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This year saw the death of a man who had made preaching about his beliefs, his religion, his entire life's work. His name was John Wesley and he founded something called Methodism. Wesley and his brother Charles would travel all over Britain and Ireland, preaching out in the open a lot of the time.
Wesley was born in 1703 and had a very privileged education. He was ordained as a priest in 1728. Wesley then moved across the Atlantic to the new colony of Georgia but his ministry there was not that successful. He returned to England and very soon began his own ministry. He would form small Christian groups on his travels and these soon developed. Wesley would appoint ordinary people as ministers to travel and preach just as he did and to look after the less well-off people. For a time he and his followers were barred from preaching in some churches although Wesley always argued that Methodism was just a part of the Church of England.
Methodists became the leaders in many social issues of the day. Methodism favours charity and support for the sick, the poor, and the disadvantaged. Wesley took his vision of Christainity to the labourers and even the convicts of that time. It was only after his death, at the age of 87, that Methodism became a separate religion as it still is today.
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