John Wesley

John Wesley (1703–1791)
Together with his hymn-writing brother Charles, John Wesley has had an enormous and deeply significant impact upon the development of Christianity in England and across the world.

Wesley, who became a fellow at Oxford in 1729, had an earnestness about him and began reading a range of spiritual writings and gathered a group around him known as The Holy Club. He also came into contact with the Moravians who emphasised the importance of personal piety and faith. These influences came together on May 24, 1738 when Wesley had a remarkable conversion experience; the date generally used to mark the beginning of the evangelical revival. In his own words, he felt his "heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

Wesley began preaching in the open-air and formed his followers into societies and classes, each class under a leader – the beginnings of the Lay Preachers movement. Wesley himself averaged 8,000 miles a year on horseback.