Wesley, John

Wesley, John (1703–91). Founder of methodism. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Wesley was ordained in the Church of England. At Oxford in 1729 he gathered round him a group of devout Christians who were nicknamed methodists because they sought to follow strictly the method of study and practice laid down in the statutes of the church. After a short-lived missionary journey to Georgia, during which he was much influenced by some Moravian brethren, Wesley experienced a sudden conversion (1738). He felt that after much searching he had ‘found spiritual rest’ and that his mission was to evangelize England. For over 50 years Wesley travelled all over Britain on horseback, averaging 5,000 miles annually, preaching thousands of sermons, often three times a day. Finding the churches closed to him, he began field-preaching and organized local religious societies and a body of lay preachers, which became virtually a church within the church. When the movement spread to America, Wesley was led to ordain a superintendent or bishop. Wesley wished methodism to remain within the Church of England, but this was not possible, given official Anglican hostility and the desire of conference (the supreme body of methodism) for independence.

John F. C. Harrison