John Wesley

Life and work

Wesley was raised in a devout Anglican rectory family in Epworth, one of nineteen children of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was ordained a priest after studies at Oxford, where he and his brother Charles led a small group derisively nicknamed the "Holy Club" or "Methodists" for its disciplined, methodical approach to prayer and charitable work.

A difficult missionary stint in the American colony of Georgia (1735–1737) left Wesley discouraged about his own faith, but on May 24, 1738, at a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London, he experienced a profound assurance of salvation while listening to a reading of Luther's preface to Romans, famously describing his heart as "strangely warmed."

Barred from many Anglican pulpits due to his enthusiasm, Wesley followed the example of his friend George Whitefield in taking to open-air preaching, traveling an estimated quarter-million miles on horseback over five decades and preaching tens of thousands of sermons across Britain, organizing converts into small accountability groups called "societies" and "classes" that became the backbone of the Methodist movement.

Though he intended Methodism to remain a renewal movement within the Church of England, tensions over sacraments (especially in America, cut off from Anglican clergy after the Revolution) led Wesley in 1784 to ordain ministers himself for America, a step that effectively launched Methodism as an independent denomination after his death.

Wesley was also a vigorous social reformer, opposing slavery (his last letter, written days before his death, encouraged William Wilberforce in his abolitionist campaign), promoting prison reform, and providing medical care and education for the poor.

In their own words

"I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation."Journal, May 24, 1738

"The world is my parish."attributed

Further reading

• Encyclopedia Britannica: John Wesley
• CCEL: The Journal of John Wesley