The Wesleyan revival sparked out of a movement called the Methodist church. The Methodists were famous from day one for strict discipline and rules that helped them grow in faith. However, when John Wesley started his ministry, he attempted to live by these rules with his friends in order that he might secure his salvation. His misguided hope was that, by strict observance of the rules, he could somehow obtain security in his salvation.
As a minister in the church of England, he decided to travel to America. While he was on the ship to America, a great storm blew up, and the whole ship was threatened with death. John was terrified and became awestruck by a group of Moravian Christians who were totally unafraid of death because they were certain of their salvation in Jesus.
Upon his return to England after a disastrous attempt at mission in America, John found some Moravian Christians to help him discover this certainty of salvation. When praying, John finally received this certainty as he encountered the grace of God for the first time. He famously described his heart as being “strangely warmed” so that he indeed was sure of his salvation by grace alone.
The curious genius of John Wesley was that he didn’t walk away from this amazing life-changing encounter with the grace of God and conclude that he should drop all of the rules he had created. Quite the opposite. John realized that, although these strict disciplines would not gain him salvation, they would help him and others continue to grow in their walk and discipleship with Jesus.
John Wesley was inspired to ride around the United Kingdom and America on his horse and preach the Good News of the grace of God. As hundreds began to give their lives to Jesus, he organized them in a way that enabled them to grow (but that’s a thought for another time) and gave them a structure that enabled them to grow.
The discipline and rules by which the Methodists lived enabled the new converts to grow quickly despite the fact that many were from uneducated backgrounds. The amazing outpouring of God’s conviction and grace through the preaching of Wesley and others was followed with strict discipline, and this mix enabled the Wesleyan revival to burn through several generations.
If we want to rebuild a movement that burns through the generations instead of dying like a flash-in-the-pan encounter with God, then we need to enable people to translate the amazing encounters they have with God into life-changing discipline.
So as we look back to look forward, I see the future of youth and young adults ministry being marked by a generation that recaptures the truth that they have been transformed entirely by the amazing grace of God, and then works that out with intense focus and discipline.
Maybe then our generation’s recurring comment will be, “The only response to the outrageous grace of God is a life disciplined to be totally orientated toward Him.”
