In January of 1958 a little book by Doctor Mary Alice Tenney, appeared on the scene. At the time, she was head of the English Department of Greenville College (now University). The book was called Living in Two Worlds: How a Christian Does It.
It was written for a lay audience, even though it derived from her doctoral work. Its subject: ”john Wesley and the Methodist Revival in Eighteenth Century England..” In her introduction she says, “This book is written first of all to people who want to be really Christian.” To set up the reader’s understanding of the profound need for revival in England of Wesley’s time, Tenney explains that life there in the early 1700’s was almost unimaginably coarse and dehumanized.
She writes, ”As for family life in England, divorce of course, could not be obtained”. But a double standard of morality wrecked as many homes as divorce would have in any age. Prostitution was an accepted, and even protected, institution among all classes, a subject of humor in the literature and art of the intellectuals and the aristocratic, and a heavy contributor to the beastliness of the lower classes.”
“Hanging was the punishment for 160 different sorts of offenses. Many a day saw ten or fifteen hangings – spectacles attended by mobs of sensation–mad men and women. Grandstand seats were provided; hawkers peddled broadsheets recording Dying Speeches. Gin was sold at stands; pickpockets and prostitutes circulated freely.”
Into this time of drunkenness and debauchery Wesley preached the Christian Gospel: Justification with God by Faith alone in Jesus Christ; the witness of the Spirit; good works as evidence of that faith; salvation by Grace through Faith. All of these are consistent with other Reformation thinkers.
Wesley also taught converts that, in the words of Dr. Tenney:
“The surest evidence that God is what the Bible claims him to be, the One and only God, the All-Wise, the All-Powerful and the All-Loving, is the moral transformation which he works in a sinner. The revolution that occurs in a human being who believes God so fully as to give Him complete control over his life constitutes a supernatural event. Christianity is the only religion which carries with it any such moral empowerment. It performs the miracles promised by the Bible.”
Dr. Tenney also pinpoints the a major aspects of Wesley’s life and teaching that we would be wise to adopt in this present materialistic world of ours, saying:
“Four attainments clearly distinguish the early Methodists from the modern professing Christian. First he seems to have found the secret of soul serenity. Second, he gave convincing witness to his business and social world. Thirdly, he contributed amazing amounts to the work of his church. Fourthly, he lived a life of such appealing simplicity that the concept of ‘plain living and high thinking’ finally penetrated the thought of the whole nation.”
The Methodist Revival was God’s doing. John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield and others were God’s instruments, as they made themselves available to him.
Would anyone question that it is time for another such spiritual awakening on this continent to bring both moral clarity and joy back to many lives?
Revival could start among those who are already Christ followers: with more discipline for daily Bible reading and prayer; rebuilt family devotions for children; increased attention to the ministries of the church; humility and reconciliation between family or fellow believers; partnership with other believers concerned for renewal. These things might make each of us ready to be his instruments today.
Just as in the 1700’s, renewal always begins with a stirring of God’s Spirit. And there is a challenge in the Scriptures which is repeated often and speaks to us of our part: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
My new memoir, FROM KITCHEN CHAIR TO PULPIT: A Memoir of Family, Faith, and Ministry, has just been published. I hope you will click on one of the links that follow to be taken to the page on these sites that enable you to view and potentially purchase the paperback or ebook. My book shows just how extraordinary the pastoral life can be, describing how I prepared for ministry and ministered to three congregations and then, as a bishop, to pastors as a bishop, with the help of my wife, Kathleen, and the support of our children as they grew up from children to adults.
Just Call Me Pastor 