The Prodigious Worker

“It is an observable fact that whenever the church loses her zeal for evangelism and mission she turns inward seeking to protect her institutional interests. This always results in a slow, but ever increasing, decaying process that inevitably leads to death. There is an obvious reason for this. Christ has given His church a world-wide commission. If this commission is ignored, and if the zeal of God’s people is blunted toward His purposes then why is it so surprising that the Church experiences the fading of her focus and power?”

At such a time God sent to His church one of her most prodigious laborers in the gospel, John Wesley. He traveled more than 250,000 miles in the course of more than 50 years of ministry. He wrote or edited more than 200 works of sermons, hymns, and commentaries, and he founded the Methodist denomination and saw it grow to over 135,000 members and over 500 itinerant ministers. His own words testify to his tireless efforts in ministry.

“I entered my eightieth year; but, blessed be God, my time is not ‘labor and sorrow’ I find no more pain or bodily infirmities than at five-and-twenty. This I impute (1) to the power of God fitting me for what He calls me to; (2) to my traveling four or five thousand miles a year; (3) to my sleeping, night and day, whenever I want it; (4) to my rising at a set hour; and (5) to my constant preaching, particularly in the morning.”

In my opinion, one of the best brief overviews of John Wesley’s life and ministry is the lengthy chapter dedicated to him in John Armstrong’s book, Five Great Evangelists published by Christian Focus Publications. Last month’s column reviewed his material on the life of George Whitefield. This month will focus on the life of John Wesley. A final column will cover his material on three lesser known evangelists: Howell Harris, Asahel Nettleton, and Duncan Matheson.

Born in June of 1703 in Lincolnshire, England, John Wesley was the 15th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. His father was the son of a minister who left the Church of England during the Great Ejection of 1622. John’s father eventually disassociated himself from the Dissenters and rejoined the Anglican clergy. His mother, Susana, was also raised in the home of a Puritan Dissenter. She too left the Nonconformist movement and became an Anglican at 13 years of age. Undoubtedly due to the influence of his home, Wesley remained loyal to the Church of England all his life. The story of his conversion is one the most familiar in all church history. Armstrong’s short presentation is unique in the amount of detail presented from Wesley’s journal entries for this period. One such example is the entry for February 7, 1736 upon arriving as a missionary to the Indians in the American region of Georgia.

“On landing in Georgia I asked the advice of Mr. Spangenberg, one of the German pastors, with regard to my own conduct. He said in reply, …. ‘Do you know Jesus Christ?’ I paused, and said, ‘I know He is the Savior of the world.’ ‘True,’ replied he; ‘but do you know he has saved you?’’’

However it would be almost two years from this entry before his famous Aldersgate Street conversion in February of 1738. Almost immediately after his conversion, John began preaching wherever doors were open to him. However, as his message became clear to the established clergy, he soon found those doors closed and because no other pulpit was available, he preached to the people in open air meetings. God blessed the preaching with a great harvest of souls. For the next 53 years Wesley preached over 40,000 messages to people scattered over all of England as well as Wales, Ireland, and Scotland (not to mention his ministry across the Atlantic). His converts were organized unto groups and were shepherded by an itinerant band of traveling preachers trained in Wesley’s methods. Eventually they were known as Methodists. In addition to his prolific preaching and writing ministry, Wesley also played an important supportive role in the musical ministry of his brother, Charles, who contributed more than 6,000 hymns to English hymnody.

God was pleased to allow Wesley an important part in the First Great Spiritual Awaking along with George Whitefield. On one famous occasion Wesley actually stood on his father’s tombstone and preached to a crowd of hungry hearers gathered outside of a church closed to Wesley. Wesley’s unfortunate handling of doctrinal differences between himself and Whitefield proved to be a sad chapter in his ministry. Armstrong mentions the conflict between Methodism and the Calvinistic brethren of the day, including his break with George Whitefield over theological issues related to the extent of the depravity of man, predestination, election, sanctification, and other issues related to the nature and extent of atonement, but leaves much more unsaid than said. Thankfully the personal friendship between the two eventually prevailed even though the doctrinal differences were so strong they prevented any kind of further joint ministry effort.

Armstrong also notes Wesley’s difficult marriage to Mary (Molly) Vazeille. John married late in life and against the counsel of his brother and several close friends. The marriage ended disastrously 30 years later when she left him in 1771 after lengthy and unfounded accusations against his character. Twenty years later at 87 years of age John would join her in death. He was buried as he lived—with the humble men to whom he had spent his entire life reaching. Perhaps the most fitting conclusion was written over one hundred years ago by one of his early biographers who observed:

“Like other men, he had his faults, he made mistakes, his judgment may sometimes have been wrong; but, taking him as a whole, he was an exemplar to his times, a benefactor to his race, a workman who needed not to be ashamed."

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