Renew My Heart

John Wesley, 1703 - 1791 English theologian John Wesley was born the 15th child, in the rectory at Epworth, Lincolnshire on June 17, 1703, to clergyman Samuel Wesley. He was also an evangelist and the founder of Methodism. He was educated at Charter House School and Christ Church, University of Oxford. He was ordained deacon in 1725 and admitted to the priesthood of the Church of England in 1728. In 1729, he went into residency at Oxford as a fellow of Lincoln College.

While at Lincoln College, Wesley joined a group called the Holy Club, which included his brother Charles and George Whitefield, who later founded Calvinistic Methodism. It was a group of students that adhered strictly and methodically to religious precepts and practices by visiting prisons and comforting the sick, and their schoolmates called them "Methodists." In 1735, he went to Georgia as an Anglican missionary and met some German Moravians on the ship. He associated with them while in Savannah, Georgia and translated some of their hymns into English. While attending one of the Moravian's meetings on the return trip to England, he experienced a religious awakening.

In 1739, Wesley joined George Whitefield in his evangelical endeavors. He preached an open-air sermon outside the church and received an enthusiastic reaction, which convinced him that this form of preaching was the most effective way to reach the masses. The Anglican Church frowned on revivalism. He attracted immense crowds because of his assurance that each person was accepted as a child of God, which was something the Anglican Church was unable to offer. On May 1, 1739, Wesley and a group of his followers formed the first Methodist society. Two similar societies were established in Bristol, and in late 1739, the London society began meeting in a building called the Foundry, which served as the headquarters of Methodism for many years.

In 1740, Wesley parted with the Moravians and Whitefield becaus