In the 1700s Christianity experienced a vital and dynamic movement that swept across England.  This awakening was largely the result of the labors of a few men, especially John Wesley (see Fig.1) , Charles Wesley and George Whitfield.  It was this eighteenth century English revival under the work of John Wesley that would eventually give birth to the Wesleyan movement.
 
But Wesley was not always a man who enjoyed a personal, saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  In spite of the fact that he was already an ordained minister and had also served as a mission to America, it was not until May 24, 1738 that he “felt his heart strangely warmed” by the assurance of personal salvation.   He then discovered that sanctification and a life of holiness was also received by faith.  Rejecting the Calvinism of his day, John Wesley emphasized four great truths found in the Holy Scriptures:

 

1.      Salvation was provided for all persons.                       ATONEMENT BY JESUS
 
2.      Salvation was provided from sin.                               JUSTIFICATION
 
3.      Salvation was certified by the personal                       ASSURANCE

         witness of the Holy Spirit.       
 
4.      Salvation was received by faith                              GRACE – UNMERITED LOVE
 
John Wesley would say:
 
                        All can be saved,
 
                                    All can know that they are saved, and
 
                                                All can be saved to the utmost!

 

The result of Wesley’s ceaseless labors was a God-sent revival that swept across the British Isles, then leaped the Atlantic Ocean and made its impact upon the American Colonies.  The early American Methodists (as Wesley’s followers were to be called) were largely faithful to Wesley’s emphasis in doctrine and Christian conduct.
 
Resources are available in the church library on the history of the United Methodist Church.