Be Inspired

John Wesley became perhaps the greatest Christian leader of his generation and one of the most remarkable Christian witnesses this country has ever seen. He pursued personal holiness diligently, preached to and saw converted thousands of people and was a key part of a remarkable revival that swept Britain and America.

Wesley was one of 19 children and went to Oxford to study at 17. He was ordained a deacon in the Church of England in 1725 and a priest in 1728. In 1729 Wesley joined a group of Christians who met regularly to pray, worship, read the Bible and take communion. The group became known as the Holy Club, the Bible Moths and later the Methodists.

Few at this time took their faith as seriously as Wesley and he spent much time visiting the poor and learning to love his neighbour. He discovered he could live on £28 a year and did so for the rest of his life. Wesley's great aim at this stage was to  secure his own salvation through hard work.

In 1735 Wesley went to work in Georgia as a priest, but had little success. On his way to America during a violent storm he realised that he didn't trust God for his life and was challenged by a group of Moravian Christians who demonstrated a simple trust in God and ability to praise him even when death looked certain and imminent.

Wesley said that he went to Georgia to convert others but returned feeling that he was not truly converted. He had discovered that he had never encountered Jesus personally, but only knew him through a series of intellectual and academic beliefs. It became Wesley's ambition to discover Jesus personally.

On 24th May 1738 Wesley went to a meeting in London and in his diary that day said that 'I felt my heart strangely warmed'. This was Wesley's first real encounter with Jesus and it changed him and his ministry dramatically. Now he knew in his heart that Jesus did really love him!

Wesley knew now that he could not earn his salvation, but must trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Wesley soon began preaching in the open air and some say he preached to as many as 20,000 people at a time. His preaching was now filled with great power and many people gave their lives to God. Some fell down under the power of the Holy Spirit and lay under the conviction of sin. Some would weep, some would laugh and others would groan as the Holy Spirit touched them.

Wesley still fasted twice a week, read and studied the Bible every day and prayed continually. He preached 40,000 sermons and travelled on horseback some 250,000 miles. He was a fierce opponent of slavery and when he died at the age of 88 was still serving the Lord faithfully.