The Heart of the Holiness Movement (Joanne Lyon)

Joanne Lyon is stepping down from being General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church. There is much news to share here. Wayne Schmidt, my old boss at Wesley Seminary, is replacing her. Dr. Lyon is going to switch places and give oversight to the Seminary this year.

But what I wanted to post was the testimony she gave when the General Conference made her a General Superintendent Emerita. There were many excesses to the holiness movement in the 1900s. There were nonsense arguments over trivial matters like wedding rings and television in the age of Leave it to Beaver. The holiness movement was embarrassingly silent at best during the civil rights movement or on the wrong side at worst (not unlike some of the nonsense I hear today on other issues).

But if you want to know what the holiness movement at its heart was about, then listen to Dr. Lyon's testimony in this clip. If you are a pastor in the Wesleyan Church and this type of testimony is completely foreign to you, then you aren't yet a heart Wesleyan.