Tag: Wesley

Wesley: Mistaking the Means for the End

  

As part of my devotions each morning, I’ve been reading short meditations from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. As a young man at Oxford, he developed “methods” of discipline for his Christian life. He was sincere. Yet after a failed experience as a missionary to Georgia, he knew his faith was lacking. God had to rework his faith into something that burned in his heart, not as just an outward discipline, as worthy as that discipline might be. I’m… Read more »

Whitefield & the Awakening

  

David Garrick, the most popular actor in Britain in the eighteenth century, once remarked, “I would give a hundred guineas if I could say ‘Oh’ like Mr. Whitefield.” He was referring to evangelist George Whitefield, who, at the young age of 25, arrived in the American colonies and became the focal point of the First Great Awakening. Whitefield was educated at Oxford and became a close friend of John Wesley’s. Together they were part of a student organization called “The… Read more »

The Challenge from Francis Asbury

  

I recently completed reading some of John Wesley’s journal entries and letters. I feel a kinship with him. One of his disciples was Francis Asbury, considered more than anyone else the founder of the American Methodist church, and the namesake for a Christian college in Kentucky. I’ve now begun looking at excerpts from his journal as well. His faith was dynamic, not static. He preached a personal gospel with all its social implications, speaking out against slavery, drinking, gambling, and… Read more »

Misperceptions of Holiness

  

There’s a perception of some evangelicals, particularly in the media and on the “progressive” side of politics, that they are rigid, unfeeling, unthinking, mean-spirited joy-killers. Anyone who speaks out against licentious behavior and calls abortion and homosexuality sins are akin, in some minds, to those who championed the Inquisition during the Middle Ages or those Puritans who refused to celebrate Christmas [without, of course, studying to find out the reason they opposed the celebration—the way it was carried out in… Read more »