Back to Our Basics:
Recapturing Principles of
Evangelism Espoused by John Wesley
by Wesley S.K. Daniel
Although I do not claim to be a John Wesley scholar, as a student of Wesley over the years I find that, in early Methodist history, there were two basic evangelism strategies that were repeatedly emphasized for the growth and vitality of the movement.
First, the early Methodist leaders were, in a sense, "possessed" with a zeal and passion to save souls for Jesus Christ. This zeal was manifested as John Wesley and others took to the streets, highways and byways, and open-air fields to boldly preach and proclaim the transforming power of the gospel. Whatever the cost, they undauntedly proclaimed conversion and brought thousands of souls into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
For Wesley, proclaiming the good news and making new disciples was an imperative task; he did it with a sense of urgency. He said, "We cannot with a good conscience neglect the present opportunity of saving souls while we live . . ."(Works of John Wesley, Volume VIII, 310). On one occasion when he was teaching his lay preachers, he said, ". . . you have nothing to do but to save souls. . . . Therefore, spend and be spent in this work. . . . It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance and with all your power to build them up in that holiness without which they cannot see the Lord" (Ibid.).
For Wesley and his followers, saving souls for Jesus Christ was at the heart of their ministry. Wesley possessed a deep and sincere passion to share the transforming power of the gospel, preaching the message of conversion unashamedly to the rich, the poor, and the downcast over and over again wherever he went. He frequently spoke of the advancement of this apostolic movement and was convinced that its expansion was designed to "save souls and nurture and usher people into the gates of God's kingdom."
What does all of this have to do with us today? In his book Rekindling the Flame, Will Willimon talks about how, through history, contemporary United Methodists have basically abandoned the task of evangelizing their communities and societies. We have become so concerned about being mere caretakers of our own parishes and churches that we have gone from passionate disciple makers to passionately maintaining and nurturing our ecclesiastical systems. We have become experts at "servicing" our church and its processes; but we have neglected one of the most basic tasks for which God has called and anointed us: to proclaim the good news with power and conviction, save souls, and call people to repentance and discipleship with Christ. For a very long time this has not been at the heart of our denomination; however, I am elated to know that in more recent years we have begun to witness a fresh zeal and passion among our leaders and churches to once again courageously proclaim the transforming power of the gospel, call people to Christian conversion, and invite people to radical Christian discipleship.
Second, Wesley and the early Methodists placed a great deal of importance on new disciples gathering and forming in small groups for spiritual growth, nurture, Christian discipleship, and manifestation of their faith in action in the world. Wesley called these small groups "bands," "societies," and "classes." They were crucial to the spread of the early Methodist movement and social reformation of eighteenth-century Europe.
Wesley believed that Methodism was different from other movements of his day; it had a fine balance between conversion and nurturing. He required new converts to be part of a "class" or "band." People who joined the classes or bands made a covenant along with others in the group to: "do good," "avoid all known sin," and strive regularly to partake in the means of grace (through the reading of Scripture, daily prayer, fasting, the Lord's Supper, and regular attendance at worship). They met weekly to report on their activities in regard to the three vows. They also met to care for one another in genuine ways. The dynamism of the Wesleyan movement came from the small classes and bands. These regular meetings and accountability provided mutual support and nurture so that they were able to work toward reforming society through acts of love, mercy, justice, and peace. This small-group strategy played a powerful role in the rapid growth of the Wesleyan movement. Wesley is known to have instructed his followers to preach in as many places as possible and to start as many classes as possible. Regrettably, this successful foundational strategy has slipped into neglect for more than two centuries. Today's church must rediscover the effectiveness of this powerful, evangelistic, disciple-making strategy in fresh ways.
Contrary to what some may think about the need for the re-formation of small groups (covenant or cell groups) in our church today, when laypersons come together in small groups, pray together, and study God's Word together, bearing one another's burdens and caring for one another, they cannot help but grow in genuine Christian love and affection for one another. This then leads people to speak the truth in love and grow up into the likeness of Jesus Christ. God's redemptive action and transformation takes place in awesome ways in people's hearts. It happened in the Apostolic times; it happened in Wesley's day; and sure enough, it can happen more and more in our day!
Wesley said that there is no such thing as solitary religion. For him, the class meetings were his primary strategy to help people become what they always wanted to be as followers of Christ; it was also to help disciples become all that God intended them to become in God's good creation.
As a result of these two very basic principles, non-Christians of Wesley's day were led to a genuine encounter with the living Christ. They were spiritually nourished and nurtured and sent back from whence they came so that they could live out their Christian faith and witness and transform other lives for Christ. As a result, the Methodist movement grew at a rapid rate. Can this happen in our day? Yes! If it worked for Wesley, it can work just as well in our day!
Numerous resources are available to help local churches develop and maintain discipleship systems for covenant and small groups, for the purpose of Christian formation with Christ. Here are a few of the excellent resources provided by Discipleship Resources (www.discipleshipresources.org, 800-685-4370) for your consideration:
- Cultivating Christian Community by Thomas R. Hawkins
- The Heart's Journey: Christian Spiritual Formation in the Life of a Small Group
by Barb Nardi Kurtz - The Christian Small-Group Leader by Thomas R. Hawkins
- Keeping in Touch by Carol F. Krau
Other resources for your reading:
- Albin, Thomas R. "Inwardly Persuaded: Religion of the Heart in Early British Methodism," Chapter 2, in "Heart Religion" in the Methodist Tradition and Related Movements, ed. Richard B. Steele (Scarecrow, 2001).
- Henderson, D. Michael. John Wesley's Class Meeting: A Model for Making Disciples. Evangel, 1997.
- Manskar, Steven W. Accountable Discipleship. Discipleship Resources, 2000.
- Watson, David Lowes. The Early Methodist Class Meeting. Wipf & Stock, 2002.
I am encouraged to see God at work in our church today. Many leaders and churches are returning to the basics of our faith and spiritual tradition. We are seeking and catching a fresh vision of what God can yet do in our day . . . in our time . . . in our world. I pray for the day when we, as a denomination, perhaps as never before, will recapture the spirit and zeal of the Wesleyan movement and the early Church; i.e., passionately preach conversion, save souls, spread Scriptural holiness, make new disciples, and implement small-group and discipleship systems in every local church for the purpose of personal growth, spiritual nurture, discipleship, witnessing, and conscientiously working to bring about reconciliation, peace, and justice in our world.
I believe if our church is to recover from decades of decline and apathy, we must return to our basics. With passion and a fresh enthusiasm, we must recapture and implement these basic evangelism principles in our churches. If it worked in Wesley's day, it can and will work for us today! I pray the contents of these pages will ignite a new spark within you to undertake the task of disciple making with a renewed zeal and passion.
Dr. Wesley S.K. Daniel, former staff of the General Board of Discipleship, is now serving as a superintendent in the Des Moines District of the Iowa Annual Conference.
Back to Our Future: Every United Methodist an Evangelist