John Wesley, the younger brother of the poet Charles and an extraordinary evangelist, preached, wrote and financed the message of the gospel of Christ. He also exposed its spiritual and social ramifications for city and country workers, merchants, and soldiers and sailors in rugged 18th-century England. The mere assent that Christ was the divine Savior in a ritualistic way was never enough to confirm a convert’s faith in John. He insisted that his followers consciously commit to Christ and then methodically practice what Jesus and his older half brother, James, and later Wesley himself considered important. John did this so successfully that many historians believe that England avoided the gruesome bloodbath of the French Revolution because Wesleyan spiritual revival reshaped island society without resorting to violence. During his ministry, Wesley taught that any religion that does not offer equal love and support to all, regardless of their possessions, prestige, and power, or lack thereof, is not a Christian faith at all. This so offended some narcissistic lords in Parliament that they removed John from his Anglican pulpit, forcing him to preach in the streets and fields, which of course was where all those dirty people were. The lords and bishops could not have planned for John’s success better if they had spent six months working out the details, but then God often uses the folly of humans for great and wonderful purposes! John did not allow his converts to mature randomly as Christians. Developed procedures that called methods to follow by internalizing the means of grace. (This is why his followers were sarcastically called Methodists!) He trained pastors, evangelists, exhorters, and gospel class leaders who met with people at least once a week between services. They also held revival sessions and field meetings with enthusiastic preaching, exhorting, and singing as the church had rarely heard since the early days of Christianity. Roberta remembers when the phrase ‘singing like Methodists’ and ‘shouting Methodists’ were terms of respect. Jard, as a young man, loved country gatherings deep in the great forests, away from the hustle and bustle of life and work. It was an honor to be chosen to witness during the Methodist class meetings. These activities were so popular that a person could not even participate in the evening sessions or attend the camp meeting without an admission ticket. Roberta’s grandfather, Will Howard, was the last leader of the Methodist class in Denver before the denomination became too sophisticated for such evangelical training, as he dabbled in German high criticism for too many decades.

John’s reputation (and the political influence of his exploding congregations) spread through England like wildfire until he was able to spend an afternoon in the foggy city of London, soliciting money from wealthy merchants, raising two to three thousand pounds for charity. . Then he would give it all away to care for the orphans before he got home. In fact, John watched over the poor and needy, both spiritually and physically, and they worshiped the somewhat austere man. He raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in silver during his lifetime, but being mature in mind and spirit, he understood that he could not take anything further from the grave. Therefore, he donated it to the poor to the great chagrin of King George III’s tax collectors, who spent an unsuccessful week raiding his wife’s hereditary home and stable for John’s treasure, money that had long before been spent. for those common people whom the aristocracy despised as ignorant. and rude. But while the British elite did not understand men like John and Charles, the emerging world middle class embraced them and their message of redemption, love and social service in one of the greatest Christian awakenings of all time.

John lived to a very old age and died practically penniless. Some said it was a shame, all the tired old man left behind was a pair of patched woolen suits, a battered and stained Bible, a spasming old mare, and – and – the worldwide Methodist Church. Methodism eventually numbered some eighteen million members of the middle class from London to Singapore and Sydney, from Cape Town to Chicago, Hong Kong and San Francisco, and almost every point in between. All because the somewhat silly teenager matured spiritually enough to emerge from the shadows of a narcissistic society and a church that had fallen into the hands of the ruthless aristocracy of the Empire who used and mistreated the clergy and faithful.

The flood of devoted, methodical believers who worked systematically to improve their faith, hope and love soon caused England to free her slaves, opening free classes on Sunday afternoons to teach reading, writing, mathematics and religion to children of all classes. helping the poor escape poverty by teaching them trades and creating a constitutional monarchy with a strong House of Commons elected by the people to counter the hereditary and highly elitist House of Lords.

The Wesleyan belief that spiritual worship and social responsibilities go together, as well as the right and left hand of a violinist, had a great impact on the English-speaking world. For example, in all of our civilization, there was hardly a city without several Methodist churches, a Methodist hospital, free orphanages, a Wesleyan university, and charities of various kinds.

It is not too regrettable a legacy for a field preacher from a poor country who could not save a shilling, but who saved a nation from a bloody revolution with the message of faith and grace from his Lord, as he traversed cold and misty England. , covering more than twenty thousand. miles on horseback during his deeply satisfying ministry of sixty years.

And two hundred years later, when Haim Ginott (a clinical psychologist and child therapist) named someone whom he felt had become a self-actual leader, he named John Wesley as a person who had given his best to the people among whom he lived, loved and belonged.

Unfortunately, the church has not always been as spiritual as it was under the leadership of devoted leaders like John and Charles Wesley, along with others like Luther, Whitfield, Arminius, Finny, Moody, Graham, King, and more, each with a fire. . for God and the people in her womb! Of course, it doesn’t take long for narcissistic and abusive users to sniff out opportunities for themselves by moving around and controlling something so loosely organized and as generous with their love, time, and money as the church. The story is told, probably apocryphal, that a Renaissance pope was showing one of the powerful European monarchs through his treasures under the Vatican that were full of treasures of silver, gold and precious jewels. He smiled proudly and bragged;

We can no longer say with Jesus: silver and gold we don’t have. At which, the crisp old Emperor grunted and bitterly replied;

Nor can you say to lame men and women: “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, we command you to get up, take up your bed and walk!”