The following reflections are an effort to identify some of the most important characteristics of the model John Wesley developed for ministry in his time. The parallels between his time and ours are abundant. As we develop meaningful models of ministry for our time, a look at his will be helpful. His model raises some important questions for us, especially if we wish to be influenced by our Wesleyan roots. These reflections are not complete and will need to be revised and deepened in the future.

Wesley's model was for a time of transition, a period of development of the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions in the British Isles, with all of the attending social ills, depravity, and hopelessness of the lower classes. Masses of people moved to the newly developing urban centers, which the Anglican Church's parochial system was not prepared to handle. A new model for reaching people had to be developed. We too are living in a time of transition, a time of the breakdown of "Christendom," a post-Christian era.

Wesley's was a model for urban ministries. Although designed to be used in any setting, since so many Methodists lived in the new urban centers, it can be also considered an urban model. Wesley's headquarters were in the cities that formed a triangle (London in the south, Bristol in the west, Newcastle in the north). The Methodist circuit included the great seaport cities, such as Plymouth and Liverpool, and industrial cities, such as Manchester and Leeds. Methodism was developed in the midst of the new masses of people who were thrown together in these urban centers.

Wesley's was a model for the reformation of the church. Wesley understood that the Anglican model was no longer functional. He said that God had raised up the Methodists "for the reformation of the nation, and especially the Church, and to spread Scriptural holiness throughout the land." Reformation meant, in part, calling the church back to scriptural themes that were present in its historical documents, such as the Homilies and the Book of Common Prayer, which had been largely forgotten.

Wesley's model was a system. To understand Wesley, we must learn to think systemically. His model was truly a system where everything was integrated according to his guiding principles. Even his "prudential means" of working that he stumbled on became interrelated to the whole, which functioned as a body. We generally select the parts of his system that we like and take them out of context. Usually this means that we miss their original meaning, because each part receives its meaning from its relation to the whole.

The controlling heart of Wesley's model was its message. Like a mission statement in our modern churches, Wesley's controlling message described an experience he called "the Scripture way of salvation" (Sermon 43). Everything else in the system received its meaning as it related to this experience. "Salvation" as a process was absolutely Wesley's controlling reality. Even "sanctification" is to be seen as part of this process.

There was urgency in the message and in the reality it described. The message was developed to help people in a life-or-death situation. They were to "flee from the wrath to come." What was at stake was people's eternal status before God. This was at the heart of the Wesleyan system; eternal happiness or misery: "one would think it would swallow up every other thought in every reasonable creature. . . . One would suppose that this single point would engross his whole attention" (Sermon 54). The faith pilgrimage, with its life of obedience, was at once the experience of salvation and the prelude to eternity. Today, where is the urgency of what we preach? What impact does it really have?

The contents of the message formed what Wesley called "a system of doctrine." Determining this content was the first item on the agenda of the first Annual Conference in Bristol in 1744. The idea of theological freedom — "we think and let think" — was restricted to what Wesley called "opinion," never root doctrines. The system described what Christians could experience and assured them that this was possible. Doctrine was a description of a living experience described in the Bible.

There was an intensive, focused support system to help people walk the way of salvation. Fellowship, mutual sharing, and dialogue were offered and required. The classes and bands provided this support system and were the heart of the discipling process. Accountability and discipline were built-in factors. A person did not have to become a part of a United Society but if he or she did, it meant freely assuming the responsibilities of discipleship.

Part II of William Jones's article "John Wesley's Model for Ministry" will appear in the Summer 2001 issue of Covenant Discipleship Quarterly.

The Rev. William Jones, Florida Conference Coordinator for the Lay Missioner and Pastor-Mentor Training Program (National Plan for Hispanic Ministry), has spent many years studying and reflecting on John Wesley's ministry and its implications for our ministry today. Recently, he wrote down these reflections and has continued to revise them. We offer them to you as food for thought. They have been adapted are used with the Rev. Jones's permission.