encountered Jesus Christ? Do you believe that Christian salvation can be known and experienced in the present life? If so, you may owe something to the conversions of John and Charles Wesley. 

John and Charles Wesley’s conversions sparked a dramatic change in the way Christians thought about salvation, faith, and experience. They founded worldwide movements known as Methodism that have tens of millions of followers. Many modern Christians have also been affected in one way or another by the Wesleys’ example.

Their mother, Susannah, was a godly English woman whose influence and example would affect the boys for their entire lives. John was born in 1703, and his brother, Charles, was born in 1707, were as two out of nineteen siblings. By the time they reached college, both brothers were trying hard to live devoted Christian lives, even founding a “Holy Club” to practice prayer, fasting, Bible reading, and charity together with other schoolmates. Still, they were deeply uncertain about their own eternal destinies and their standing before God. The young men even crossed the Atlantic for a mission trip to Georgia in the New World, but came away from the experience yet more worried. John wrote, “I went to America to convert the Indians, but, oh, who shall convert me?” 

One bright spot for both brothers was that on their mission trip, they encountered the Moravian Brethren, a group of Christians who had been practicing communal life and a deep, Biblical faith for hundreds of years. Upon the Wesleys’ return to the United Kingdom, the Moravian connection proved to be a key turning point. Within a few days of one another, both brothers had found the true, saving faith in Christ that they had chased after for years. John famously described the experience as feeling “my heart strangely warmed.” Charles, even more famously, penned thousands of hymns that are among the most treasured English language writings in history. Together, the brothers helped to change the teachings and practices of Protestant Christians, from emphasizing uncertainty, to rejoicing in a confident, exultant faith. Protestants everywhere began to point to specific dates and times when they found or renewed their faith. Many Christians also came to believe that salvation was something that could be definitely known and experienced even while they remained frail and finite human beings. 

The most fitting conclusion may be to quote Charles’ own resounding phrases: