and how divine grace is at work in our lives today, just as it was in the lives of biblical characters 2,000 years ago. Participants in this small-group study will explore the central stories of John, focusing on people who discovered God’s grace through their encounters with Jesus.
Growing Generous Souls: Becoming Grace-Filled Stewards by Betsy Schwarzentraub. This book invites church leaders and inquiring individuals to stop racing from one activity to another and instead to focus on being rather than on compulsive doing and consuming. The book offers reflection questions and resources to help communities move toward becoming more fully grace-filled stewards of all that God has provided.
Books on the Wesleyan Theology of Grace
A Digest of Wesleyan Grace Theology: Preparing, Pardoning, Perfecting by Donald Haynes. Dr. Donald W. Haynes provides an accessible and comprehensive articulation of the Wesleyan beliefs about the nature of grace and the scriptural way of salvation which led the Wesleyan movement to revive the church and change the world.
Radical Grace: Justice for the Poor and Marginalized: Charles Wesley’s Views for the Twenty-First Century by S. T. Kimbrough, Jr. This volume brings together for the first time the writings of Charles Wesley on the theme of justice for the poor and marginalized. Charles’s views of how Christians may “use divine grace divine” in seeking justice for the poor are indeed radical, for they advocate behavior that is often quite contrary to what is generally accepted as Christian practice. This volume makes clear that the radical grace he espouses is consistent with Holy Scripture and should indeed be practiced by Christians today.
Rooted in Grace: Essays on Dialogue Without Division edited by Larry Duggins and Andrea L. Lingle. This book is a collection of essays, liturgies, and spiritual exercises focused on staying connected during difficult discussions. It addresses the vanishing art of disagreeing without devolving into animosity. Each essay includes questions for discussion.
Grace Under Pressure: Negotiating the Heart of the Methodist Tradition by Joerg Rieger. Distancing himself from liberals and conservatives but also pointing to the uselessness of a middle way, Rieger explores the theology of grace in situations of human pressure. Following John Wesley in his move to consider the ‘works of mercy’ as part of the means of grace, the author proposes to us a relational concept of grace that will prosper in dialogue and solidarity with those in distress, the oppressed ‘other’ who make present the gracious ‘Other.’
Youth Curricula
Canvas: A Portrait of Grace. In this four-session study, your students will experience what it means to be people who are covered with God’s grace. Over four weeks, they will immerse themselves in the grace of God, explore what the Bible says, and then explore how the church has experienced and lived in God’s grace through the centuries.
Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Coming Out on the Side of Grace by Jennifer Youngman. This youth mission study leads participants through the stages of forgiveness and reconciliation, beginning with biblical evidence that flawed human beings can forgive and ending with means of healing and living a grace-filled life. In between, the study discusses ways to conquer anger, acknowledge wrongdoing, overcome pride, apologize and forgive.
Request These Resources
These resources can be borrowed for free by anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference. We will mail them to your home! All you need to do is fill out the Resource Request Form.