The Wesleyans Get It!

So I left off a few days ago with The Wesleyans of 18th century Britain are one of Church History’s best examples of how Christians can make a difference without an “edifice complex.” I promise I will circle back to the Kingdom soon, but first…

The horrific conditions that existed prior to the brutal revolution in France at the end of the 18th century also existed in Great Britain. Great Britain however did not sink into a revolution similar to the one in France. It is worth noting that Great Britain had a significant number of Wesleyans, France, on other hand, had no comparable group. The French had already expelled their largest group of Protestants, the Huguenots. While the Wesleyans did not, by themselves, keep Britain from a revolution similar to the one France experienced; they were a significant mitigating force that championed the poor.

Conditions in 18th Century Britain

Housing: Ten people living in one room was common
Streets: Horse manure piled as much as 14 feet high along side the roads was common.
Diseases: Typhoid, small pox, dysentery, and cholera spread unchecked.
Starvation: Daily wagons picked up the bodies of those who had starved to death the night before on the streets of British towns.
Grave Yards: Poor Holes were large common graves, left open until they were filled with the bodies of the unknown.
Schools: one in twenty five children attended any type of school.
Children: By the age of six children worked 12 to 14 hours a day, many were sold to Chimney Sweeps by the age of two or three.
The Law: Five men were hanged in London for stealing a total of $1.50

The Wesleyan Response

1.Started schools for the poor, the first Sunday School was started by a lay man, Robert Raikes, who was influenced by Wesley. Its purpose was to teach kids, who worked in the factories six days week, the three Rs.
2.Started food and clothing distributions.
3.Opened homes for widows.
4.Launched the Sick Visitors Corporation to visit the sick in hospitals.
5.Championed prison reform and started prison ministries.
6.Began an unemployment program.
7.Started the Strangers Friend Society to befriend immigrants.
8.Started orphanages, in fact when Wesley traveled to America to preach during the Great Awakening, his primary motivation was to start orphanages.
9.Did ministry in London’s workhouses through something called the Christian Community.
10.Did pre and post natal care and religious instruction to unwed mothers
11.Offered loans to poor people to start businesses, the slogan was “join hands with God to help a poor man live.”

There was a deep conviction among 18th century Wesleyans that God was on the side of the poor. Therefore, to be on God’s side meant joining Him on the side of the poor. Unfortunately that mentality has largely disappeared in affluent middle class American churches.