The Cost of Discipleship 14: Wesley: The Fellowship of the Saints.

 Why did Whitefield invite Wesley to come to Bristol to complete what Whitefield himself had started with his field preaching? This is a lesson in discipleship as well as fellowship and cooperation in ministry. Perhaps too much for one devotional. 

 George Whitefield (sometimes spelled Whitfield, 1714-1770) was one of the founders of Methodism (Notice I do not say “founding father” since Susanna Wesley, Lady Huntingdon, and Mary Bosanquet Fletcher were as much). Whitefield attended Oxford, though like Wesley he had to work for his tuition by serving rich kids. He was ordained, but like Wesley did not become a parish minister. He was a passionate preacher, and he pushed instant conversion, which also put him out of favor with others in the Anglican Church. 

 Like Wesley, he sailed to Georgia; however, unlike Wesley he returned to the Colonies 6 more times preaching revivals from south to north. His preaching in 1740 made a major contribution to the First Great Awakening. 

 Whitefield’s calling seemed to be evangelism rather than church planting, although a few churches do trace back to his presence there. As such, though he could organize his converts, he usually did not stay in one place long enough to get the follow-up work done. 

 Wesley, on the other hand, was concerned about the discipleship journey that new converts had begun. From Countess Huntingdon he took the concept of ‘connection’ (connexion in British English) which we still use in the Methodist organization. It means a network of believers and/or pastors that occasionally meet face-to-face but are always in conversation and prayer for each other. 

 Wesley’s earliest concept was ‘Band Societies’ where new converts would meet, confess their sins to one another and pray for one another (See Kenneth J. Collins, John Wesley: A Theological Journey, 2003: pages 120-123). These were somewhat successful, although the practice of confessing one’s sins to a small group of people, instead of just one person, eventually eroded their popularity.

Wesley never meant to form a separate church because he always remained an Anglican priest and required people to go to church regularly to receive the sacraments (communion, baptism). However, his converts from ‘field preaching’ often did not belong to a church community, and even if they did, they would not have received much guidance on becoming a disciple. 

 Wesley developed the idea of ‘small group’ meetings, with a leader, as a way to teach, encourage, and monitor Christian behavior. John Wesley was an evangelist but he was also an organizer. His genius was ‘the Methodist class meeting’. 

 “As a subdivision of the larger Methodist society, the class meeting was composed of five to twelve members. Leadership of the classes was open to women, and Elizabeth Ritchie, Hester Ann Rogers, Agnes Balmer, as well as Mary Bosanquet emerged as significant leaders. The class meetings had something of a democratic flavor to them, at least in the sense that class distinctions were ignored and one, for example, could move into a leadership role ‘on the basis of faithfulness alone’ (Collins, page 122-123; in text quote from Michael D. Henderson, John Wesley’s Class Meeting: A Model for Making Disciples, 1997, Page 47).

 These meetings saw people sharing stories of their growth and problems, though not necessarily confession of sins, to which the others, particularly the leader, offered advice and discipline. All, of course, backed by Scripture.     

 By being a disciple himself, and by spreading the gospel as both conversion to Christ and adoption of Christ’s methods and behavior (discipleship), John Wesley made an impact on English society. The medical and moral condition of the poor was a major problem in those days. The English social class divisions, wrongly justified by the established church as the will of God, did little to help. 

 Wesley did not say, as some evangelists do to the poor, “Just wait, and all will be well when you get to heaven.” Instead, Wesley and the growing number of class members following him not only preached to the poor, but they also worked with the poor. To say that he was just an evangelist with heavenly concerns is wrong. 

 “This is, in the first place, to overlook the very considerable practical social work that Wesley and his helpers did. It was he who set up dispensaries for the sick and helped the poor to guard their meagre savings in a mutual benefit society. It was he who started the school for colliers’ children at Kingswood and the orphan house at Newcastle. It was he who promoted co-operative industry amongst the underprivileged and encouraged the Strangers’ Friend Society to provide relief. Wesley did what lay in his power at the physical and material level. …what Wesley did by the grace of God for the souls of the poor is not lightly set aside. He helped keep hope alive in a miserable age” (A. Skevington Wood, The Burning Heart: John Wesley: Evangelist, [1967] 2007, page 161). 

 What are the takeaways from this devotional for discipleship? First, discipleship is a journey of growth, but you are not alone on the journey. There are people up ahead, and people coming behind you. Second, it is important to be grounded in Scripture and to have people around you to whom you are accountable, and who you hold accountable. Third, if your journey does not lead to acts of mercy and deeds of compassion along the way, then something is wrong. The poor you will have with you always; so, don’t ignore them, do something to help. Then someday you will hear Jesus say:

 “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’  

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me’” (Matthew 25: 34-40).