BackTracking

As we continue the exploration of Michael Henderson’s “A Model For Making Discipels: John Wesley’s Class Meeting“, we come to the exploration of John Wesley’s development.  Henderson’s central concern is the examination of instructional innovation and thus this exploration of Wesley’s development is focused on the development of instructional method.  The following are what Henderson believes to be the major influences on Wesley’s instructional development:

1. Susanna Wesley and her intentional questioning of her kids for moral and spiritual development.

2. Oxford Holy Club which had the form and rigor of the future small group method but lacked certain content.

3. Wesley’s commitment to a scriptural holiness expressed in people’s lives.

4. The Moravian Hurrenhut community which modeled the small group for Wesley.

D. Michael Henderson’s presents a model for making disciples through an examination of John Wesley’s class meetings.  In the first chapter of the book, Henderson presents the historical context that Wesley was born into and the crucial decision that Wesley was led to make that would forever shape the history of millions of people.

The England that Wesley was born into had four major issues:

1.  Increased Urbanization: due to the rise of the Industrial Revolution
2.  An irrelevant Christianity: characterized by three ailments
a.  An absent clergy who typically exclusively catered to the upper class
b.  A lack of relevance to the working class, which led to a morally debased populace
c.  Puritanism had a diminished impact on the moral climate of the commoner
3.  A rampant epidemic of alcoholism
4.  An ever expanding economic gap between the handful of rich and majority of poor

To this stage came John Wesley who had four major convictions and/or influences:

1.  The desire to spread scriptural holiness
2.  Disillusionment with academic religion
3.  George Whitefield, whose field preaching was the starting point to Wesley’s influence of the working class.
4.  The necessity of intense, personal discipleship to bring about moral transformation in the life of the believer.

These convictions and/or influences led Wesley to preach an evangelistic message to the commoner, to disciple converts in intense, personal small groups and to lead people toward living out scriptural holiness.

The major praxis difference between Whitefield and Wesley was the fourth conviction of Wesley.  Concerning this point, Henderson relates an anecdote between a Wesleyan preacher, John Pool and George Whitefield, who stated:

“John thou art in the right place.  My Brother Wesley acted wisely — the souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in class, and thus preserved the fruits of his labor.  This I neglected, and my people are a rope of sand.”

Henderson: “The Wesleyan revolution is an illustration that long-lasting spiritual transformation is not the product of dynamic preaching… It comes only through serious disciple-building…The class meeting which Wesley developed was the instrument…”

In last months issue of Christian History, John Wesley is the highlighted historical figure.  In a biographical brief, one can not expect a detailed review of a person’s life. However, there seemed to be a major element missing from the Wesley bio.
The article emphasized the organizational and administrative abilities of Wesley and ignored the heart or passion of the pastor, which was for discipling people in scriptural holiness.  The article described some of Wesley’s discipling method’s in the following ways:

When these societies became too large for members to care for one another, Wesley organized “classes,”…

Wesley then organized his followers into a “connection,” and a number of societies into a “circuit”…

An indication of his organizational genius, we know exactly how many followers Wesley had when he died…

It must be admitted that Wesley’s use of small groups (classes, bands and penitent groups) can be credited in part to his organizational abilities.  However it is narrow minded to not mention that he thought in terms of small group organizational structures because he was convinced of the benefits that it had for discipling believers. This conviction was born in his childhood, reinforced at Oxford and solidified at Herrnhut.  Therefore, let us remember John Wesley not only as a gifted administrator but also as an effective Christian educator, who was passionate about people living a Christ-like life.

There will be more to come in the weeks ahead about John Wesley’s use of small groups as I present D. Micheal Henderson’s book “A Model for Making Disciples“.