Before we leave the 18th Century Methodists we ought to venture into another of their meetings, this time in America. The period we are looking at is late 18th and early 19th century, so we’re fast forwarding slightly and entering the exuberance of American Methodist revivalism. The Shouting Methodists! In a fascinating article that appeared [...]
Tag Archive: 18th Century
Shouting Satan’s Kingdom Down – the Dawn of American Revivalism
Hilarious Hymns That Need to be Read Again (if not sung)!
We’ve been looking at the fact that the Methodist movement, in its heyday, was truly a people movement. And their songs reflected that! Every new movement of churches seems to produce a new resource of great songs. This has been true since the charismatic movement in the 1960’s and 70’s. We might argue that we [...]
The Critical Importance of Reaching the Working Classes
Brilliant New Song-Writing In terms of the great hymns of the Christian Faith, the Methodist movement was a source of unparalleled treasures…and also some hidden ones! And it’s the hidden treasures that we will enjoy together! But first, we’ll look at possible reasons why they’re still hidden. How can you spot a movement on the [...]
Come see a Christian triumphing over death!
We saw earlier how John Lancaster, a prisoner condemned to death in Newgate prison, had come to faith in Christ. Now we see him at his last moment and at his most triumphant. The year was 1748 and John Wesley recorded the events for future generations in his journals. As Lancaster was led out of [...]
‘Nothing to Trust in Except the Blood of Christ’
We continue the amazing accounts of grace given to those condemned to death in the 1700’s. John Wesley recorded these testimonies of men facing execution, in his own journals, giving them a wider audience than they might have otherwise had. They had been faithfully visited by Sarah Peters. She shared the gospel with them and [...]
Eternal Life on Death Row – Astonishing Testimonies of Grace
Although John Wesley was disappointed with the lack of response he received in Newgate Prison, London, there was another Christian working amongst the prisoners with great effect. Sarah Peters Sarah Peters, described by Wesley as caring, even-tempered and able to handle pressurised situations well, spent many hours talking with the condemned prisoners. When she died [...]
Evangelistic Depression
A broad overview of church history does give us a picture of the Church gaining ever-increasing strength and global relevance. Church History is encouraging! But there are still major gaps in our knowledge of certain periods where it seems the gospel wasn’t having the kind of impact we’d desire or expect. The Mission isn’t easy [...]
Noisy Meetings!
The Problem of Praiseless Praise and Joyless Joy! Most Christians are used to passion in their gathered church meetings. It would be strange, in a perfectly logical sense, to encounter strict formality, dull routine and lacklustre praise (how can you praise someone blandly, with praiseless praise, joyless joy?) The Bible repeatedly exhorts us to praise [...]
Jonathan Edwards and the Need for Fellow Elders
He may have felt righteous anger welling up on the inside, but at that point more than any other in his career, Jonathan Edwards needed peer level leadership advice. To read what happened click here and follow the links The term ‘Elder’ means different things in different church contexts. I am using it in the [...]
Jonathan Edwards’ Critical Mistake
So, some of the teenagers and twenties had got hold of a book. It was an illustrated manual of midwifery and was causing a stir amongst them. (Jonathan Edwards and Plurality of Eldership, part Two) For the first part of the story read here The numbers involved quickly increased, with an accusation that the keeper [...]