It was May 24, 1738 and a young priest in the Church of England was on a desperate search. He looked around and saw a church that wasn’t living up to what it said it believed. The people who were in the pews for the most part held a pompous piety that held no strength beyond the church walls. They knew the prayers and dressed the part, but did not live out lives of love. All around England society was falling apart. The poor were not cared for. Drunkenness was destroying lives and families. John Wesley knew something must be done, but did not know what or how. He had returned from an unsuccessful trip as a missionary to America and lacked focus and direction. So on that faithful day in May he went to worship with a group of Moravians (a church group focused on prayer and personal faith development) and while worshiping with them felt his heart “strangely warmed.”

Out of this experience Wesley began to develop a heart and vision for reforming the church. He began to form small groups who met together to encourage and pray for each other. (Wesley was one of the original “small group” pastors!) He began preaching messages focused on the gospel and the need to repent. He even went outside the church to preach open air revivals to those who did not attend church. He saw the needs that people had and began organizing the church to meet those needs, spiritually, physically and emotionally. Out of this movement (called the Holiness movement) churches were formed and eventually the Methodist church began.

Why is this all important? Because the foundation of the Methodist church still remains the same as the movement for personal holiness that John Wesley began over 250 years ago. It wasn’t that Wesley had a particular theological issue with the church. He held firm in his Church of England roots. He wasn’t interested in pushing for a new church based on new beliefs as other reformers had. His interest was in changing lives. This continues to be the center of the Methodist church today. Our desire is to help people discover God in their lives, come to a saving, personal, active relationship with Jesus Christ, and live that life out in community and in personal faith. From our history we have a heart for reforming the hearts and lives of those who follow Christ.