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 [...]
Tag Archive: church growth
Evangelistic Depression
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 [...]
John Wesley Preaching on his Father’s Grave
On Sunday June 6th 1742 John Wesley, the English Evangelist re-visited his home town, Epworth in Lincolnshire.
This was the town of his birth and his father had been the Pastor of the St. Andrew’s Anglican Church there. The Wesley children had been raised there.
Prior to the Sunday service beginning Wesley offered to assist the Curate [...]
More than a Hymn-Writer: Charles Wesley the Evangelist
Charles Wesley is mainly remembered for his excellent poetic gift. This gift, thoroughly saturated in Scripture, produced some of the church’s best-loved hymns.
If you are in an English speaking church context it is quite likely that you recognize these well known opening lines from Charles Wesley hymns:
Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the [...]
Violence Seems to Triumph – The First Methodist Martyr
(Methodism and the Mob Part 6)
The Mob Reacts – The Death of William Seward
How do you respond when you hear that a Christian missionary is in trouble for distributing Christian literature, or for some other attempt to communicate the Christian faith?
Maybe your first response is to assume that the believer lacked wisdom. You may be [...]
Preachers Pelted with Dirt, a Cat and a Dead Dog
(Methodism and the Mob Part 5)
William Seward
William Seward was a wealthy supporter of the work that George Whitefield and Howell Harris were doing.
He also helped John Wesley with generous funding for the meeting place in Bristol, even though Wesley was assuming a leadership role there that Seward felt excluded Whitefield (See here for how Whitefield [...]
Threatened at Gunpoint – The Methodist Revival Advances
(Methodism and the Mob Part 4)
Howell Harris did not only preach in Wales, of course, but ventured into England as well.
On one occasion he was preaching with fellow Methodist John Cennick in Swindon in Wiltshire, South West England.
Before long there was a strong reaction and considerable gang of trouble makers were out to stop these [...]
Howell Harris Gets Beaten up While Preaching
(Methodism and the Mob, Part 3)
The Evangelist preaches, is resisted, rejected and then covered in sewerage and beaten ruthlessly.
Hugh Hughes, in his biography of Harris describes one scene in Bala, Wales, in 1741. Howell Harris, the great pioneer of outdoor preaching during the Great Awakening, received a beating at the hands of violent men and [...]
Changing Cultures – Methodism and the Mob
(Methodism and the Mob Part Two)
Early Irritations and Scares
As the popularity of the movement grew, the Methodist preachers found that they were involved in a battle that, although spiritual, often found a physical expression.
Not only did they face resistance from the clergy, but actual violence from gangs who were often paid to disrupt the [...]
Methodism and the Mob – what it really takes to change a culture
A Robust Faith
Although the Methodists enjoyed great successes they also endured terrible persecution which lasted several years.
But God gave them power to press through into victories. Historian John Simon writes:
‘If Methodism had not come into contact with the mob it would never have reached that section of the English people which most needed salvation.’ [He’s [...]