John Wesley was born in 1703 into the family of a Church of England minister, Samuel Wesley (1662-1735), then rector of Epworth. His parents came from a strict Puritan background. His maternal grandfather, Doctor Annesley, is one of the outstanding theologians of Puritanism. His paternal grandfather, a lay preacher, fell victim to the religious reaction following the accession of Charles II.

However, his parents rallied very early to the Church of England. Samuel Wesley, his father, very serious in the exercise of his pastoral charge, loving order and discipline, angered some parishioners by his rigor. His mother, Suzanne Wesley, remained famous for the method of education she employed with the nineteen children she raised in a discipline aimed at inculcating in them from an early age the principles of religion and piety. Young Wesley grew up in a devout Christian atmosphere.

As a child, Wesley receives the “baptism of fire” during the fire of the presbytery of Epworth from which he miraculously escapes. A graduate of Oxford, he was his father’s suffragan from 1727 to 1729, while his younger brother Charles brought together a small circle of “pious” students, of which John, on his return to Oxford, took over the management. This Holy Club (1729-1735), a student society, is devoted to the reading of ancient texts and the Bible. Its members, very attached to university discipline, scrupulously observe Scripture and communicate once a week, on Sundays at Christ Church, which earned them the name of “Methodists”.

The American Experience
In 1735, John Wesley, ordained Anglican priest, left with his father and two friends to evangelize the Indians of Georgia in the United States. John Wesley learns German to communicate with the Moravians during the crossing. At the end of a perilous journey, where life is organized between devotion, evangelization and study, Wesley lands in Georgia. He considers this America as “mission land”, with the avowed aim of reducing the influence of the Quakers there. But he is disappointed not to be able to carry out missionary work with the Indians. Thus, he returned to Europe, shaken in his faith by frequenting the Moravians.