English evangelist, theologian, and founder (with his brother Charles and George Whitefield) of the 18th-century Methodist movement (1703-1791). Ordained in the Church of England and educated at Oxford, he underwent a conversion experience at a Moravian meeting on Aldersgate Street in London on May 24, 1738: "I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation." From that point he preached an estimated 40,000 sermons over 53 years, traveling some 250,000 miles on horseback — the original itinerant evangelist.
Wesley is the founding father of evangelical Methodism and a major shaper of English-speaking Christianity. His theological distinctives ("Arminian" in contrast to Whitefield's Calvinism) emphasized: (1) prevenient grace — God's grace that goes before us, enabling genuine response; (2) free will restored by grace; (3) universal atonement — Christ died for all; (4) the possibility of "entire sanctification" or "Christian perfection" in this life (a distinctive much debated). His organizational genius was Methodist class meetings — small weekly groups of 12 or so where members gave account of their spiritual life. These class meetings are why Methodism grew explosively: every convert was immediately plugged into discipleship with rigorous accountability. Wesley's sermons and his brother Charles's 6,500+ hymns ("Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," "And Can It Be") still shape worship worldwide. Modern Methodism has drifted far from Wesley theologically, but the global movements he sired — Holiness, Pentecostal, Charismatic — all carry his fingerprints.