Methodist Roots

John Wesley’s House – London, England

John Wesley’s House was built soon after the construction of the Wesley Chapel. Previously, John Wesley had resided in the Foundery, but in 1779 this became his home. One floor was for his use and other floors were for visiting preachers. The front room was his study and contains his desk and some of his library. The windows look west onto Bunhill Fields and his mother’s grave. The bed in which he died was sold in the 1800’s, but a similar one is in the bedroom now. Just off the bedroom is a small closet where he prayed regularly. The house has been restored to reflect an 18th century décor.

Bunhill Fields Burial Ground and Susanna Wesley Gravesite – London, England

Bunhill Fields (shortened from “Bonehill”) was used as a cemetery for London’s citizens who were not members of the Church of England. They were called Dissenters because they worshiped in other Christian churches, thus dissenting from the Book of Common Prayer. Persons buried there include John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe and the hymnwriter Isaac Watts. Susanna Wesley was buried there upon her death in 1742. This is the cemetery closest to the Foundery. While she was a member of the Church of England and the wife and mother of Anglican clergy, her grandparents were all dissenters.

Charles Wesley House – Bristol, England

In contrast to his older brother, Charles Wesley had a happy marriage. Sarah Gwynne was from northern Wales and believed strongly in the Methodist movement. They married in 1749 and moved to Charles Street in Bristol. Charles was an itinerant preacher like his brother and shared in leadership of the Connection. However, his happy homelife and his calling as a hymn-writer led him to stay at home more than John did. Over his lifetime he wrote more than 8,900 hymns. He and his brother published many different hymnbooks. Charles and Sarah lived in this Bristol house for 22 years and had eight children, only three of whom survived infancy. Their sons Charles and Samuel became well-known church musicians.

Pill Sailing Site – Pill, England

In the 1700’s, Bristol was the second largest city in England and the primary port for those sailing to America. Ships would anchor in deep water and passengers would take a smaller boat from shore out to ship. One of those launching places was a village near Bristol called Pill. From this site, Thomas Coke, Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey set sail from Pill for America on September 18, 1784. A few days earlier John Wesley had ordained Whatcoat and Vasey as deacons and elders, and set apart Coke as a general superintendent for the work in America. At the Christmas Conference in Baltimore, the American preachers elected Coke and Asbury as bishops and Coke ordained Asbury as deacon and elder, and then consecrated him as bishop on consecutive days.

John Wesley’s New Room – Bristol, England

With the Moravians and others, John Wesley formed religious societies to help people find salvation. There were two societies in Bristol, but after he started preaching outdoors, many more people joined the societies. To provide space for the growing groups, Wesley obtained land in a district of Bristol called the Horsefair and built a building. It is the oldest continuously used Methodist worship space in the world, dating back to 1739. It was used for preaching services, class meetings, a medical dispensary and services for the poor. Starting in 1744, Methodist preachers in connection with John Wesley met for a conference annually, and some of them were held in the New Room.

Christ Church Oxford

John Wesley went up to Oxford from his time at the Charterhouse School in London. His college was Christ Church, perhaps the most prestigious of the colleges that made up the University. He graduated in 1725 and started studying for his ordination examinations. That year, he read Bishop Jeremy Taylor’s Rules and Exercises of Holy Living and Holy Dying. He realized that it was very important to measure how he spent his time. He began keeping a diary to gauge his progress toward holiness. The next year he was elected a Fellow of Lincoln College.

Hanham Mount

John Wesley first preached out of doors on April 2, 1739. He said that prior to this, he had been “so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order that [he] should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.” Watching George Whitfield and experiencing the large crowds, he realized that field preaching was a way of reaching the people. Hanham Mount became one of his regular places for outdoor preaching. For the rest of his life Wesley insisted that carrying the gospel to where the people gathered out of doors was an important part of Methodist ministry.