JOHN WESLEY (Wiki)
A key step in the development of Wesley's ministry was, like Whitefield, to travel and preach outdoors. In contrast to Whitefield's Calvinism, Wesley embraced the Arminian doctrines that dominated the Church of England at the time. Moving across Great Britain, North America and Ireland, he helped form and organise small Christian groups that developed intensive and personal accountability, discipleship and religious instruction. Most importantly, he appointed itinerant, unordained evangelists to travel and preach as he did and to care for these groups of people. Under Wesley's direction, Methodists became leaders in many social issues of the day, including prison reform and the abolition of slavery.
JOHN WESLEY, CELL GROUP PIONEER
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HOW JOHN WESLEY CHANGED AMERICA
JOHN WESLEY'S SOCIAL ETHIC
Marquardt begins by examining several areas of Wesley’s social praxis. They include slavery, economics and ethics, his work on aid to the poor, prison reform, and education. One of Wesley’s greatest strengths was his ability to organize. The Methodist Societies were established to provide forums in which the members could help one another in living the Christian life, and in which they could more effectively engage in social action.
It is important to note that the organizations developed by Wesley were not highly bureaucratic, but instead emphasized the role of the individual members. For example, aid to the poor was to be personally delivered by members rather than collected and delivered en masse. Marquardt notes, “Wesley...demand- ed that those active in the social work of his fellowship must deliver help to the poor, not merely send it. To him, the gulf between the strata of society appeared too great for the wealthier people to know the gravity of the poor’s actual situation.” Wesley was concerned that the normal methods used to dispense charity perpetuated the conditions the charity was meant to eliminate
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