Bridging the Gap: Applying John
Wesley’s Discipleship Model to 21st
Century Africa
Primary source
Henderson, D. Michael. John
Wesley’s Class Meeting: A Model for
Making Disciples. Nappanee, Indiana:
Evangel/Francis Asbury, 1997.
Secondary sources
Collins, Kenneth J. The Theology of John
Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of
Grace. Nashville: Abingdon, 2007.
Heitzenrater, Richard P. Wesley and the
People Called Methodists. Nashville,
Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1995.
Pollock, John. John Wesley. Wheaton,
Illinois: Harold Shaw, 1989, 1995.
Snyder, Howard A. The Radical Wesley And
Patterns for Church Renewal. Eugene,
Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 1996.
Watson, David Lowes. The Early Methodist
Class Meeting: Its Origins and
Significance. Nashville, Tennessee:
Discipleship Resources, 1987.
Tracy, Wesley “Economic Policies and
Judicial Oppression as Formative
Influences on the Theology of John
Wesley.” Wesleyan Theological Journal,
27:1 (1992), 30-56.
Our challenge as Nazarenes
in 2010
“However, as the Church continued to
develop through the centuries, outside
influences began to dilute and diminish its
initial impetus. The tight focus on ‘making
disciples’ was lost, and many other
activities gained priority. The task of
maintaining Church institutions began to
usurp the role that was originally assigned
to making disciples, and the once dynamic
Christian movement began to fossilize
from within.”
- Michael Henderson, p. 14
Our Task Today
What can early
Methodism teach
us about
discipleship that
can help us avoid
the “fossilizing”
described by
Henderson?
Conditions in Wesley’s England
“Housing conditions were outrageous. Ten
persons per unfurnished room was
common. Horse manure polluted the
unpaved streets. It was sometimes piled
14 feet high on both sides of the street in
London. Diseases like typhoid, smallpox,
dysentery, and cholera ravaged almost
unchecked. Starvation was a daily reality
which stalked the poorest.
Violent crimes were common. Gambling
and gin-drinking became the national
pastimes. Every sixth building in London
was an alehouse. Sports included boxing,
bullbaiting, cockfighting, and hangings. For
the children there were the streets or the
sweatshops. Schools? Only one child in
every 25 attended any school of any kind.”
-- Wes Tracy
I. Who was John Wesley?
• b.1703 d. 1791
• With his brother,
Charles, George
Whitefield and
others, was God’s
revival instrument
through a
movement in
England known as
“Methodism.”
II. Theological foundations for
Wesley’s discipleship model
•
•
•
Salvation as God’s free gift
(Eph. 2:8-10)
Rejected particular predestination
Accepted prevenient grace
(John 1:9)
The Wesleyan “middle way”
Was John Wesley Reformed, Catholic, or
both?
George Croft Cell called Wesley’s theology
a “necessary synthesis of the Protestant
ethic of grace and the Catholic ethic of
holiness.”
-- cited by Collins, p. 289
Wesley’s synthesis:
Faith that works through love
“For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision
means anything but faith working
through love.”
– Galatians 5:6, NASB
Sample use of Galatians 5:6
“Be we then continually jealous over
our souls, that there be no mixture in
our intention. Be it our one view in all
our thoughts, and words, and works,
to be partakers of the divine nature, to
regain the highest measure we can of
that faith which works by love…
…let us then labour to be made
perfectly whole; to attain the fullest
conquest over this body of death, the
most entire renovation of our
nature….”
-- in John Wesley’s sermon,
The One Thing Needful (Luke 10:42)
Ideas related to the “faith that
works by love”
• perfect love (1 John 4:18)
• Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind,
and strength, and loving neighbor as
oneself (Mark 12:28-34)
• Christian perfection (Matt. 5:43-48) or
holiness (Hebrews 12:14)
• Entire sanctification (1 Thess. 5:23-24)
Summary from Henderson and
Collins
John Wesley believed in the “perfection of
humanity’s intentions and behavior by God’s
grace.”
- Michael Henderson, p. 86
“Christian perfection, then, is another term
for holy love. It is holy in that believers so
marked by this grace are free from the
impurities and drag of sin. It is loving in
that believers now love God as the goal of
their being, and they love their neighbors
as they should.”
– Ken Collins, p. 302
III. Educational foundations:
Three aspects of faith
(Henderson)
1) Christian faith is
cognitive.
“Love the LORD
your God with…all
your mind…” (Mark
12:30)
2) Christian faith is
behavioral.
“Faith that doesn’t
show itself by good
deeds…is dead
and useless”
(James 2:17, NLT).
3) Christian faith is
affective.
“Love one another
deeply, from the
heart” (1 Peter
1:22b, NIV).
How would John
Wesley combine
these three
aspects into the
Methodist
community of
faith?
IV. Wesley’s method:
discipleship in community
On faith in community
“ ‘Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more
consistent with the gospel than holy
adulterers. The gospel of Christ knows of
no religion, but social; no holiness but
social holiness. ‘Faith working by love’ is
the length and breadth and depth and
height of Christian perfection.”
-- from the “Preface” to the 1739
Hymns and Sacred Poems
When discipleship is neglected
“I was more convinced than ever that
preaching like an Apostle, without
joining together those that are
awakened and training them up in the
ways of God, is only begetting
children for the murderer. How much
preaching has there been for these
twenty years all over Pembrokeshire!
But no regular societies, no discipline,
no order or connexion: and the
consequence is that nine in ten of the
once awakened are now faster asleep
than ever.”
– John Wesley, Journal, 25 August
1763
“The pursuit of Christian perfection was
the stated aim of the classes and bands,
the arenas where perfectibility was tested
on an individual basis. The declared
mission of Methodism shows the broadbased aim of perfection - to ‘reform the
nation, particularly the church, and to
spread scriptural holiness over these
lands.’ ” – Wesley Tracy, 48
The “Church” defined
“A visible Church (as our Article defines it)
is ‘a company of faithful (or believing)
people: coetus credentium.’ This is the
essence of the Church, and the properties
thereof are (as they are described in the
words that follow), ‘that the pure word of
God be preached therein, and the
sacraments duly administered.’ ”
- John Wesley, in An Earnest Appeal to Men of
Reason and Religion; cited by Snyder, p. 74
Howard Snyder on Wesley and the
sacraments
“Wesley believed that
the sacraments,
especially the Lord’s
Supper, were
necessary ‘if not for
the being, at least to
the well-being of a
Church.’”
- citing Wesley’s An Earnest Appeal; in
The Radical Wesley,
p. 102
John Wesley’s vision
“By Methodists I mean a people who
profess to pursue (in whatever
measure they have attained) holiness
of heart and life, inward and outward
conformity in all things to the revealed
will of God; who place religion in an
uniform resemblance of the great
Object of it; in a steady imitation
of him they worship in all his
inimitable perfections; more
particularly in justice, mercy, and
truth, or universal love filling the heart
and governing the life.”
-- in Wesley’s 1745 “Advice to the People called
Methodists”
“Unite the two so long
disjoined, knowledge
and vital piety.”
-- C. Wesley hymn sung
at the opening of the
Kingswood School for
Children, 1748;
Heitzenrater, 168, 219
A. Cognitive tool: the Society
The Methodist
Societies ultimately
came to fulfill both
historic functions of
the Church:
- Bible preaching
- the Sacraments
administered
City Road Chapel, London
Under Wesley, the Society meetings
included:
• prayer
• singing
• preaching
The New Room, in Bristol
Other aspects of the Society
• Often met on Sunday evenings, and were
open to one and all at this time. The
emphasis was preaching, both doctrinal
and evangelistic.
• Other society meetings (at 5 a.m.) were by
ticket only, given to members faithful to
their class, and after a quarterly review by
the preacher.
Conclusion re. the cognitive role of
the Society meeting
“The major aim (of the society meeting)
was to present Scriptural truth and have it
clearly understood.”
- Henderson, p. 93
B. Behavioral tool: the class meeting
“To the class meeting must go much of the
credit which many historians have
attributed to Methodism for the radical
transformation of England’s working
masses. It was a triumph, not of any
human personality, but of an ingenious set
of instruments designed for behavioral
change.” – Henderson, p. 93
Marks of the Class Meeting
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Was required for all Society members
Met weekly in the evening in people’s homes
organized by geographical zone
Included members fifteen years or older
Was co-educational (i.e. male and female)
had from 10-20 in attendance
Included people from all social standings
Only allowed visitors every other week
Atmosphere of love and acceptance
A place where seekers could come to faith and
believers were strengthened in their faith
How the Class Meeting unfolded
• Always began with a short hymn and a short
prayer
• The class meeting leader (either male or female)
will share briefly about their own spiritual
condition.
• In turn, the leader will ask each class member:
“Well sister, well brother, how do you find the
state of your soul this evening?”
• Each class member brought a penny offering for
the support of the Society, esp. the poor.
- from Watson, p. 96
Conclusion re. the behavioral role of the
Class Meeting
“(Wesley) saw in the class meeting a
return to the societal norms of the firstcentury Christians.”
- Michael Henderson, p. 105
“The ignorant and ignored lower classes
found in Wesley’s system new dignity and
new self respect. Rich and poor, educated
and unlearned sat together as peers in
Methodist classes and bands. This was
new for the poor. They had no privileges,
owned no property, did not have the right
to vote. They held no memberships in
clubs, and no one cared for their opinion.
Yet, in Methodism, they counted.”
- Wes Tracy, 48-49
C. Affective tool: the band
• Charles Wesley was
the “first Methodist”
since he began the
“Holy Club” at Oxford
• It became a tool for
spiritual growth and
service for a handful
of Oxford friends,
including his brother,
John
Charles Wesley, 1707-88
It was John
Wesley who over
the years refined
the “band” concept,
drawing on various
sources, but
especially from the
Moravians.
Mark of the bands
•
•
•
•
•
Were not required, but were encouraged
Were for believers only
Composed of 5-6 individuals
Were all of the same gender
Were grouped together by age and marital
status
• Met weekly
No appointed leader, but structured on
5 questions
1) What known sins have you committed
since our last meeting?
2) What temptations have you met with?
3) How were you delivered?
4) What have you thought, said, or done of
which you doubt whether it be sin or not?
5) Have you nothing you desire to keep
secret?
Conclusion re. the affective role of the
band
“Wesley had great regard for those who
cared enough about him to ask him
searching, probing questions concerning
his inner life.”
-Henderson, p. 121
General Conclusion from Henderson
“The design of the Wesleyan program had
the goal of holiness in constant focus: The
societies proclaimed and explained the
doctrine, the class meeting was designed
to implement the behavioral quest for the
holy lifestyle, and the bands facilitated the
cultivation of inner purity and the purging
of the attitudes.” – p. 115
Questions: 15 minutes
Bridging the Gap: Applying John
Wesley’s Discipleship Model to 21st
Century Africa
Where do we go from here?
Session 2 – 2-3 p.m.
Meet in your group of ten for 30 minutes for a
trial “class meeting,” then combine to a group of
twenty to discuss the questions in the last
section of your handout.
Session 3 – 4-5 p.m.
Each group’s spokesperson will give a 5 minute
summary of findings from your group discussion.