One of the main denominations that joined together to
form the United Church of Canada was the Methodist Church, Canada. As that happened back I 1925 I would suspect
that most of us have no idea what a Methodist or Methodism is. So…
Methodism began back in the 1700’s led by the highly
esteemed theologian and churchman John Wesley. Wesley was an Anglican priest who was very
much committed to living a holy life. So
much so that he and his brother, the great hymn writer Charles Wesley, when
they were in the university at Oxford founded what was derogatively called the
“Holy Club”. English society in their
day was nominally religious. It was a
group of young men who met three hours a day for prayer and studying the
Bible. They fasted twice a week and had
communion weekly. They were very
dedicated to their method of fellowship, study, and lifestyle. It looked much like what our passage from
Acts described. Someone called them
“Methodists” and Wesley adopted that term for his renewal ministry that would
come a few years down the road.
In 1735, John and Charles were invited by the
Governor of the Colony of Georgia to come to Savannah to minister to the colonists
and be missionaries to Native Americans.
Wesley hoped to do more of the later but found himself tied down to the
institutional church needs of the colonists.
On the boat over they met some Moravians. The Moravians were Pietists, which means they
placed great emphasis like Wesley on personal devotion. But unlike Wesley, the Moravians spoke a
great deal about personal experience of Christ. Wesley remarked how he greatly
admired their deeply personal faith and noted they had an inner strength that
he felt he lacked. While at sea they met
a storm and the ship’s mast broke. The
Wesley’s feared for their lives but the Moravians stayed assured they would be
okay and prayed and sang a lot.
Wesley was only in Georgia for about two years. While in Georgia, Wesley met an evangelist
named George Whitefield. Whitefield was
known for preaching out in the open something Wesley was a bit indignant
towards. Wesley set up many smalls
groups among the colonists that resembled the Holy Club of his university days
and church attendance grew because of it.
He also fell in love, but the person of interest married another
man. Predictably, Wesley felt her faith
commitment had declined after she married so he barred her from communion. That proved to be a scandal so he returned to
England.
Back in England, Wesley sharply felt the error of his
ways and was greatly ashamed and arguably depressed. He began to worship with a Moravian
fellowship. At one of their meetings on
May 24, 1738 in a place on Aldersgate Street, London he had an experience. Wesley writes: “About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
Wesley soon returned to the preaching ministry and he began to organize small groups like his “Holy Club” that would meet in homes and wherever else they could. He also began to preach very evangelistically calling for personal conversion. Wesley would preach anywhere he was invited.
His friend George Whitefield came to London and invited Wesley to preach at one of his outdoor rallies. Wesley was indignant with outdoor preaching. He felt preaching must happen if not in a church sanctuary, then at least indoors. Yet for some reason, he took Whitefield up on his offer and found it had tremendous effect. From there he became an itinerant preacher, traveling around the countryside setting up small groups of ‘Methodists” twelve to a group everywhere he went. Through Wesley our Lord started a great renewal movement in the Church of England that spread all over England and the British colonies. Unfortunately, Methodism was often harassed and taught against by the Church of England.
Wesley soon returned to the preaching ministry and he began to organize small groups like his “Holy Club” that would meet in homes and wherever else they could. He also began to preach very evangelistically calling for personal conversion. Wesley would preach anywhere he was invited.
His friend George Whitefield came to London and invited Wesley to preach at one of his outdoor rallies. Wesley was indignant with outdoor preaching. He felt preaching must happen if not in a church sanctuary, then at least indoors. Yet for some reason, he took Whitefield up on his offer and found it had tremendous effect. From there he became an itinerant preacher, traveling around the countryside setting up small groups of ‘Methodists” twelve to a group everywhere he went. Through Wesley our Lord started a great renewal movement in the Church of England that spread all over England and the British colonies. Unfortunately, Methodism was often harassed and taught against by the Church of England.
I find it hard not to think of Wesley when I read of
those two disciples who encountered Jesus risen from the dead while on the Road
to Emmaus. They said their hearts were
burning within them when Jesus explained the Scriptures to them. Wesley reflects similarly that he felt his
heart strangely warmed when realizing in that Moravian meeting that Jesus was
with him and his prior abuse of his office in Georgia was forgiven.
That “burning heart” experience was Wesley’s personal
Pentecost. The day he felt the working
of the Holy Spirit. The day he realized that
the Christian faith was more than beliefs one held practicing strict personal
devotion under eternal threat. He
realized the Father’s great love for him, personal love for him, expressed in
Christ who was with him by the presence of the Holy Spirit. When he died on March 2, 1791, he died
repeating, “The best of all is, God is with us.”
After this burning heart experience, one could say
Wesley was on fire. His heart burned
with a new passion, a passion to strive to be pleasing to the God who loved him
so much. He stepped outside the confines
of the ways of the Church of England and did things that were very outside the
box, things that he himself was not comfortable with at first, like preaching
in the open, itinerant preaching, setting up small groups, ordaining leaders
when the Anglican bishops wouldn’t.
Wesley’s preaching was powerful. He preached personal commitment to Christ,
personal transformation in Christ, and accountability in Christian fellowship
groups. He taught committed discipleship
to a church and society that was content with just giving God a nod. The Christian faith is more than just
believing the right beliefs and doing good.
It is founded on knowing Christ and his personal concern for us each and
results in living a life devoted to becoming more and more like him.
I think what Wesley did in his day is a good model for
the renewal that needs to happen in our denomination: Taking things outside the church walls and
establishing small groups. Our goal needs to be not the continuation of the
church as we know it, but rather that people come to have a personal faith
rooted in Jesus Christ that we find through the Holy Spirit who “strangely
warms” our hearts” and maybe, like for Wesley in Georgia, that will have a
positive effect on the pews.
Why do I think this?
Well, I’ve had my heart “strangely warmed” too. Many years ago, when I
was nineteen and troubled, at the encouragement of a girlfriend I stepped
outside the box of my traditional Presbyterian roots and went with her to a
Nazarene congregation that met in an elementary school cafeteria. The Nazarenes are an offshoot of the
Methodists. As soon as I stepped through
those cafeteria doors I felt my heart “strangely warmed”. There was a sweet, sweet Spirit in that
place. I didn’t get struck with an
assurance of my own salvation. That’s
not what I needed. I needed to know God
was real and loved me and, people, I can tell you without a doubt God is and
God does.
Knowing that and feeling that didn’t solve all my
problems, but it got me going in the right direction. The direction the Spirit led me in was into the
small groups of Christian friends that I had in university where I was
surrounded by people who loved and supported me and encouraged me as I prepared
for the ministry. I eventually returned to
the Presbyterian way. Believe it or not
Jesus is among us too, but we’re not so methodical about it.
Using myself as an example, if our churches want
people 55 and younger to know Christ then trying to find ways to make Sunday
morning more appealing than hockey and soccer or a quiet morning won’t work. People my age and younger just don’t normally do
organizations and institutions. If we’re
here, we’re the anomaly with a huge onus of reaching out to folks our age. People my age and younger aren’t to keen on
being called sinners and the messed up state of the world isn’t so much our
fault. What we do need to know is that
God is real and that he loves us. We
need genuine friendships and we want to make a difference.
We need our hearts to burn within us, to be
“strangely warmed”. We need to meet
Jesus. Coming to church on Sunday
morning for public worship is important.
But, small prayer groups of fellowship and study like Wesley got going
are where I really got to meet Jesus and experience the presence of God and
know my prayers were answered and God was looking out for me. I think that having a few groups like that in
each of the churches of our Cooperative meeting at times other than Sunday and
places other than here, and groups to which we can invite people not associated
with this church just might be a worthy step on the Road to Renewal. Amen.
