Aldersgate or Fetter Lane

5
John Wesley Prior to Aldersgate
The Holy Club of Oxford
Heitzenrater refers to Wesley’s own description of three rises of Methodism prior
to the revival of 1739. These are geographically based in Oxford, Georgia, and London. 11
The first rise, in Oxford, was based primarily on the founding of the Holy Club in 1729-
30. John Wesley, his brother Charles, George Whitefield and others were focused on a
serious pursuit of holy living organized around “lists of questions, ciphers for diary
entries, books for study, and schedules for visiting needy people.” 12 Due to their
structured approach to faithful living, the group was variously called “Sacramentarians”
(because they regularly attended church unlike many of their fellow Oxford students),
“Holy Club,” “Godly Club,” “Supererogation Men,” “Bible Moths,” and eventually
“Methodists.” 13 Wesley learned many years later that “they always took me to be a little
crack-brained at Oxford.” 14
The efforts of holy living were not without a spiritual basis. As Heitzenrater
writes, “Wesley was aware of the ease with which such busyness could become an end in
itself … [and] that the main point they needed to establish to make all their activity
11
Richard P. Heitzenrater, Wesley and the People Called Methodists (Nashville, TN: Abingdon
Press, 1995), 33-95. Also Richard P. Heitzenrater, “The Founding Brothers,” in The Oxford Handbook of
Methodist Studies, eds. William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press,
2009), 32-37
12
Heitzenrater, “Founding Brothers,” 33.
13
Heitzenrater, “Founding Brothers,” 33.
14
Wesley, “July 17, 1739,” Works, vol. 19, 81.