John Wesley: Challenges and Gifts

John Wesley: Challenges and Gifts

No one will disagree that John Wesley transformed Christianity in a way that made it a tangible force in people's lives. Wesley's doctrines are the foundation for modern Christianity, particularly those of the United Methodist Church, as we know it today. His philosophy embraced the idea that a real Christian is transformed not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Modern Christianity embraces the idea that a person must demonstrate piety, real personal connections with Jesus Christ, mercy, and social responsibility. These are the hallmark of the modern church today.

John Wesley's works were no less then miraculous in their ability to transform Christianity from the material to the spiritual domain. The book a real Christian: The Life of John Wesley, by Kenneth Collins, provides the some interesting insight into what drove Wesley and his quest for perfect Christianity. The following challenges and gifts were identified as playing a key role in the passion and desire behind John Wesley and his ideas.

According to Collins, Wesley had a strict Puritan upbringing at a time when conflicts between the Puritans and the Anglican church were the key point of contention. His father, Samuel Wesley abandoned his Puritan upbringing and pursued a higher education at Oxford. Later, he was reaffirmed by the Anglican church and rose to become a deacon (Collins, p. 9). In the early pages of Collins book, this accounting is factual. However, when one considers the influence of Samuel Wesley's Puritan upbringing and the indoctrination his father into the Anglican Church, one thing stands out was not mentioned by Collins. Wesley's father easily changed between one doctrine and another doctrine. This was the first clue that Samuel Wesley's brand of Christianity went deeper than political boundaries between the churches. It quickly becomes apparent that Samuel Wesley does not place emphasis on denomination or on which form Christianity takes, but that his focus is on the ideals that bind all denominations together: the principles of the Holy Bible in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

This quickly brings out one of the key challenges in Wesley's religious life. Wesley's teachings were beyond the confines of a denomination politics. One of his key challenges throughout his life would be convince others to move beyond their petty politics and power struggles of the time. John Wesley's reforms were not accepted for their underlying principles and Wesley had to continually work to bring Christianity into common ground, much like his father before him.

Wesley was surrounded with people that were supportive of his spiritual and religious beliefs. Both Samuel and Susanna came from Conservative Christian backgrounds, which undoubtedly gave them the ability to support each other in their pursuit of a deeper relationship with God. The support of family would become more important, as the struggle between Samuel Wesley's ideas and the divine right of monarchs created opposition that would tear him apart other in his family (Collins, p. 10). John Wesley's principles were a result of the example set by his father and the leadership shown by his mother in the daily activities involved with raising John and his extremely large entourage of brothers and sisters. It was his mother's leadership as she went through her daily tasks that later became the foundation of some of Wesley's most famous early writings (Collins, p. 12).

The most important facts in the early pages of the book represent gifts that were given to John Wesley in order to accomplish his chosen mission were the teachings of his mother and father. Wesley's father was a dissenter many of the principles that were held by the church, particularly his opposition to the idea that the monarchy had some importance in church life and that they had the right to dictate spiritual matters. John Wesley's early upbringing taught him to distinguish between the spiritual and material. The emphasis of his early life was on the spiritual, even at the expense of material wealth. His mother's refusal of help from the priory is a key example of the importance of faith over material matters in Wesley's early upbringing. This upbringing represents one of the gifts that Wesley was given to teach him the principles that he was later need in his pursuit of the his doctrine (Wallace, p. 67).

Of all of the events that chronicled in the book, the fire stands out as the most poignant force that helped to shape John Wesley's life. After this, Wesley developed the idea that god had saved him because he had a purpose for his life. Thinking all was lost, Wesley's father knelt in prayer when John was rescued just before the building collapsed (Collins, p. 14). Samuel Wesley prayed not to save his belongings, but instead thanked him for saving his son. This also had an effect on the rest of Wesley's family. Collins biography reveals that nine infants died, but that John still came from a large family. The Wesley family knew the value of every member of the family.

The fire shaped the family, particularly the way in which John had been spared from the flames. After that, John Wesley's mother decided that he was special and that he had been chosen by God. She made a special effort to make sure that she instilled proper religious teachings of in Wesley and gave him opportunities to explore his own spirituality and faith. The fire was perhaps one of the most pivotal points in young John Wesley's life and the point that changed the rest of his life. Wesley was never able to fully understand why he had been spared and this was reflected in his idea that reason that can only go so far and that the Bible only gives us what we need to know for salvation (United Methodist Church, p. 17). We should not seek to understand the mind of God; we should only seek to follow his word.

The first chapters of the book about Wesley's early life are perhaps the most engaging. It is here that the reader learns the foundations that shaped Wesley's beliefs and mind. Collins relied on the works of other biographers for the pertinent facts of Westly's life. However, as Collins notes, there are many discrepancies among famous biographers as to the dates of certain events, or the reasons for them. For instance, biographers disagree on the cause of the fire that nearly took young Wesley's life. Collins focuses more on how the fire and being saved from the fire affected Wesley's thinking and doctrine than on the technicalities such as the date on which it happened, whether it was accidental, or whether it was an intentional act against Samuel Wesley.