John Wesley

John Wesley was an English clergyman, theologian, and preacher who played a central role in a revival inside the Church of England called Methodism. The groups he started eventually grew into the main form of the independent Methodist movement. He studied at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford, became a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford in 1726, and was made an Anglican priest two years later. 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, Wesley came back to London and joined a religious society run by Moravian Christians. On 24 May 1738, he had what is known as his evangelical conversion. He then left the Moravians and started his own ministry. A major step was traveling widely and preaching outdoors, promoting Arminian beliefs. Moving across Great Britain and Ireland, he created and organized small Christian groups that emphasized personal accountability, discipleship, and religious teaching. He appointed traveling, unordained evangelists—both men and women—to look after these groups. Under his leadership, Methodists became active in social issues like ending slavery and supporting women preachers.

Though not a systematic theologian, Wesley argued against Calvinism and promoted Christian perfection, which he said was why God "raised up" Methodists. His evangelicalism, rooted in his view of sacramental theology, held that means of grace helped in a believer's sanctification, but he taught that faith transformed a believer into the likeness of Christ. He believed Christians could reach a state where love of God ruled their hearts, giving them both outward and inward holiness. His teachings, called Wesleyan theology, still guide Methodist churches. Early on, Wesley was banned from preaching in many parish churches, and Methodists faced persecution. Later, he became widely respected and was called "the best-loved man in England" by the end of his life.

Wesley was born in Epworth, 23 miles north-west of Lincoln, the 15th child of Samuel 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 parents 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, with many eminent clergymen and scholars. His paternal grandfather, John Westley (1636–1678), was a 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 gentle nature 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 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 midday meals and evening prayers. Children could not eat between meals, and each had a weekly private interview with their mother for spiritual instruction. In 1714, at age 11, Wesley was sent to Charterhouse School in London, where he lived a studious, methodical, and initially religious life shaped by his home training. A rectory fire on 9 February 1709, when he was five, left a lasting impression. After 11:00 pm, the roof caught fire. Sparks on children’s beds and cries of “fire” woke the family. All children escaped except John, stranded upstairs. With stairs burning and the roof collapsing, a parishioner standing on another man’s shoulders lifted him out a window. This rescue became part of Wesley’s legend, marking his special destiny. He was also influenced by reports of the Epworth Rectory haunting between 1716 and 1717, where the family heard noises and saw apparitions they blamed on 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.