Church History · 1738

John Wesley and the Methodists

On May 24, 1738, John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed at a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. His field preaching, Charles Wesley's hymns and tightly organized small groups grew into the Methodist church, formally organized in America in 1784.

Read it in the Bible: Romans 8:16 Mark 12:34 Romans 3:21-28 Zechariah 3:2

On the evening of May 24, 1738, an Anglican priest named John Wesley went, unwillingly, to a small Christian meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. Someone was reading Martin Luther's preface to the book of Romans. Wesley later wrote that he felt his heart strangely warmed and felt he did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation. That night became the spark of the Methodist movement. Wesley spent the next 50 years preaching across Britain, his brother Charles wrote thousands of hymns, and in 1784 Methodists in America formed the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Who Was John Wesley?

John Wesley was born in 1703 in Epworth, England, the fifteenth child of an Anglican rector, Samuel Wesley, and his remarkable wife, Susanna. When John was five, the rectory caught fire and he was rescued from an upstairs window just before the roof fell in. His mother believed God had saved him for a purpose. He later called himself a brand plucked from the burning, from Zechariah 3:2.

At Oxford University, John and Charles joined a group of serious young Christians who prayed, fasted, studied the Bible and visited prisoners on a strict schedule. Other students mocked them as the Holy Club and called them Methodists, because they were so methodical. The nickname stuck. George Whitefield was also a member.

What Happened in Georgia?

In 1735 the Wesley brothers sailed to the new colony of Georgia as missionaries. On the voyage a terrible storm hit. The English passengers screamed in terror, but a group of German Moravians calmly sang hymns. Wesley asked one of them afterward if he had been afraid. The man said no, and that their women and children were not afraid to die either. Wesley realized he did not have that kind of peace.

The Georgia mission went badly, and Wesley returned to England in 1738 feeling like a failure. He wrote that he went to America to convert the Indians, but who would convert him? Back in London, a young Moravian named Peter Böhler told him to preach faith until he had it, and then because he had it, he would preach faith.

What Happened at Aldersgate?

On May 24, 1738, around a quarter before nine in the evening, Wesley sat listening to Luther's words about how God changes the heart through faith in Christ. This is how he described it in his journal:

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.

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Romans 8:16

Charles had experienced a similar conversion just three days earlier. Methodists still remember May 24 as Aldersgate Day. There is something lovely in the fact that a German monk's words, written two centuries before, helped light the fire of an English revival.

Why Did Wesley Preach in Fields?

Many Anglican churches did not want Wesley's enthusiastic preaching, so pulpits closed to him. George Whitefield had begun preaching outdoors to coal miners near Bristol, and he invited Wesley to join him. Wesley, a very proper Oxford man, was horrified at first. He said he had thought saving souls was almost a sin if it was not done in a church. But on April 2, 1739, he preached in a field near Bristol to about 3,000 people.

From then on he rode across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, often preaching several times a day, at dawn for workers before their shifts. He is estimated to have ridden about 250,000 miles on horseback and preached around 40,000 sermons. He said, I look upon all the world as my parish.

What Were Charles Wesley's Hymns?

Charles Wesley wrote more than 6,000 hymns. Many are still sung in churches of every kind, including:

And Can It Be That I Should Gain
O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

The Methodists said they taught theology by singing it. Ordinary people who could not read a theology book learned deep truths about grace through Charles' hymns.

How Did Methodism Become a Church?

Wesley never meant to start a new denomination. He stayed an Anglican priest until he died and urged his people to attend their parish churches. But he organized converts into societies, small weekly class meetings and bands where people confessed sins, prayed and held each other accountable. He held the first conference of his preachers in 1744.

After the American Revolution, the Church of England in America collapsed, and American Methodists had no one to give them communion. In 1784 Wesley ordained Thomas Coke as superintendent and sent him to America. At the Christmas Conference in Baltimore in December 1784, American preachers formed the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Francis Asbury was made a superintendent alongside Coke. Asbury rode circuits on the frontier for decades, and Methodism became the largest Protestant church in America by the mid 1800s.

What Do Methodists Believe?

Wesley held to Arminian theology. He taught that God's grace goes before every person, so anyone can respond to the gospel. He taught that believers can have assurance that they are saved, and that God wants to make His people holy in love, which he called Christian perfection. The Holiness movement and later the Pentecostal movement grew out of these Methodist roots. Today there are tens of millions of Methodists and Wesleyans around the world.

Why It Matters for You Today

Wesley was a priest, a scholar and a hard worker before Aldersgate, but he did not have peace. He found it the same way anyone can, by trusting Christ alone. He died in 1791, and among his last words were reportedly these: The best of all is, God is with us. That is still the best of all.

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Questions People Ask

What happened at Aldersgate?

On May 24, 1738, John Wesley attended a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London where Luther's preface to Romans was read. He wrote that he felt his heart strangely warmed and trusted Christ alone for salvation. Methodists see it as the start of their movement.

Who founded the Methodist church?

John Wesley founded the Methodist movement with his brother Charles in England in the 1700s. The Methodist Episcopal Church in America was formally organized at the Christmas Conference in Baltimore in December 1784.

Why are they called Methodists?

The name began as a joke at Oxford University, where students mocked the Wesley brothers' Holy Club for being so methodical in prayer, study and service. The Methodists eventually adopted the name for themselves.

How many hymns did Charles Wesley write?

Charles Wesley wrote more than 6,000 hymns, including And Can It Be, O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

Sources

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