Day 1 JOHN WESLEY & GEORGE WHITFIELD

JOHN WESLEY

John Wesley (1703-1791) was one of 19 children born to Samuel and Susana Wesley. His father was an Anglican priest, but his mother was the spiritual foundation of the family.

Wesley attended Oxford and joined a society founded by his brother, Charles, called the “Holy Club,” where members took vows to live holy lives, pray daily, take communion weekly, visit prisons, and spend three hours a day studying the Bible.

Wesley sailed to America to pastor a church in Savannah, Georgia. On his way to America in 1735, he met some German Moravians headed to preach to American Indians. Their spiritual dialogue left Wesley spiritually confused. He told them he had trusted in Christ, but later reflected, “I fear they were vain words.”2

Wesley’s experience in America was personally and professionally disappointing. The woman he courted married another man, and the congregants in Savannah rebelled against the disciplines of the “Holy Club.” He returned to England a bit disillusioned.

Wesley continued in an internal spiritual battle. Then, on May 24, 1783, he had an experience that changed his life. Here’s how he described it in his journal:

In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle of the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.3 

Wesley began preaching throughout England. His followers met in private homes called “societies.” These societies were organized and followed disciplines and methods. Critics called his followers “methodists,” which later became a church denomination. When Wesley died, there were 294 preachers, 71,668 British members, and 19 missionaries. In America, there were 198 preachers and 43,265 members. Today there are 80 million Methodists in 138 countries.

One of Wesley’s most famous sayings was: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.”

2 Christian History Magazine, 131 Christians Everyone Should Know, (Holman Reference, 2000), 181.

3 Ibid., 182.