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TV-51 | John
Wesley Honors College
Sculptures - John Wesley Statue
Milestones
[photo of one date in the base]
Inscribed into the base of the statue are seven dates. Each
is a milestone in the legacy Wesley left to the modern church.
1703 Birth
On June 28, John was born 15th of 19 children to Samuel and
Susanna Wesley. In their Epworth, Lincolnshire, England house
young John was raised, like his siblings, in an atmosphere
of piety and Puritan discipline.
1729 Methodist Class Meeting
Wesley assumes the leadership of the Holy Club at Oxford where
he pours his energy into leading Methodist class meetings.
So effective were these meetings at fanning the flame of the
revival sweeping across 18th century New England that D. L.
Moody would later say these class meetings were the most effective
method of training converts the world has ever seen.
1738 By Grace Ye are Saved through Faith
While listening to a society member at an Aldersgate Street
meeting read from Martin Luther’s preface to Romans,
Wesley heard anew how God changes people’s hearts through
faith in Christ. For the first time Wesley felt his heart
warmed and felt saved. Shortly after, Wesley preached this
sermon at Oxford University. Thereafter, it became his life’s
theme and the driving point in his sermons.
1739 So Vile a Thing
Breaking custom with the Anglican protocol of preaching only
within the church’s walls, Wesley dared do so “vile
a thing” as to follow the practices of Jonathan Edwards
and George Whitefield and take his preaching to the countryside
of New England. Over the next fifty years Wesley rode 250,000
across England, Scotland and Ireland to bring hope and good
news to the workers in the fields.
1744 First Annual Methodist Conference
Wesley called together, for its first conference, Methodist
pastors to clarify Methodist doctrines on sanctification,
justification, and Christian perfection.
1784 Offer Them Christ
Breaking once again from Anglican protocol Wesley took steps
on his own to adapt Methodist church government to the spiritual
needs of Americans. Wesley sent Francis Asbury, Richard Whatcoat,
and Thomas Vasey to strengthen and enlarge the Methodist societies
in the new land. As he consecrated Thomas Coke General Superintendent
of the Methodists in America, he charged him to “offer
them Christ.”
1791 Farewell
At 87, on February 23, his countrymen heard Wesley deliver
his last sermon under an ash tree in the churchyard of Rye,
in Kent, England. It was on Isaiah 55: 6 and entitled “Seek
Ye the Lord while He May be Found, Call Ye upon Him while
He is Near.” Seven days later, on March 2, Wesley spoke
his last word, “Farewell” and went to his eternal
reward.
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