This is the fourth column in which we look at John Wesley’s “strangely warmed heart” experience on London’s Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738 and ask, “What insight does Wesley’s journey to Aldersgate give to me?” We ask further if small groups in our churches might find in Wesley’s journey an avenue to becoming “vital congregations.”
Until about 1850, Methodist preachers defined Aldersgate as Wesley’s conversion. They had not done their homework, minimizing his 13 years of seeking “holiness of heart and life” within his Anglican tradition. While attending Oxford University, Wesley spent thousands of hours in the best libraries of his day. His excellence as a student prompted Lincoln College to offer him a faculty position, and while leading the Oxford Methodists—colloquially known as “The Holy Club”—he preached most Sundays, participated in what we know as “holy conferencing” with colleagues, and engaged in what he called “social holiness” or deeds of kindness and works of mercy among the prisoners, the poor and the children of Oxford.
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