John Wesley
Charles Wesley
John and Charles
Wesley are counted to be founders of the Methodist church. Their father was a presbyter in the Church of
England and they grew up with a Christian education. In October of 1735 they travelled to Georgia,
and came into contact with the
Moravians, and were inspired by the Moravian’s faith in God during a
storm. Upon arriving in Georgia,
the brother had hoped to be witnessing to the Amerindians, but were foiled in
their attempts. In 1838, John had a
conversion experience at a Moravian
Church in Aldersgate, and
went to study at Herrenhut, the center of the Moravian movement. John Wesley under George Whitfields’s
influence began his open air preaching in 1739.
He was unhappy about this as he wished no break with the Church of
England, but the poor were not being reached and not going to church, and many
of the clergy of the church of England closed their doors to him. As sinner
were being saved, John began appointing lay preachers and began setting up
rules for chapels and itinerant circuit preachers. Up until 1746, he would not baptize nor serve
Holy Communion without approval of the Bishop.
In 1748 his ideas on the Episcopate started changing, an by 1784 was
ordaining presbyters and overseers for the church in the US, Scotland
and England,
though opposed by his brother Charles in this.
After many years of preaching, he died March 2, 1791.
It was Charles that
originally founded the Oxford Methodist group at Oxford, where his brother became leader. We
note in passing, that part of the Method of the group was receiving the Holy
Communion weekly and studying the Bible.
Charles, while know mostly for his hymns (he wrote more than six
thousand, was also a powerful preacher, and refused to break with the church of
England.
The influence of John
and Charles is tremendous. We still have
many of Charles’s hymns and John’s sermons.
Many believe that the Methodist revival helped change English society
and helped prevent revolution. It is
certain that their message not only transformed the lives of the poor, who were
often forgotten by the Church of England, but also the rich, and led in various
movements in which the rich began lending aid to the poor, including the
construction of schools and orphanages.
The Methodist,
Wesleyan, and many Pentecostal and Holiness churches trace their spiritual
roots to Johns and Charles Wesley and the teaching of sanctification, somewhat
similar to the Orthodox idea of theosis.
Isaiah 49:5-6
Romans 12:11-17
Luke 9:2-6
Collect:
Dear Lord, you gave John and Charles Wesley zeal and gifts of preaching
and songwriting. Raise up today
preachers who truly are worried for the lost, the poor and the helpless, that
we once again would be a community of true faithful proclaiming your word to
those whom the world despises. This we
ask through Yeshuah haMoshiach, who livers and reigns with you and the Ruach
haKodesh, one God in glory everlasting.
Amen. (white)
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