John Wesley

John Wesley was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who helped lead a revival within the Church of England that became known as Methodism. The groups he started eventually grew into the main form of the independent Methodist movement. He was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford, becoming a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1726. Two years later, he was ordained as an Anglican priest.

While at Oxford, he ran the "Holy Club," a group focused on studying and living a devout Christian life. After a failed two-year ministry in Savannah, Georgia, he returned to London and joined a religious society of Moravian Christians. On 24 May 1738, he had what is called his evangelical conversion. He then left the Moravians to begin his own ministry.

A major step in his work was traveling widely and preaching outdoors, adopting Arminian doctrines. He moved across Great Britain and Ireland, forming small Christian groups that emphasized personal accountability, discipleship, and religious teaching. He appointed itinerant, unordained evangelists—both men and women—to look after these groups.

Under his leadership, Methodists became active in social issues like abolishing slavery and supporting women preachers. Though not a systematic theologian, Wesley argued against Calvinism and promoted the idea of Christian perfection. He said this was why God "raised up" Methodists. His evangelicalism, rooted in his view of sacramental theology, held that means of grace helped in the sanctification of believers.

But he taught that faith alone transformed a believer into the likeness of Christ. He believed Christians could, in this life, reach a state where the love of God ruled their hearts, giving them both outward and inward holiness. His teachings, called Wesleyan theology, still shape Methodist doctrine. Early in his ministry, he was barred from many parish churches, and Methodists faced persecution.

Early life

Later, he became widely respected, and by his death, he was called "the best-loved man in England." Wesley was born in Epworth, 23 miles north-west of Lincoln, the 15th child of Samuel Wesley and Susanna Wesley. Samuel, a University of Oxford graduate and poet, became rector of Epworth in 1696. He married Susanna, the 25th child of dissenting minister Samuel Annesley, in 1689.

She had 19 children, nine of whom survived infancy. Both Samuel and Susanna had joined the Church of England as young adults. Wesley’s ancestry goes back to 14th-century England, and the family was highly respected in southern England. Almost every generation produced an eminent clergyman and scholar.

His paternal grandfather, John Westley (1636–1678), was an English dissenting minister ordained in 1658 at Whitchurch, Shropshire. After the Commonwealth fell and the monarchy and episcopal church government were restored, Westley was seen as one of Cromwell’s Puritans. He was arrested by state church officers and imprisoned at Blandford, but his amiable character led to a commuted sentence, allowing him to return to his parish. Like many families then, Wesley’s parents taught their children at home.

Each child, including the girls, learned to read at age five. They were expected to master Latin and Greek and memorize large parts of the New Testament. Susanna examined each child before the midday meal and evening prayers. Children could not eat between meals, and each had a weekly private meeting with their mother for spiritual instruction.

In 1714, at age 11, Wesley was sent to Charterhouse School in London, where he lived the studious, methodical, and religious life he had learned at home. A rectory fire on 9 February 1709, when Wesley was five, left a deep impression. Around 11:00 pm, the roof caught fire. Sparks fell on the children’s beds, and cries of “fire” woke the family.

They got all the children out except John, who was stranded on an upper floor. With stairs burning and the roof about to collapse, a parishioner standing on another man’s shoulders lifted him out a window. This rescue became part of the Wesley legend, pointing to his special destiny.

Education

Wesley was also influenced by the reported haunting of Epworth Rectory between 1716 and 1717. The family often heard noises and sometimes saw apparitions they believed were caused by a ghost called “Old Jeffery.” In June 1720, Wesley entered Christ Church, Oxford. After graduating in 1724, he stayed to study for his master’s degree. He was ordained a deacon on 19 September 1725, a necessary step toward becoming a priest.