Our United Methodist history and heritage is an amazing act of God’s grace. I was reminded of this recently as I taught in the Cumberland District Lay Speaker’s school. I taught the course on United Methodist history, theology, and structure.

Jacob Albright, Martin Boehm, Philip William Otterbein, and John and Charles Wesley are the forefathers of the United Methodist Church. Albright, Boehm, and Otterbein had similar religious experiences/spiritual awakenings that transformed their lives and led to great ministries with German-speaking settlers in the early days of America. Their theology and beliefs were remarkably similar to John Wesley’s. These three are the forefathers of the Evangelical United brethren Church with which the Methodist Church merged in 1968 to form the United Methodist Church.

Probably the most famous spiritual awakening was of floundering, young Anglican priest, John Wesley. He did all he could to be saved, but works are not the way to salvation. On May 24, 1738, John reluctantly went to a Bible study on Aldersgate Street. The study was on the book of Romans. At about 8:45, John said, "I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ..... And an assurance was given me."

...But there’s more to the story - John’s brother Charles, the priest and great hymn-writer, was suffering from pleurisy and "was taken to the home of John Bray, whom Charles said later was ‘a poor ignorant mechanic, who knows nothing but Christ’." Listen to the account from The United Methodist Primer (Chester E. Custer):

"It was there that a friend read Luther’s remarks on the Second Chapter of Galatians: ‘He loved me and gave Himself for me.’ There, too, Bray’s sister said, ‘In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt be healed of all thy infirmities.’ Charles took the words as a message from God and said, ‘I now find myself at peace with God, and rejoiced in hope of loving Christ.’ Two days later, on May 23, 1738, Charles said, ‘I began a hymn upon my conversion.’ That hymn might be called the birth song of the Methodist Revival.

"Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire....."

This great hymn is found on page 342 of our hymnal and is well worth reading. Our hymnal tells more of the story. It’s later that night of May 24, 1738; "Towards 10, my brother (John) was brought in triumph by a troop of our friends, and declared, ‘I believe.’ We sang the hymn with great joy, and parted with prayer."

The Wesleyan revival began. It’s grace and love swept over this nation. And we are the recipients of this great grace and love. We are also the stewards of it. May God continue to bless this work on the United Methodist Church; and may He be praised for His justifying and sanctifying grace in the lives of Otterbein, Albright, Boehm, and the Wesleys.