From the beginning, the Church of England was a ripe target for reform. Though England’s king made himself ‘head’ of the church, doctrines and rituals continued much as they had before. Having been ‘born into the church,’ many members lacked personal involvement and commitment. John Wesley (1703-1791), an Anglican clergyman, knew that Christ deserved better devotion and service. But he wondered about his own relationship with God. While listening to a Moravian preacher read from Luther about Romans, John Wesley had a sudden feeling of salvation. Of the “Aldersgate experience,” Wesley wrote,
About a quarter before nine, while he [the Moravian] was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my 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.
THEIR EFFORTS DISPLEASED AUTHORITIES.
Though Wesley was very familiar with the Bible, his conversion experience does not match any conversion account in the Bible. However, as good Anglicans, John and his brother Charles preached enthusiastically and helped the poor. Their efforts displeased Anglican authorities. The Wesleys’ followers, unable to work within Anglicanism, formed the Methodist Church (1795). They followed John Wesley’s book General Rules and Methodist Disciplines, to which new rules are added by official Methodist conferences.