Fire Among the Stubble: Church Renewal In the Wesleyan Tradition

By William Kirchhofer

Beginning with an examination of the evangelical revival in eighteenth century Great Britain led by John Wesley and continuing with the formation of the Free Methodist Church in nineteenth century America the factors that contributed to the renewal of the church during these periods is examined. From this examination general abiding principles of church renewal in the Wesleyan tradition are developed. A comprehensive set of practical church renewal principles is provided to church leaders today. The implementation of these principles will lead to an organizational culture within which church renewal can take place.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329424418

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Fire Among the Stubble: Church Renewal In the Wesleyan Tradition

FIRE AMONG THE STUBBLE

CHURCH RENEWAL IN THE WESLEYAN TRADITION

BY

WILLIAM KIRCHHOFER

MAY 2009

Copywrite  2009 by William Kirchhofer

DEDICATION

To Daisy my gift from God

ABSTRACT

Beginning with the evangelical revival in eighteenth century Great Britain and continuing with the formation of the Free Methodist Church in nineteenth century America, the factors that contributed to the renewal of the church during these periods is examined. From this examination general abiding principles of church renewal in the Wesleyan tradition are developed. The conflict engendered by the implementation of these principles is also discussed. Finally, this thesis provides church leaders with a comprehensive set of church renewal principles that if implemented will lead to an organizational culture within which church renewal can take place.

INTRODUCTION

The young man stands gazing up at the portrait. The elder John Wesley peers down at him from the canvas. The artist has captured well Wesley’s clear intense gaze. The young man, a modern day pastor, bows his head and prays, Lord do it again.[1] Many pastors and earnest Christians can empathize with the pastor gazing at Wesley’s portrait. They long to see the church ablaze with revival. They yearn to see lives renewed and society reformed. Wesley reminds us of a time in church history when renewal spread like fire transforming lives and society. Is it possible that the Lord could do it again? Can the fire of renewal blaze in our time? The answer is a resounding yes!

God longs to renew his church and reform society. Where do we start? What do we do? The Wesleyan tradition provides compelling answers to these questions. In the pages that follow principles of church renewal in the Wesleyan tradition will be developed. Chapter one examines the life and ministry of John Wesley. The enduring principles that Wesley used to initiate and to sustain church renewal will be uncovered. Chapter two confronts the issue of conflict. The experience of B.T. Roberts and others who sought to renew the Methodist Episcopal Church in the mid-nineteenth century will be examined. From this examination an essential understanding of renewal related conflict will be developed.  Chapter three presents a comprehensive set of church renewal principles in the Wesleyan tradition. These principles are foundational and transferable to any ministry setting. It is this writer’s firm belief and prayer that the implementation of these principles of church renewal will create a church culture within which the Lord will do it again. May the fire burn among the stubble.

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[1]Robert G. Tuttle Jr., John Wesley, His Life and Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978), 9.

CHAPTER ONE

IGNITING THE FIRE: JOHN WESELY’S PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH RENEWAL

Introduction

From 1738 to this time, preaching wholly on this plan ‘the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the gospel,’ the Word of God ran as fire among the stubble.

—John Wesley, The Methodist Societies History,

Nature, and Design

John Wesley and the renewal movement he led significantly impacted the Christian world of the eighteenth century. David Hempton calls the Wesleyan renewal movement, arguably the most important Protestant religious development since the reformation.[2]  One writer argues that no other renewal movement since apostolic days had the sustained energy and power as did the movement which the Wesleys and Whitefield led.[3] Any study of church renewal would be incomplete without an examination of the life of John Wesley. The renewal, of which he was a part, was not short lived but spanned fifty years. It was not limited to one geographical area but spread throughout the English-speaking world. The aftershocks of John Wesley’s ministry are still felt today over two hundred years later.

While statistics alone can not tell the story of lives revived, institutions renewed, and societal customs reformed through the ministry of John Wesley, the statistics do leave one with the distinct impression that God was at work in his world. At the time of Wesley’s death, there were 72,000 Methodists in Great Britain and 57,000 in America[4] where previously there had been none. Within one hundred years of Wesley’s death, Methodism had become to use Hempton’s words, a major international religious movement.[5] One of John Wesley’s obituaries praised him for transforming the lives of the outcasts of society and having filled those lips with prayer and praise that had been accustomed to oaths and imprecation.[6] While recognizing that there are divine elements as well as sociological, economic, and political elements[7] in religious renewals, this chapter will mine the ministry of John Wesley to uncover general abiding principles of church renewal. This chapter is not a complete biographical, historical[8] or theological[9] treatment of John Wesley’s life and ministry. Howard Snyder calls the ministry of John Wesley one of the primary examples of renewal in church history.[10] This writer’s intent therefore is to examine the Wesleyan renewal and extract abiding principals of church renewal.

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[2]David Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005), 2.

[3] W.H. Fitchett, Wesley and His Century: A Study in Spiritual Forces (Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham, 1907), 357.

[4]Howard A. Snyder, The Radical Wesley and Patterns of Church Renewal (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1996), 3.

[5]Hempton, Methodism, 2.

[6] Anthony Armstrong, The Church of England, The Methodists and Society 1700-1850 (London: University of London Press, 1973), 95.

[7]See Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit for a discussion of these factors.

[8]For a biography of the life of John Wesley see, Henry D. Rack, Reasonable Enthusiast (London: Epworth Press, 2002).

[9]For a study of Wesley’s theological development see, Kenneth J. Collins, John Wesley A Theological Journey (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003).

[10]Snyder, The Radical Wesley, 125.

Tradition and Transition: John Wesley’s World

The world of eighteenth-century England can best be described as a time of tradition and transition. Society was beginning to change from an agricultural to an industrial framework. Economically it was changing from a mercantilist system to a capitalist economy. Populations were shifting from the rural areas to the new urban industrial centers. Merchants and the new industrialists were becoming rich and many of the new industrial workers particularly coal miners were trapped in cycles of poverty. Intellectually the age of reason was in full bloom. Reason and not scripture was seen as the measuring rod for experience and belief. Influential writers in England such as John Taylor deemed the Christian doctrine of original sin to be far too pessimistic and an unwelcome throwback to a superstitious age.[11]  Education and instruction were seen as the way to improve the human condition. The belief was that man could reason his way to God.[12] In fact due to England’s previous experience with the Puritan Commonwealth a general distrust and fear of religious enthusiasm pervaded the society. This resulted in a turning away from what was seen as emotional, fanatical religion and a general distrust for anything but reason.

Despite the spiritual lethargy that existed within English society as the eighteenth century dawned, England was considered a Christian country. The Anglican Church was an official state church and was part of the political and social fabric of the society. Bishops were appointed based upon political considerations. The clergy were accepted professionals within the society. They had social status as well as financial interests arising from the parishes to which they were assigned. Religion and politics were inseparable.  Only properly educated and politically connected individuals were permitted to be Anglican clergy. The priests were socially elite and far removed from the common people they were to minister to. Church buildings were financed by the renting of pews and consequently the poor had nowhere to sit. The sermons of the day emphasized reason, natural religion, and morality. As Henry Rack has rightly noted, Behind such notions lay ultimately an optimistic, benevolent reading of the nature of God, an implicit denial of original sin in favor of man’s natural goodness.[13] The church had become a quasi governmental and social institution lacking any prophetic voice and unable to meet the spiritual needs of a growing and changing population at precisely the moment when spiritual needs were acute due to the societal transitions occurring. The structure of the Anglican Church was the parish system. This system had been set up to minister to what had been a rural culture. This rural parish church structure was incapable of ministering to the needs of the industrial society which was developing.[14]

John Wesley noted in a journal entry that he had heard a sermon, setting forth the duty of getting a good estate and keeping a good reputation. He commented, Is it possible to deny (supposing the Bible true) that such a preacher is a ‘blind leader of the blind.’[15] A telling indication of the condition of the church is that once John Wesley, his brother Charles, and George Whitefield began to preach salvation by faith in the Anglican churches, they were banned from further preaching in those churches. Wesley writes in his journal, I preached in the morning at St. Ann’s, Aldersgate, and in the afternoon at the Savoy chapel, free salvation by faith in the blood of Christ. I was quickly apprised that at St. Ann’s likewise I am to preach no more.[16]  John Wesley as a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, was asked to preach before the university at least once per year. An examination of the three sermons he preached before the university church in the years 1738, 1741, and 1744 are instructive in understanding Wesley’s view of the state of the church. The titles of these sermons are, Salvation by Faith, The Almost Christian and finally, in 1744, Scriptural Christianity. Each is a direct challenge and indeed rebuke to the institutional church. One author called these sermons, revival manifestoes, boldly assailing the dead theology and decadent Christianity of Oxford circles and of the church at large.[17] In his last sermon before the University, entitled, Scriptural Christianity, Wesley exposes the institutional church in strong prophetic words. He states,

so many of you are a generation of triflers; triflers with God, with one