GCORR Book Study: Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm by John Elford
Buy the book on Amazon.com
GCORR Book Study Guide: For Small Groups & Individual Reflection
GCORR remains committed to supporting and resourcing the Church in its journey of dismantling racism. We are aware that people learn and grow in many ways due to the rich diversity of humanity.
Our hope is that this study guide resource will help you on your anti-racism journey, deepen your faith, and strengthen your mind and spirit to continue working for a more just and equitable world.
For more book studies, visit our book study page.
Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm by John Elford
Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm summons the reader on a most unusual journey through Methodist history. Along the way, we discover how the White American Methodist Church became deeply entangled with White supremacy. From the founding of the church in the late eighteenth century to the present, we have too often been silent bystanders or active accomplices in the enormous harm caused by racism. It’s a complicated and shameful story few Methodists know. And yet, if we want to transform the world toward a different and better future for all, one free of the stranglehold of racism, we must come to terms with the story of our past—the whole story! Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm is a trustworthy guide into the church’s troubled history. It’s also a present-day call to action that finds inspiration in those Methodists who stood against the tide and those guiding the church today toward the horizon of racial justice.
How To Use This Study
This book study guide follows the outline of the book:
Session 1: Chapter 1 - Introduction
Session 2: Chapter 2 - John Wesley and the Institution of Slavery
Session 3: Chapter 3 – Methodists Struggle with Slavery
Session 4: Chapter 4 – From Civil War to the Jim Crow Church
Session 5: Chapter 5 - Methodists and the Civil Rights Era (Part 1)
Session 6: Chapter 6 – Methodists and the Civil Rights Era (Part 2)
Session 7: Chapter 7 - The Contemporary Struggle against White Supremacy (Part 1)
Session 8: Chapter 8 - The Contemporary Struggle against White Supremacy (Part 2)
To engage this study to 6 sessions, you may combine Sessions 5 and 6, and Sessions 7 and 8.
