28 Facts About John Wesley

1. At the age of five, John Wesley was rescued from the burning rectory.

2. John Wesley was one of the founders of the Methodist church.

3. John Wesley sought combat with Willow and didn't consider alternatives, the prosecutor said.

4. In 2002, John Wesley was listed at number 50 on the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons, drawn from a poll of the British public.

5. John Wesley continues to be the primary theological influence on Methodists and Methodist-heritage groups the world over; the largest bodies being the United Methodist Church, the Methodist Church of Great Britain and the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

6. John Wesley wrote on divine physics, such as in Desideratum, subtitled Electricity made Plain and Useful by a Lover of Mankind and of Common Sense.

7. John Wesley adapted the Book of Common Prayer for use by American Methodists.

8. John Wesley was a logical thinker and expressed himself clearly, concisely and forcefully in writing.

9. John Wesley warned against the dangers of alcohol abuse in his famous sermon, The Use of Money, and in his letter to an alcoholic.

10. John Wesley travelled widely, generally on horseback, preaching two or three times each day.

11. For instance, in 1769, John Wesley allowed Crosby to give exhortations.

12. John Wesley influenced George Whitefield to journey to the colonies, spurring the transatlantic debate on slavery.

13. John Wesley published a pamphlet on slavery, titled Thoughts Upon Slavery, in 1774.

14. John Wesley entered controversies as he tried to enlarge church practice.

15. John Wesley contended that a part of the theological method would involve experiential faith.

16. John Wesley intended that Coke and Francis Asbury should ordain others in the newly founded Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States.

17. John Wesley ordained Thomas Coke as superintendent of Methodists in the United States by the laying on of hands, although Coke was already a priest in the Church of England.

18. John Wesley has links to the Derbyshire town of Chapel-en-le-frith, where he visited four times between 1740 and 1786.

19. John Wesley had strong links with the North West of England, visiting Manchester on at least fifteen occasions between 1733 and 1790.

20. John Wesley laid the foundations of what now constitutes the organisation of the Methodist Church.

21. John Wesley had helped them organise the Fetter Lane Society, and those converted by his preaching and that of his brother and Whitefield had become members of their bands.

22. Late in 1739 John Wesley broke with the Moravians in London.

23. John Wesley was unhappy about the idea of field preaching as he believed Anglican liturgy had much to offer in its practice.

24. John Wesley hesitated to accept Whitefield's call to copy this bold step.

25. John Wesley allied himself with the Moravian society in Fetter Lane.

26. John Wesley was influenced by their deep faith and spirituality rooted in pietism.

27. John Wesley began to seek after holiness of heart and life.

28. John Wesley married Susanna, the twenty-fifth child of Samuel Annesley, a dissenting minister, in 1689.