wfn.org | Wesley took preaching into the open air

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

April 20, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.    {235}

NOTE:  This is a regular feature on Methodist history by John Singleton
for distribution by United Methodist News Service.  A head-and-shoulders
photograph of Singleton is available with this story.

A United Methodist News Service feature

There is a silver-haired prophet of Methodism who still holds questions
and answer sessions in London England's Hyde Park and Tower Hill --
where, against the backdrop of the historic Tower of London, he has been
holding a weekly open-air meeting for around 70 years.  A nearby plaque
pays tribute to this remarkable achievement by Donald Soper.

Now age 95, he is an eminent pastor, a former president of the Methodist
Church in Britain, a recipient of the World Methodist peace award, a
life peer of the realm in Britain's upper parliamentary chamber, the
House of Lords...and probably the best known Methodist in England for
more than four decades.

But Lord Soper -- an articulate open-air speaker whose gifts of wit,
repartee, incisive argument and apologetics have been the envy of
priests and politicians alike -- has never regarded himself as anything
other than, quite simply, one of Mr. Wesley's preachers.  He is a pastor
who acts in the tradition of the founder of Methodism -- much of whose
preaching and ministry was conducted in the open-air.

It was 259 years ago that John Wesley responded to fellow preacher
George Whitefield's call and preached his first open-air sermon, at
Bristol.  Whitefield was a field preacher of great power and eloquence
who had built up a tremendous following in the Bristol area, but he
wanted to return to America and was keen for Wesley to continue the work
he had built up.

"I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of
preaching in the fields, of which he set me an example on Sunday,"
wrote Wesley in his journal.  "Having been all my life -- till very
lately -- so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order,
that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if it had
not been done in a church."

The next evening, Mr. Whitefield having departed, he began expounding on
the Sermon on the Mount to a little Methodist society in Bristol;
afterwards noting in his journal that the Sermon on the Mount was itself
"one pretty remarkable precedent of field-preaching, though I suppose
there were churches at that time also."

The next day Wesley really let himself go.  "At four in the afternoon, I
submitted to be more vile,
and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking
from a little eminence in a ground adjoining the city, to about 3,000
people ...," he wrote. 

This was a huge step for someone so steeped in established church
tradition, but from that point  on there was no stopping him.  Barred
from many Anglican churches - where he would first of all have preached
- Wesley instead went to the people wherever they would gather as well
as consenting  to make himself "more vile," he had also made himself
more vulnerable in the cause of the Gospel.

In the 18th century this was a tremendous novelty.  Some people were
shocked and thought preaching in the open-air  was vulgar and dangerous
(for the listeners).  But many, especially among the poorer sections of
society, flocked to hear Wesley and  Whitefield preach.  People
like the miners of Kingswood just outside Bristol, were rough,
uneducated men, but they listened eagerly to the preachers' passionate
words.

On his travels in Britain and Ireland Wesley preached to crowds in
market squares, under trees, on hillocks, in the field, on the streets,
from tombstones, in yards, gardens and meadows, on village greens,
beaches, in boats and in the ubiquitous "open  place" which peppers his
Journal.  And if he was not in the open-air he was likely to be
preaching in people's houses, the local town hall, a military barracks,
or the prison.  One of his favorite times for addressing the crowds was
at 5 am.

All over Britain there are places which are still  pointed  out as spots
where John Wesley once preached.  Often he would  stand on the steps of
the village cross, or on a wall (as Donald Soper later did on Tower Hill
for 60 years), or on a cart, so that people could both see and hear him
better.  At Gwennap, near Redruth in Cornwall, he found  a great hollow
in the ground which served as a natural amphitheater in which hundreds
could hear him.

Not surprisingly, because of their proliferation, many of his preaching
places remain unmarked, but it is still possible to come across spots
that have been handed down by word of mouth as traditionally associated
with him.  These include such giveaways as  "Wesley's rock", Wesley's
thorn bush", Wesley's lodging house".

In 1742, seven years after his father's death, Wesley revisited Epworth,
his birthplace.  He offered to preach in the parish church where his
father had been rector, but was rebuffed by the then incumbent.  So he
waited until the church service had ended and then preached to a large
crowd from his father's tombstone in the churchyard.

In the Staffordshire town of Wednesbury he stood on the steps of a
malt-house.  The building has long since been pulled down, but the steps
- known as Wesley's horseblock  - have been preserved.  As we have seen,
it was at Wednesbury and in other places that Wesley's open-air
preaching made him vulnerable to sporadic violent  opposition to
Methodism.  The people did not always hear him gladly.  

On his 72nd birthday in 1774 Wesley wrote:  "How is this, that I find
just the same strength as I did 30 years ago?  That my sight is
considerably better now, and my nerves firmer, than they were then?
That I have none of the infirmities of old age, and have lost several I
had in my youth?... the chief means are: 1) my constantly rising at 4 am
for about 50 years, 2) my generally  preaching at five in the morning;
one of the most healthy exercises in the world. 3) My never travelling
less, by sea or land, than 4,500 miles in a year." 

John Wesley would undoubtedly stand back in admiration of Lord Soper's
longevity in open-air speaking, but he might be less enthusiastic  about
the institution of the House of Lords.  In 1785, having visited the
British upper chamber of parliament for two or three hours, he noted::
"I had 
frequently heard that this was the most venerable assembly in England.
But how was I disappointed!".

I am sure Wesley would not be disappointed at the variety of ministries
which have since taken Methodism out of the security of its buildings
and into the communities our world wide Church has been called to serve.

# # #
*Singleton has been news editor of the Methodist Recorder, the weekly
London-based newspaper of British Methodism, for almost 30 years.  A lay
preacher, he is an active member of an inner-city Methodist church in a
multi-racial East London neighborhood.  He can be reached by e-mail at
editorial@methodistrecorder.co.uk

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