John Wesley: Founder of the Methodist Church

Heroes of the Faith

by Sam Wellman

His ground-breaking style as a pioneer itinerant preacher and his desire that God's message reach all classes of society made him the great Methodist.

Genres: Biography, Christian, Nonfiction, History, Religion, Christianity

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

About the author

Sam Wellman, PhD, is a writer of numerous biographies. He has traveled to Germany many times and twice stayed for several months (in Berlin and Wittenberg). He blogs and tweets on Martin Luther and Frederick the Wise. He lives near Wichita, Kansas.

Reviews

[Cindy aka "The Book Fairy" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad of a shorter story which was all I was in the mood for. I had known some of life story; his rescue at age 5 from a burning house, his large family and his wonderful Mother Susanna. He was certainly devout in his steadfast desire to continue preaching on horseback every chance he could! I learned a bit ore about the German Moravian missionaries who they worked with as well...it was a lot of rules and regulations with the staunch lifestyle of the Church of England (Anglican)...it was insightful.

[Titus Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

This book was super interesting to read. John Wesley’s life was not something I knew much about. It was cool to see how God used him to bring about the Methodist church and bring people to Christ.

My biggest negative about this book is the way it was written. To be completely frank, the writing was pretty terrible. It wasn’t engaging at all and didn’t flow well. It made it hard for me to want to keep reading. It was just dry. It also felt like it skimmed over a lot of stuff about Wesley’s life. Stuff that could have been examined in more detail.

But as far as the biography went, it was super interesting. It’s definitely more of a basic overview of Wesley’s life rather than an in depth discussion of it. So that is something to keep in mind.

[Chuck Barton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A major disappointment. I came away wondering what made John Wesley special and what made Methodism special in his time. Reading the book left me feeling that Wesley was a frustrated lover who found numerous women who he enjoyed and who liked him but he never let himself pull the trigger on marriage until he married a harridan for reasons are unclear. You get a lot about his family - parents and siblings - though it is hard to keep track of them all. The book has the flavor of a young adult book, but even then I would have expected more about the tenets of Methodism and fewer stories of him riding around in all kinds of bad weather and living a frustrated love life.

[Nate Bate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam Wellman provides us with a short, easy read on the life of John Wesley, and readers will feel like they have a good sense of who John Wesley was without having to read a long book. This is not a book for those who want to dig deep or want to see the author's source material because there is none.

One interesting focus of the book was John Wesley's relationships with women. It seemed to me that was a bigger focus than the other couple of books I have read dealing with John Wesley. I'm part way through another book on John Wesley with a couple more to go after that. Curious if other books will spend some time on this.

[Paul, · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book because I like the story of John Wesley. I think there is a lot that we can all learn from it. But the book is somehow historical fiction? A little too speculative to be biography, a little too factual to be fiction. Not my favorite genre. I'd like to read something more substantive on this strange man who made a great impact on the faith in England and America.

[Jamie Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's just say, it doesn't give a detailed story of his life. It might be an okay introduction if you have never heard of him but I don't think it is a flattering portrayal. He wasn't perfect still did a lot for church doctrine. It could have been written way better.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 4 out of 5]

First I've read about John Wesley in a long time.

He definitely accomplished much. But wow! In some ways he had to have been very difficult to interact with.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice book for an overview of Wesley's life.

[Cecile · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not what I expected. But I'm reading it to get a sense of church history and will pass it to my daughter when I am finished with it.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The John Wesley I never knew. He's a real godly man and a real man of God. We need people like him nowadays.

[David Kandar]

i want reading