A post -Wesleyan eucharistic ecclesiology: The renewal of the church as the body of Christ to be doxologically broken and spilled out for the world

Many claiming a Wesleyan theological heritage have not embraced and connected John Wesley’s doctrine of entire sanctification with his ardent eucharistic fervor and compassionate ministry with and among the poor. Moreover, many holiness denominations have struggled in articulating an ecclesiology that patterns the rhythm between the Lord’s Supper and ministry in the world embodied by John Wesley. As a result, many evangelical Wesleyans are left with an anemic ecclesiology and soteriology that is far too often individualistically oriented. This post-Wesleyan conversation seeks to recover, push against, and broaden the Wesleyan tradition by intersecting a eucharistic theology and ecclesiology.;The primary thesis of a post-Wesleyan eucharistic ecclesiology imagines how the Eucharist is the central means of sanctifying grace for Christians in the church, whereby God renews the church as the body of Christ to be sent out to be doxologically broken and spilled out for the world as the continual embodiment of the church’s oblation offered at the Table, through which God’s kingdom continues to be brought into existence. In this way God links the church’s being with its doing, and the church continues to become what it is.;Four specific ideas shape this post-Wesleyan eucharistic ecclesiology. First, the healing offered at the Table and the doxological ethic of the church sent from the Table can only be considered in light of John Wesley’s ordo salutis. Second, Christ’s presence at the Eucharist is vital to the healing offered and renewed union between Christ and the church. Third, Christ’s sacrificial presence at the Eucharist invites and empowers the church to receive the healing extended by offering itself as a living sacrifice, its oblation. Fourth, God renews and remakes the church as the body of Christ through the union of Christ’s and the church’s oblation. This renewal and reunion of the church as the body of Christ is sent to be doxologically broken and spilled out as it embodies its oblation in the world and continues the ministry of the Incarnation. The Eucharistic encounter offers the church its vocation and empowerment to be the broken body and spilled blood in, with, and for God’s world.