John Wesley (1703–1791), along with his brother Charles Wesley, is largely credited as the founder of the Methodist Church. However, they always considered themselves as being members of the Church of England. John was a graduate of Oxford. Being a very devout man, he felt people were not as devoted to the Lord as they should be.
He and his brother founded societies or small groups that would meet together on a regular basis, first at Oxford, to develop and cultivate their spiritual lives. One of his greatest achievements was the enlistment of young men to become itinerant, unordained preachers to travel widely to evangelise and care for people in their societies.
These were looked upon as “assistants” and did open-air preaching. They preached wherever they could find a crowd who would listen to them. Under Wesley’s direction, Methodists became leaders in many of the social issues of their day, such as prison reform and the moral right to freedom from slavery.
On October 14, 1735, Wesley and his brother Charles sailed from Kent, England, to Savannah, Georgia, where Governor Oglethorpe wanted Wesley to be the minister of a newly formed parish. On the voyage to the colony, Wesley came into contact with Moravian settlers. He was impressed by their deep faith and spirituality.
At one point in the voyage, a storm came up and broke the mast of the ship. While the English panicked, the Moravians calmly sang hymns and prayed. This experience caused Wesley to believe that the Moravians possessed an inner spiritual strength which he lacked. This would greatly influence Wesley’s theology.
When they reached Savannah on February 8, 1736, Wesley also saw an opportunity to spread Christianity to the Native American Indians in the colony. However, he and his brother encountered many problems as they attempted to evangelise people. Furthermore, John found disaster in his relations with Sophia Hopkey, a woman who had journeyed across the Atlantic on the same ship as Wesley.
Wesley and Hopkey became romantically involved, but Wesley abruptly broke off the relationship on the advice of a Moravian minister in whom he confided. Hopkey contended that Wesley had promised to marry her and therefore had gone back on his word in breaking off the relationship.
Wesley’s problems came to a head when he refused to offer Hopkey communion. She and her new husband, William Williamson, filed suit against Wesley. Wesley stood trial and faced the accusations made by Hopkey.
The proceedings ended in a mistrial, but Wesley’s reputation had been tarnished too much; he made it known that he intended to return to England. Williamson again tried to raise charges against Wesley to prevent him from leaving the colony, but he managed to escape back to England.
He was left exhausted by the whole experience. Returning to England, he was depressed and turned to the Moravians. Both he and Charles received counsel from a young Moravian missionary, Peter Boehler.
On the night of May 24, 1738, at a Moravian meeting, he said, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.” This “feeling” was perceived as God giving Wesley assurance that he was saved, as the Moravians taught. This would become an important piece of his theology.
He believed that those who were pardoned and accepted by God through faith would not be left without an assurance of their right standing before God. It was based on Romans 8:16, “For the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”
He taught that in the act of assurance, there are two participants: God’s Spirit and man’s spirit. God’s Spirit gives a subjective experience or feeling to the one who wants assurance that he is a child of God.
This inward subjective experience may bring feelings of joy or a sense of forgiveness or confidence in a relationship with God or it may not. It is a gift from God which He gives as he chooses.
Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” Scripture presents truth. If I do what it commands me to do in order to be a Christian, it (the Scriptures were produced by the Holy Spirit) assures me that I am a child of God. No subjective experience is necessary.
Wesley defined the witness of the Spirit as: an inward impression on the soul where the Spirit of God directly testified to our spirit that we are the children of God. However, on the other hand, the Spirit may not do this. Wesley believed that assurance of salvation was a privilege of every believer, but seemingly, he backs off from this position by saying not every believer may receive this “direct” assurance.
Obviously, then, a subjective assurance of salvation is not necessary salvation. He did say that usually joy attends a person at the beginning of their salvation, especially to those who have mourned deeply, but it (the Spirit) “sometimes giveth, sometimes withholds (subjective experiences) according to the counsels of His own will.”
Wesley never stopped preaching the importance of faith for salvation, but the witness of God’s Spirit that one was, indeed, a child of God was most comforting and gives us inner strength. Wesley allied himself with the Moravian society early in his preaching.
In 1738, he went to Herrnhut, the Moravian headquarters in Germany, to study. The Moravians had a great impact on his teachings. However, later in 1739, Wesley broke with the Moravians. He still believed the Anglican Church (Church of England) had much to offer in its practices.
Finally, he decided to form his own followers into a separate society. He wrote, “Without any previous plan, the Methodist Society began in England.” At first, He was unhappy about the idea of “open air” or “field preaching” as some were doing.
Earlier in his life, he would have thought that such a method of reaching the lost was almost a sin, but He came to recognise that open-air services were successful in reaching men and women who would otherwise never enter most of the church buildings.
From then on, he took the opportunities to preach wherever an assembly could be brought together. He even used his Father’s tombstone at Epworth as a pulpit more than once. Wesley continued to preach for fifty years, entering churches when he was invited.
He preached in fields, in halls, cottages, and chapels, when a local Anglican church would not receive him. Wesley and his followers continued to work diligently, especially among the neglected and needy.
He felt that the Anglican Church failed to call sinners to repentance, that many of the clergymen were corrupt, and that people were perishing in their sins. He believed he was commissioned to bring about a revival in the church.
Riding on horseback, he preached two or three times each day. It is estimated that He rode two hundred and fifty thousand miles, gave away thirty thousand English pounds (money), and preached forty thousand sermons. He died a poor man. The Sunday school movement, which supposedly has its roots in Robert Raikes, a publisher, was adopted by Wesley and became a part of the Methodist Church.
Wesley wrote, “I verily think these Sunday Schools are one of the noblest specimens of charity which have been set on foot in England since William the Conqueror. The value of these schools is that hundreds of poor children with no access to any school or private education were learning to read and study the Bible”.
From 1739 onward, Wesley and the Methodists were persecuted by English clergymen and magistrates because they preached without being ordained or licensed by the Anglican Church. Wesley died on March 2, 1791, at the age of eighty-seven. He left behind one hundred and thirty-five thousand members and five hundred and forty-one itinerant preachers and the Methodist Church.
His teachings have served as the basis for the holiness and Pentecostal movements, which are very predominant today. Wesley’s “religious experience” still attracts many today. His brother, Charles, is remembered for the over three thousand hymns he wrote and composed, many of which are still widely used today in church hymnals.