Wesley, John (1703-1791), a clergyman of the Church of England, was a founder of Methodism. He was the foremost leader in England of the Evangelical Revival, a movement in Protestant Christianity during the 1700’s that emphasized personal faith and practical good works. In carrying out his evangelical mission, Wesley traveled about 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) and preached over 40,000 sermons, often as many as 4 in a day. His concern for the poor led him to provide loan funds, establish homes for widows and orphans, extend ministries to prisons and the armed forces, and open free medical dispensaries.
Early years.
Wesley was born on June 17, 1703, in Epworth in Lincolnshire. He was the 15th of 19 children born to Susanna Wesley and her husband, Samuel, an Anglican clergyman. Both parents were firmly committed to the Church of England, yet came from Nonconformist families who had separated from the Church of England. This background gave the young Wesley a deep sense of two traditions in English religious thought. One was the importance of the organized church, with its rules and teachings. The other was the vitality of Puritan inward religion, with its focus on a direct relationship with God.
Wesley was admitted to Christ Church College at Oxford University in 1720 and was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1728. He returned to Oxford in 1729 as a fellow of Lincoln College. There he became spiritual adviser to some students, including his brother Charles, who gathered in small groups to help each other with study, devotions, and practical good works. They were ridiculed by other students as “The Holy Club” and “Bible Moths,” but the nickname that prevailed was “Methodists.” Their practice of accountability in small groups for the spiritual life of all their members became the basic structure of the later Methodist movement.
While Wesley was a missionary to Georgia from 1735 to 1737, he was influenced by the Moravians, a German church that stressed personal faith and disciplined Christian living. Its influence on Wesley led to a spiritual crisis that was not resolved until he returned to England. In London on May 24, 1738, he attended a small religious meeting. There, according to his Journal, his heart was “strangely warmed” as he experienced the inward assurance of faith that so impressed him about the Moravians.
Leadership of the Methodist societies.
Wesley increasingly assumed a leadership role in the Evangelical Revival. In 1739, at the invitation of George Whitefield, another prominent evangelist, he began to preach in the open air. For a number of years, he was joined in this activity by his brother Charles. Their “field preaching” became characteristic of Methodism, drawing large crowds. Those who responded to their message joined societies patterned on the religious societies of the Church of England dating back to the late 1600’s.
Wesley’s genius lay in organizing the Methodist societies into a movement. In 1743, he drew up a set of General Rules, which required members to attend weekly “class meetings.” At the meetings, each member was asked to give an account of his or her discipleship according to well-defined guidelines. Wesley gave considerable responsibility to the leaders of these classes, who became a crucial link in the authority he exercised over the movement. Wesley also adopted lay (unordained) preachers as his assistants and helpers, and in 1744 he started an annual conference to consult on matters of doctrine and practice. The minutes of these conferences, along with Wesley’s Letters and detailed Journal, are perhaps the fullest record of any religious movement.
Wesley’s evangelical message created controversy. It was opposed by many Anglican clergy as religiously fanatical and politically disruptive. The Calvinist wing of the Evangelical Revival criticized it as being too universal and putting too much emphasis on good works.
Formation of the Methodist Church.
Wesley wanted Methodism to remain a reforming movement within the Church of England, and resisted separation from the church throughout his life. The issue was forced, however, by the need to provide for those who belonged to Methodist societies in the newly founded United States. In 1784, Wesley ordained Methodist preachers for North America, a step that led to the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and then of the Methodist Church worldwide. He died on March 2, 1791.
See also Hymn (Words and music) ; Methodists ; Wesley, Charles ; Whitefield, George .
