“History at its best accurately reflects on what happened and builds vision for what can yet happen.

Bevins highlights the people and the practices of one of the great movements of Christianity—and
inspires us to multiply disciples and churches in our generation.”
—Wayne Schmidt, General Superintendent, The Wesleyan Church

“Winfield masterfully summarizes John Wesley and the Methodist movement. If you want to see a
church multiplication movement happen in your context today, this is required reading.”
—Daniel Im, Author, No Silver Bullets; Coauthor, Planting Missional
Churches; Director of Church Multiplication, NewChurches.com

“Marks of a Movement is a concise account of the characteristics of the Methodist movement and its
application for today. I’ve read a lot of material on John Wesley and the Methodists, but this eBook has
some valuable surprises. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from one of the greatest movements in
history.”
—Steve Addison, Author, Pioneering Movements

“‘A brand plucked from the burning’—my countryman, John Wesley, started a fiery movement of
reproducing disciples, leaders, and churches. It’s vital to learn again from the man and his ministry, but
most of all from his methods. I am thrilled that Dr. Bevins helps us do so here, and in such a readable
manner.”
—Anthony Delaney, Leader, the Ivy Network, NewThing UK, and
LAUNCH Conference

“With his love for the history of the church and his personal experience of church planting, Bevins
helps us understand powerful lessons from John Wesley that can inspire HeroMakers today.”
—Christian Selvaratnam, Head of Church Planting Engagement,
Alpha UK & Europe; Leader of G2 York

“Marks of a Movement is a handful of gems for the movement-maker—giving them precious and short
reflections on some of our most brilliant forbearers in church revival. Winfield Bevins is a unique voice
bringing together mainline leaders, church planters, and dreamers from across a huge spectrum.”
—Graham Singh, Executive Director, Church Planting Canada;
Rector, St Jax Montreal

“With a powerful simplicity, Bevins has written a brief book distilling John Wesley’s wisdom of the
past to help us move forward on God’s mission. His excellent overview of Wesley’s life and strategies
of “movement making” are crystal clear and compelling. For any leader interested in seeing a gospel
movement, Marks of a Movement is an essential resource.”
—Rev. Dr. Larry Walkemeyer, Lead Pastor, Light & Life Christian
Fellowship; Superintendent, Southern California Free Methodist;
Director of Equipping, Exponential

“Inspirational and to-the-point. If you want to know how our Father worked through those early
Methodists to launch a global multiplication movement, then read this book! Bevins calls us to learn
from the wisdom of those who have gone before us, and we must heed his call. Read, learn, and apply!”
—J. D. Payne, Pastor of Church Multiplication, The Church at Brook
Hills; Author, Apostolic Church Planting
 MARKS OF A
MULTIPLYING
MOVEMENT
Lessons from the Wesleyan Revival
for Church Multiplication

WINFIELD BEVINS

Foreword by Alan Hirsch

Marks of a Multiplying Movement
Copyright © 2017 by Winfield Bevins

Exponential is a growing movement of activists committed to the multiplication of healthy new

churches. Exponential Resources spotlights actionable principles, ideas and solutions for the accelerated
multiplication of healthy, reproducing faith communities. For more information, visit exponential.org.

All rights reserved. No part of this book, including icons and images, may be reproduced in any
manner without prior written permission from copyright holder, except where noted in the text and in
the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is manufactured in the United States.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International
Version, copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. All emphases in Scripture
quotations have been added by the author.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1-62424-018-8

Edited by Chad Harrington

Internal and cover design by Harrington Interactive Media

4
 Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge several key people who have influenced me toward writing this book on the
Wesleyan revival as a model for modern day multiplication. Although I am not a Methodist, I am especially
grateful for the work of two of my heroes of the faith who are: Robert Coleman, author The Master Plan of
Evangelism, and Howard Snyder, author of The Radical Wesley. Their writings have greatly impacted my life and
ministry over the years.

I am also thankful for my friends Todd Wilson and Bill Couchenour at Exponential, who are helping to change
the scorecard for how most Christians in North America view success. As opposed to old-church growth models
that focus on bodies, buildings, and budgets, the new scorecard calls church leaders to make and multiply
disciples through church planting and multiplication. To counter this stagnant culture, Todd Wilson and his team
at Exponential are focusing on helping leaders develop a vision for multiplication. Through these efforts, the call
has been sounded, but we must respond. We must engage in making disciples by planting multiplying churches
that plant even more churches—in every context. I am excited to write this book for the Exponential eBook
series.

I would like to thank Chad Harrington at Harrington Interactive Media for his help throughout the editorial
process and for helping me make this a more accessible and readable book.

I would also like to thank Alan Hirsch for writing the foreword and for his work in calling the church back to
being a missional movement in The Forgotten Ways.

Disciple-making leaders are at the heart of multiplication movements; these are hero makers, who make disciples
and multiply leaders around them. Multiplication isn’t about them; rather, it springs forth from their ability to
raise up leaders around them. What we need in our day is a movement of hero makers who will lead movements
that multiply disciples and churches in every city around the world.

This book is dedicated to all the men and women around the world who are committed to disciple-making
multiplication!
 INSIDE

Foreword by Alan Hirsch

Introduction

CHAPTER 1
Building From the Ground Up

CHAPTER 2
The Importance of Lay Leadership

CHAPTER 3
The Apostolic DNA of a Movement

CHAPTER 4
Creating Disciple-Making Systems

CHAPTER 5
Making a Movement That Lasts

Conclusion

Endnotes

Appendix: Characteristics of Movements

Multiplication Resources

About the Author

 Special Invitation

Please consider attending one of our six Exponential 2018 events. Our goal is
to help shape your paradigm for multiplication, inspire and encourage you to
multiply, and equip you to turn ideas into action. Our 2018 conferences are
built on the content of this book, and are designed to help you move from
ideas and inspiration to implementation and impact.

2018 Theme: HeroMaker: Daring to Lead a Multiplying Church

Locations and dates: Our national conference, Exponential in Orlando, Florida,

is a full-service event with thousands of attendees, 150+ speakers, 35+ tracks,
150+ workshops, and 12+ pre-conference equipping labs. Our Exponential
regional events are shorter and geographically based (translating to lower
overall costs for large teams). Regionals bring the full “punch” of the national
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Available Wherever Books are Sold

 FOREWORD

M y friend Winfield Bevins rightly reminds us of the vital

multiplication lessons from the Wesleyan movement, which
was one of the greatest missional movements the world has ever
known. Missional movements appear to the observer simply as
disciple-making systems. But, importantly, they never appear to get
beyond disciple-making as a core practice. This is the case, because
discipleship is at once the starting point, the abiding strategic
practice—and the key to all lasting missional impact in and through
movements. Whether one looks at the Wesleyan, Franciscan, or
Chinese phenomena, they are at the core essentially composed
of (and led by) disciples, and they are absolutely clear about the
disciple-making mandate.
The Methodist movement, as this book describes in detail, is
an example of just that, starting when John Wesley founded it in
eighteenth-century Britain. Following a life-changing encounter
with God, Wesley began to travel throughout Great Britain with
a vision for the conversion and discipling of the nation and the
renewal of a fallen church. He “sought no less than the recovery of
the truth, life, and power of earliest Christianity and the expansion
of that kind of Christianity.”1 Within a generation, one in thirty
people who were living in Britain had become Methodists, and

13
 Marks of a Movement

the movement was becoming a worldwide phenomenon. In the

opinion of Stephen Addison, a missiologist who has spent much
of his professional life studying Christian movements, the key to
Methodism’s success was the high level of commitment to the
Methodist cause that was expected of participants.2
The Methodist cause declined to the degree that the movement
had shifted away from its original missional ethos of evangelism
and disciple-making and degenerated into mere religious legalism
maintained by institution, rulebooks, and highly professionalized
clergy. In fact, although Methodism in America had experienced
massive exponential growth—35 percent of the population
in around forty years—two critical “movement killers” were
introduced into Methodism in America that effectively hamstrung
the movement. The first started in 1850, when the leaders of
Methodism had tired of the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians
who were deriding them as “uncouth and unlearned” ministers.
They decided that all their circuit riders and local ministers had
to complete four years of ordination studies in order to qualify.
Growth ceased straightaway! Then, ten years later (in 1860), they
no longer required classes and bands—discipleship had become an
optional extra. Methodism has been in decline ever since!3
Any guess of what the movement killers were? Yes, you probably
guessed that one was the requirement for ordination studies in order
to do what every believer already receives at his or her conversion—
the agency and ministry of all believers. The second, of course, is
non-discipleship. Most churches in the West follow the same route.
Guess what has to change?
Marks of a Movement calls us back to the disciple-making
mandate of the church through the timeless wisdom of John

14
 Marks of a Movement

Wesley and the Methodist movement. With a love for history and
a passion for today’s church, Winfield helps us reimagine church
multiplication in a way that focuses on making and multiplying
disciples for the twenty-first century.
—Alan Hirsch
Author, The Forgotten Ways

15
 INTRODUCTION

“Once upon a time, in John Wesley’s lifetime and for another century
or more, Methodism in Great Britain and in North America was a
contagious Christian movement.”
—George Hunter III

T he effects of secularism and other factors are being felt across

the Western world in the rapid decline of church attendance—
especially among young adults. According to the Hartford Institute
of Religion Research, weekly church attendance has dropped from
an average of one hundred nine attendees in 2005 to eighty in 2015.1
It is estimated that six hundred and sixty to seven hundred thousand
people leave the traditional church every year.2 In accordance with
this trend, the Pew Research Center has noted that nearly one
third of young adults now say they have no religious affiliation.
This young-adult group is often called “nones” because they are
disavowing association with any organized form of religion, which
makes them North America’s second largest religious group.3
What is the answer? Is it simple? Regardless of our answer here,
we in the West need a movement of historic proportions once again.
What would such a multiplication movement look like for us today?

16
 Marks of a Movement

We all want to see a movement in our day, but many of us can’t

envision such a grand reality. Thus, I say that we must look to the
past to gain wisdom for the future. As we look at the pages of church
history, there is no better example of a multiplication movement
in the West than the Methodist movement of the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries.

Eighteenth Century England

It was a dark place in eighteenth century England, when they
were on the verge of anarchy and chaos, along with widespread
poverty and rapid church decline. John Wesley lived during one
of the greatest paradigm shifts in history, which included the Age
of Reason and the rise of the industrial revolution. In the midst of
all of this turmoil, it has been said that the Wesleyan revival saved
England from the Revolution that France experienced.4 Rather than
resisting all of the changes and challenges, Wesley and his movement
engaged the culture head-on and helped prepare the church to
change society (instead of the other way around). Wesley returned to
the ancient faith, which was centered on radical discipleship and vital
relationships, and as a result, he transformed the religious landscape
of the Western world.
If anything could be said about John Wesley, it would be that
he empowered others to become heroes in God’s unfolding story.
With skill and discipline, Wesley quickly became one of the most
influential leaders of the evangelical awakening of the eighteenth
century by leading a movement that reached thousands of people in
his lifetime. He was committed to seeing lives truly transformed, and
during his life, he traveled more than 250,000 miles and preached
over 40,560 sermons.

17
 Marks of a Movement

The Wesleyan revival, which started with only a handful of

people in the 1700s, grew into a resurgence that established hundreds
of societies in England and in the United States. By John Wesley’s
death in 1791, Methodism had become a global church movement
with more than seventy thousand members in England and more
than forty thousand in the new United States, and with even more
among other mission stations around the world.
One of the greatest beauties of Wesley’s influence is that the
growth of Methodism continued well beyond his own life. Only a
few years after his death, Methodism in North America grew from
twelve hundred to two hundred thousand strong with more than
four thousand preachers. By 1830, official membership reached
almost half a million people, and attenders numbered six million.5
Then, from 1850 to 1905, American Methodism planted more than
seven hundred churches per year on average.6 In our present day and
age, if we are going to reach the world with the gospel of Christ, we
could use a movement of the same proportions and such astounding
success. To this end, I believe that the wisdom of the Wesleyan
revival offers vital and timeless lessons for church multiplication in
the twenty-first century.

About This Book

Although there are many books and articles written about John
Wesley within Methodist circles, few people outside of Methodism
really know this man and his impact on the church. It doesn’t
matter if you are a Baptist, Anglican, Pentecostal, or Presbyterian,
though; you can still learn from the life and ministry of John
Wesley. Therefore, it is my intention to offer an introduction

18
 Marks of a Movement

to the life, ministry, and movement of John Wesley, one that is

understandable, readable, and applicable to disciple-making and
church multiplication in the twenty-first century.
Throughout this book, I identify ten marks that characterized
the Methodist movement. Each chapter highlights several of these
hallmarks from the Wesleyan movement so we can apply them to
our context in today’s world. I wrote this book to speak across the
generations and denominational backgrounds to all Christians so
that we may rediscover the vital lessons that the Wesleyan movement
can teach us for church multiplication today.7

19
 Chapter 1

BUILDING FROM
THE GROUND UP

“Wesley was able to inspire commitment to the Methodist cause

because he embodied that commitment.”
—Steve Addison

T he Methodist movement can trace back its roots to its founder,

John Benjamin Wesley. Born on June 28, 1703 in the small town
of Epworth in northern England, he was one of nineteen children
born to Samuel and Susanna Wesley. His family had a wonderful
heritage of ministry: his father was a parish priest; his parents were
children of clergy; and even a generation before that had a person
in ministry. It only seemed natural, then, that John would follow in
the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great grandfather in the
service of the Lord.
John’s early life at Epworth, where he was born and raised, left
a lifelong impression upon him. Under the influence of his parents,
he developed a love for the church and education and a devotion
to God, and what happened on February 9 in 1709 left a lasting
impression on him. A fire had begun at the rectory just before

20
 Marks of a Movement

midnight. Without a moment to lose, most of the family escaped

down the staircase and some out of the window. To his dismay,
Samuel found that John Wesley was still asleep. Samuel tried to get
back into the house, but the fire had become too violent to reenter.
At the last minute, a man climbed on someone’s shoulders and
rescued John from the fire. Within only a few minutes from the time
the fire had started, the whole house burned to the ground. John
would never forget the providence of God that night, which saved
him from the burning fire. From this event, his mother called him a
“brand plucked out of the burning.”

Wesley’s Education
Wesley’s formal education began in 1714, when he was sent
to Charterhouse, a school that prepared him to enter Oxford
University. He matriculated into Christ Church College, Oxford, in
1720. By the time of his graduation in 1724, he had become versed in
theology, science, history, and classical literature. While at Oxford,
John had only a seminal interest in religious matters and held no
interest in inward religion. In 1725, however, his thoughts about the
nature of religion began to change. Many scholars believe that 1725
marked the beginning of Wesley’s religious awakening and the first
of three phases in his theological development. He began thinking
seriously about entering the church, and his parents enthusiastically
encouraged him.
During this time, several major occurrences helped to shape
Wesley’s religious thought life. During this time, Wesley came into
contact with three writings that made a profound impact upon
his spirituality: Bishop Jeremy Taylor’s Rules and Exercises of Holy

21
 Marks of a Movement

Living and Dying, Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ, and

William Law’s Christian Perfection and A Serious Call. These books
impelled him down the path of holiness. Along with these selected
readings, he took communion every week, attended prayers, avoided
outward sins, and sought to live a holy life before God. Then, on
September 25, 1725, he was ordained as a deacon at Christ Church
Cathedral by Dr. Potter, Bishop of Oxford.
On March 17, 1726, Wesley was elected as a Fellow at Lincoln
College. Around the same time, his younger brother, Charles Wesley,
had entered Christ Church College as a student. Charles joined the
small group of Oxford students, where his brother John was already
involved, who met regularly for the purpose of spiritual formation.
Soon after Charles joined this group, John became the unofficial
leader of the group.
Along with their academic pursuits, these devoted students
engaged in prayer, Bible study, fasting, communion, and social
work, which included prison visitation and caring for the sick. These
practices earned them the nickname “Methodists,” and that name
would become the title of the Wesleyan movement. Around this
time, the Wesley brothers and George Whitfield, who would later
become a leader in the evangelical revival, formed an important
alliance. Whitfield was a fellow student and member of the “Holy
Club” (another name for the gathering of Oxford Methodist
students). Wesley was impressed with Whitfield’s wit and piety, and
soon, the two became close friends.
These various influences mark Wesley’s time at Oxford as an
important season of religious development. A combination of
selected readings, academic training, and certain influential persons
all laid the foundation for the Wesleyan movement that would

22
 Marks of a Movement

sweep the country and travel across the Atlantic during the next
eighty years.

Trials in Georgia
In 1735, only eight weeks after their father’s death, John
and Charles Wesley set sail for Savannah, Georgia. They had
been commissioned there as missionaries by the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, the missionary wing of the Church of
England. After a two-month trip by sea, the Wesley brothers landed
in America on February 6, 1736. While John’s primary intention for
traveling to America was to minister to Native Americans, he found
himself serving as parish minister to the colonists in Savannah.
Meanwhile, Charles became the personal secretary to governor James
Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe had been a friend of Samuel Wesley and was
anxious to have Samuel’s two sons’ help in Georgia.
The mission in Savannah lasted less than two years for John and
Charles. Their ambitions for coming to America were never fully
realized, but the mission proved revolutionary in John’s life. It was
through this endeavor that Wesley became acquainted with a group
called the “Moravians” on his way to Georgia, during his stay, and
on his return to England. The Moravians were German pietists
who were associated with teachings of Count Nicholas Ludwig von
Zinzendorf. They taught a simple faith and assurance of salvation
through the inner witness of the Spirit in a way that John had never
witnessed. He was impressed with their confidence, piety, and
assurance of faith. They were instrumental in leading him to search
for an inward Christianity of the heart.

23
 Marks of a Movement

Mark #1: Movements Start with Personal Encounter

When he returned to England, Wesley spent several months in
spiritual distress and deep introspection. He was challenged by the
example of a simple faith in Christ like that of the Moravians. After
their return, John and Charles met another Moravian by the name of
Peter Böhler in England. He further convinced John that conversion
happens in an instant and that real Christians have assurance of their
salvation from the witness of the Holy Spirit. Böhler testified to this
experience and brought to Wesley several other witnesses who also
testified to the same experience of instantaneous faith. As Böhler
shared about the mercies of God, Wesley wept and determined that
he would seek full assurance of salvation.
On May 24, 1738, while attending a prayer meeting at Aldersgate
Street in London, John Wesley had a personal encounter with Christ
that forever changed his life. He writes:

In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate

Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle
to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was
describing the change which God works in the heart through
faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust
in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given
me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me
from the law of sin and death.1

This experience has been called Wesley’s “evangelical

conversion.” (His brother Charles had also had an experience like
this only three days before.) Aldersgate proved to be yet another
revolutionary milestone in John’s religious life and changed the
course of his ministry.
24
 Marks of a Movement

The power of his conversion experience served as the catalyst

that helped to ignite the fires of the Great Awakening. This genuine
experience of faith in Christ moved him with compassion to do all
he could to share his experience with others. One of his most famous
quotes is, “I look upon all the world as my parish.” He was not
exaggerating, because wherever he went, he preached that everyone
could have a relationship with Jesus Christ. This belief was against
the grain for the nominal Christians of Wesley’s day. He was accused
of excessive “enthusiasm” because he believed and taught that a
person could have a real, life-changing encounter with the Lord.
The beauty of Wesley’s emphasis on a real encounter with Christ
was how he integrated this belief into the framework of his emphasis
on holiness. At this point in his life, he had seen the importance
of both intense accountability that strove for holiness (“The Holy
Club”) and also the importance of having assurance of salvation that
is found only through the power of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis of
grace for inward transformation and recognition of the need for vital
relationships in community for growth would prove to be integral
for the birth of the Methodist movement—which was about to
explode with growth.
The life of John Wesley reminds us of the essential fact that
movements are not built on people, but on Christ. When we look at
the pages of church history, we see that multiplication movements
happen through leaders who have had a life-changing encounter
with the living Christ. As Steve Addison asserts in his book
Movements That Change the World, “History is made by men and
women of faith who have met with the living God.”2 Apply that
statement to major movement makers in history: Moses met with
God in the burning bush; Paul encountered Christ on the road

25
 Marks of a Movement

to Damascus; Augustine encountered God under a tree; Luther

encountered Christ in the Bible; Saint Francis encountered God at
the cross; Saint Patrick encountered God in a dream; and as we have
seen, Wesley encountered Christ at Aldersgate.

Mark #2: Movements are Built Upon Prayer

Wesley was above all a man of prayer. An associate of Wesley
once said, “He thought prayer to be more his business than anything
else, and I have seen him come out of his closet with a serenity of face
next to shining.”3 Wesley’s leadership ability flowed from his robust,
personal prayer life. He said that prayer was the “grand means of
drawing near to God.”4 He listed prayer as one of the chief “means
of grace” (as they called it), and he spent what seemed to be countless
hours each day seeking the face of God. He would pray early in the
morning, throughout the day, and late in the evening. He described
a Methodist as one who “prays without ceasing” and whose “heart is
ever lifted up to God, at all times and in all places.”5 Wesley reminds
us that prayer is a chief way in which we encounter and commune
with the living God. He encouraged and practiced private, public,
and family prayer (he believed that both private and corporate
prayer were equally important).
As we shall see, movements are a work of God and flow through
leaders that have a prayer-filled life. Shortly after Wesley’s conversion
experience, the Methodist movement was birthed from one prayer
meeting. Along with others, John and Charles Wesley helped
establish the Fetter Lane Society in May 1738 for the purpose of
discipleship and accountability. During a prayer meeting, the Holy
Spirit showed up in a powerful way one night at the Fetter Lane

26
 Marks of a Movement

Society. (This meeting has been called the “Methodist Pentecost.”)

John Wesley recorded the encounter in his journal for January 1,
1739:

Mr. Hall, Hinching, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutching, and my

brother Charles were present at our love feast in Fetter Lane
with about 60 of our brethren. About three in the morning, as
we were continuing constant in prayer, the power of God came
mightily upon us insomuch that many cried out for exceeding
joy and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered
a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of His
majesty, we broke out with one voice, “We praise Thee, O God,
we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.”6

This story reminds us that movements start in the upper room

of prayer. The early church came alive and grew exponentially after
the Holy Spirit had come upon them on the Day of Pentecost as
they gathered together in prayer (Acts 1:8). In the same way that the
church came to life on the day of Pentecost, the Wesleyan revival
was founded upon prayer. As we look out at other such movements
throughout history and even today, we find that prayer is at their
very heart. It is impossible to understand the explosive growth of
the Wesleyan revival without understanding the important role of
prayer in the lives of the individuals, lay ministers, and new churches
that they started.

Marks of a Movement
1. Movements Start with Personal Experience
2. Movements are Built Upon Prayer

27
 Chapter 2

THE IMPORTANCE OF
LAY LEADERSHIP

“In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Methodist

movement became an epidemic in England and North America.”
—Malcolm Gladwell

U p to this point in his life, Wesley had been preaching in

different parishes, but his new message of inward religion
was not well received by the established Church of England.
Something—or someone—had to give way if the message was going
to spread. In the meantime, George Whitfield had experienced
wonderful success with field preaching in England and in the United
States. So, in April 1739, Whitfield convinced Wesley to preach in the
open air of Bristol, England. John was hesitant at first, but later he
reflected in his journal, “I submitted to be more vile and proclaimed
in the highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking from a little
eminence in a ground adjourning to the city about three thousand
people” (Journal, April 2, 1739).1 This event marked the beginning
of Wesley’s evangelistic ministry. From this time forward, he took
the message of Christ with a new evangelistic zeal to all people he
encountered.
28
 Marks of a Movement

Although George Whitfield was a masterful preacher who

led thousands to repent and put faith in Christ, he did not have
the insight or the leadership genius to place the new converts into
structured small groups for nurturing and development. Wesley, on
the other hand, saw the need for follow-up discipleship to ensure
that they had fellowship and accountability. He learned this vision
from his earlier membership in the Oxford “Holy Club.” All who
desired to “flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from
their sins” were invited to join these groups, which he labeled as
“societies.”2 Wesley believed that it was important for Christians to
stay together. For him, the Christian faith was a social religion—
meaning that community was vital—and turning it into a solitary
religion was to destroy it.

Mark #3: Movements Empower Lay Leaders

In order to replicate his model, Wesley identified, trained,
and appointed lay leaders to oversee these societies of believers.
He carefully chose and handpicked lay leaders according to their
gifts. They were men and women of piety and experience. As he
empowered lay leaders, the societies began to multiply and grew
rapidly throughout England. Everywhere they went, societies kept
and nurtured new converts, and the number of Methodists grew at
an amazing rate. They started from literally a handful of people and
had grown into the thousands.
Today, as a result of Wesley’s message of discipleship,
Methodism’s spiritual descendants are in every part of the world;
yet even with all his effective preaching, George Whitfield’s name is
hardly known. Instead, most people remember the name and legacy

29
 Marks of a Movement

of Wesley because he recognized an invaluable and timeless truth

that fostered a true and lasting movement: We cannot overestimate
the importance of discipleship and fellowship in the life of
Christians in every age.
John Wesley had a bias to say “yes” by empowering others.
As Methodism grew, Wesley identified the need to appoint lay
preachers to assist him in preaching the gospel to the masses. This
was a bold decision on Wesley’s part because it meant breaking from
the traditional view that only the ordained clergy could preach the
gospel. As the movement expanded, the number of Methodist lay
preachers continued to grow, too. As a result, there was an increasing
need to organize them.
In 1744, Wesley began to meet with his preachers annually.
They would discuss Methodist doctrine and discipline and appoint
preachers to specific locations for the coming year. This was the
origin of the “Methodist Conference” as we know it today. By
this we see that lay preachers played an important role in the
development of Methodism. The Conference gave them a voice
and strengthened their support of Wesley’s leadership; it also
united them and gave them a sense of ownership for their ministry.
Although only a few attended the first Conference, hundreds of lay
preachers were attending by the time of Wesley’s death.

Mark #4: Movements Spread Rapidly

The crucial role of lay leaders in the Methodist movement is
accentuated in how the movement came to and spread in North
America. Despite opposition, Methodism continued to grow and
flourish throughout the British Isles. Methodism was destined

30
 Marks of a Movement

to spread like wildfire beyond the borders of England. In 1760,

Robert Strawbridge and his wife Elizabeth moved from Ireland to
America and became the first Methodist pioneers in the New World.
Strawbridge began preaching and established the first organized
Methodist society and meetinghouse near Baltimore, Maryland.
Under Strawbridge’s ministry, John Evans was the first Methodist
convert in America. (Strawbridge is known for his controversial
decision to administer the sacraments as a lay minister. His pulpit
is still in Baltimore, Maryland and is the oldest Methodist pulpit in
America.)
Soon after, in 1766, Philip Embury and Barbara Heck (cousins),
who were Irish Methodists, formed a Methodist class in New York
City. (Embury had converted under Wesley’s ministry and became
a lay preacher in Ireland.) Having seen the need for a society in
New York, Heck convinced Embury to begin preaching again.
Only six attended his first meeting, but it soon grew into a large
meetinghouse named the “Upper Room.” These were the first
Methodists to establish ministries in North America. In 1769, Wesley
sent Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmore to serve as his assistants
in America in response to a letter from Thomas Taylor asking to
send “an able, experienced preacher.” Two years later, Wesley sent
two more preachers—Richard Wright and Francis Asbury—to assist
the work. In 1773, two more preachers were sent: Thomas Rankin
and George Shadford.
These early Methodist lay preachers were men of deep Christian
devotion and holy living. They were committed to spreading
the Methodist message of God’s love and holiness throughout
the Colonies. These are just a few of the examples of how Wesley
empowered lay leaders in a way that allowed Methodism continued
and steady growth.

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 Marks of a Movement

The years that followed were full of great trials and triumphs,
and Methodism made strides toward reviving authentic Christianity.
As Wesley’s movement began to grow, however, persecution against
them grew, too. In many cities, he and his preachers were met with
great opposition. Mobs throughout the British Isles vigorously tried
to stop the Methodists from spreading the message of scriptural
holiness. Time after time, Wesley’s life seemed to be spared by some
type of divine intervention. Stories abound when it seemed that
the crowds might take John’s life, but by some odd occurrence,
he would be spared from harm. The lesson here is that although
difficult times may come, God will always deliver us.

How Wesley Released Lay Leaders

The most important leaders that Wesley helped raise up were an
army of on-fire women and men. The role of lay leaders in the life
and mission of a new church cannot be overstated. Wesley embraced
this understanding in a time when the church relied almost solely
on clergy. Regardless of the context, there is nothing more powerful
than ordinary men and women who do the work of ministry in a
new church.
As Methodism grew, Wesley saw the need to appoint lay
preachers to assist him in preaching the gospel to the masses. This
was a bold decision on Wesley’s part, because it meant breaking
from the traditional view that only ordained clergy could preach
the gospel and do ministry. Part of Wesley’s genius was in his ability
to select, train, and gather lay leaders around him. These leaders
became extensions of his ministry. The rapid and miraculous growth
of Methodism would not have been possible without the endeavors

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 Marks of a Movement

and self-sacrifice of those early Methodist lay leaders. John Wesley

famously said in a letter, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear
nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw
whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the
gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth.”3 This
truth of the 1700s Wesleyan revival remains true today in the twenty-
first century: We need both ordained and lay people to plant new
churches.
The lay leaders of early Methodism gave their whole life for the
cause of Christ and to the spread of Methodism. Many of them put
their life in harm’s way to assure that Methodism would continue to
grow. They had grit and determination, which has scarcely been seen
since the persecution of the early church. Therefore, it can be said
that Methodism was born with a great price—the lives of great men
and women, among whom were prominent women of piety who
served as leaders of class meetings, visited the sick, and preached the
gospel. Together these men and women helped Methodism become
one of the fastest growing movements the world has ever known.
The main thing we can learn from this chapter is that
movements happen when they focus our energy on identifying,
training, and empowering the next generation of leaders. Significant
movements, such as the Wesleyan revival, are built on empowering
non-ordained, lay leadership. Most people don’t realize that John
Wesley did more for lay ministry than any other major Christian
leader in history since the time of the reformation. Until the 1700s,
lay people could not serve in any type of ministry with a leadership
position in the church. They were excluded from teaching, visiting
the sick, or holding a leadership role in the church. Clergy were the
only ones who had the authority to teach or preach in the church.

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 Marks of a Movement

As a result of Wesley’s decision to begin using lay ministers in

the Wesleyan revival, lay people today have an open door in most
churches to share in ministry. In this regard, Wesley was a forerunner
to the modern-day lay leader revolution in the church.
Lay leadership is one of the most common features of church-
planting movements around the world today, where a common
feature is non-professional clergy. David Garrison, a pioneer in
the understanding of church-planting movements, says this: “In
church planting movements, the laity are clearly in the driver’s seat.
Unpaid, non-professional common men and women are leading the
churches. . . . Lay leadership is firmly grounded in the doctrine of
the priesthood of the believer—the most egalitarian doctrine ever
set forth.”4 Therefore, if we want to see a multiplication movement
today, it must be built on a model that empowers and releases lay
leadership for ministry and evangelism—like the Wesleyan revival
was.

Marks of a Movement
1. Movements start with Personal Experience
2. Movements are Built Upon Prayer
3. Movements Empower Lay Leaders
4. Movements Spread Rapidly

34
 Chapter 3

THE APOSTOLIC DNA

OF A MOVEMENT

“Apostolic movements involve a radical community of disciples,

centered on the lordship of Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, built
squarely on a five-fold ministry.”
—Alan Hirsch

R ecovering the apostolic DNA of the early church stands at

the heart of the Methodist movement. John Wesley desired
to see a revival of what he called “scriptural Christianity” in his
day. (Wesley believed that the Methodist revival was a recovery of
apostolic Christianity from the book of Acts.) Regarding a Wesleyan
understanding of the church, George Hunter III says, “The identity
of the church is located in its apostolic mission and ministry to
people (and to the whole populations) who are not yet people of
faith, and this ministry and mission are primarily entrusted to the
laity.”1 This recovery of an apostolic vision for mission was at the
heart of the Wesleyan revival.
The book of Acts reminds us that authentic Christianity cannot
be contained, but that it rapidly reproduces like a virus from one

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 Marks of a Movement

person to another. On the day of Pentecost, three thousand were

added to the church, and they began to meet in home gatherings
that were led by lay people (Acts 2). Empowered by the Holy Spirit,
God’s people went everywhere, taking the message and their faith in
Jesus Christ with them. This was the apostolic DNA of the earliest
Christian movement. In the same way, the Wesleyan revival sought
to recover this apostolic DNA to empower lay people for ministry
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and beyond. Preaching
from the Acts of the Apostles, John Wesley defined “scriptural
Christianity, as beginning to exist in individuals; as spreading from
one to another; as covering the earth.” Wesley’s vision was clear:
“Not to form any new sect; but to reform the nation, particularly
the church; and to spread scriptural holiness over the land.”2

Mark #5: Movements are Led by Apostolic Leaders

One cannot understand the Methodist revival without looking
at the apostolic leaders of the movement. John Wesley was an
apostolic leader who had the ability to assimilate great men and
women around him who would become the champions of the
Methodist revival. He was an amazing leader who had God-given
talent to recognize the best in people; plus he was able to develop the
leadership qualities in others.
Among the early Methodists, several key personalities emerged
as great leaders for the movement as a whole. These leaders helped
Wesley spread the cause of Methodism throughout the British Isles,
into North America, and eventually throughout the world. Each one
had a unique role and contributed in a special way to the spread of
Methodism.

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 Marks of a Movement

Charles Wesley
John’s brother, Charles Wesley, was a lifelong companion in
ministry and his co-leader in the Methodist movement. In the 1720’s,
Charles was the first “Methodist” at Oxford College. Charles was a
gifted songwriter (and preacher) in his own right. He was the author
of over 500 hymns, which can be found in the Collection of Hymns
for the Use of the People Called Methodist. Some of these beloved
hymns are: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Love Divine,” “Jesus
Lover of My Soul,” and “O, For a Thousand Tongues.” He wrote
many beloved hymns that churches still sing to this day.
It seems that from the very beginning, John and Charles were
destined to work together in ministry, each bringing their unique
gifts and abilities to serve the movement as a whole. They were
together from the earliest formation of Methodism and throughout
its development. Both were ordained in the Church of England
around the same time; they traveled together to be missionaries in
Georgia; and when they returned to England, both experienced
a similar awakening experience. Throughout the years of the
Methodist revival, John continually relied on Charles for personal
counsel and assistance. They were great partners in ministry and in
the founding of the movement.

Adam Clarke
Adam Clarke was converted to Methodism in 1778 under the
preaching of Thomas Barber. He was a teenager when he dedicated
his life to God, and under Wesley’s invitation, he trained for the
ministry. He was among some of the earliest lay preachers ordained
by Wesley, and he quickly became one of the most prominent leaders

37
 Marks of a Movement

of the Methodist movement. He was a gifted leader and preacher, a

competent biblical scholar, and a prolific writer. Although he had
no formal university education, he was fluent in at least twenty
languages, including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Samaritan, Syriac,
Arabic, Persian, and Coptic.
It is estimated that he preached some 15,000 sermons during his
lifetime. He preached for the masses and wrote for the learned. He
wrote an eight-volume book, Commentary on the Holy Scriptures,
which became required reading for Methodist clergy, even long after
his death. He was loved among Methodist preachers and served an
impressive three-term presidency for the Wesleyan Conference. His
writings significantly contributed to the spread of Wesley’s doctrine
of holiness. He died in 1832 of cholera, but left a lasting legacy that
impacted Methodism for generations to come.

Thomas Coke
Dr. Thomas Coke was a passionate soul winner who joined the
Methodist movement in 1772, two years after being ordained in
the Church of England. Within a year, his Anglican parishioners
dismissed him because he had begun preaching like a Methodist.
Then, he joined the Methodist movement full-time and soon
became one of Wesley’s most able leaders and one of his closest
associates. Wesley designated him as a co-superintendent, with
Francis Asbury, to set the American Methodist Church in order in
1784, but he did not stay in that position long.
He remained in America for only a few years and then set his
eyes upon the mission field. In 1789, he was appointed the head of
the Irish Conference. The following years of his life were dedicated

38
 Marks of a Movement

to supporting and promoting world missions. Toward the end of

his life, he longed to take the gospel to India. He said, “I am dead
to Europe and alive for India.” Toward the end of his life, he finally
he set out to take the gospel to Ceylon and India. Then, in 1814, he
died while in prayer on his way to India. Dr. Coke represents one of
Wesley’s greatest leaders and one of the greatest champions for the
missionary DNA of the movement.

Francis Asbury
The ministry of Francis Asbury is largely responsible for the
amazing growth of Methodism in America after the Revolutionary
War. John Wesley sent him to America to promote Methodism in
the Colonies, and soon after, he became the leader of the American
movement. Although English by birth, he won the hearts and souls
of the American people; America truly was his parish. Throughout
his forty-five-year ministry in America, he traveled nearly 300,000
miles on horseback, preached around 16,500 sermons, and ordained
more than 4,000 preachers.
He was a man of great piety and learning, and many people
recognized him as a great man of prayer, too. This was evident
through his constant travels and ministry endeavors, during which
he still found time to pray. He would often rise at four o’clock in
the morning and spend around two hours in prayer and meditation.
In addition, he would also pray seven times a day. He was a tireless
leader who devoted his entire life to the call of Christ in America.
Although he dropped out of school before he was twelve years
old, Asbury taught himself to read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Due
to his great love for learning, he founded five schools and promoted

39
 Marks of a Movement

Sunday school in churches to teach reading and writing to children.

He read widely on various subjects of his day; in fact, he read books
while riding horseback, which was the practice of many Methodist
circuit riders. It has been said that he was one of the most well
informed men of his day and able to converse on any subject.
Francis Asbury (like John Wesley) was a master at organizational
leadership. He created what is called a “district,” which is a circuit
of churches that preachers serve. In the early days, the circuit rider
would travel from church to church for preaching and ministry, thus
enabling churches to exist with leadership where they previously had
not been able to exist. Circuit Riders like Asbury braved the rigors
of the wild frontier, which included attacks from natives and severe
illness caused by exposure to the elements of nature. Although
Asbury was plagued by bad health all of his life, he continued to
travel—even if it meant being tied to his saddle to keep from falling
from his horse. (It is said that the wolves would follow him to wait
on him to die.) Francis Asbury is one of the greatest leaders that the
Methodist church has ever known, and in many ways, Asbury is the
great “American Bishop.”
In conclusion, the Methodism spread as apostolic leaders
provided leadership to help oversee the rapid growth of the
movement. These apostolic leaders provided guidance to the growth
of the movement in England and in North America by blazing a trail
across the new frontier, planting hundreds of churches and reaching
thousands of people for Christ. Without both committed lay leaders
and apostolic leaders, the Methodist movement would not have
spread so rapidly.

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 Marks of a Movement

Marks of a Movement
1. Movements start with Personal Experience
2. Movements are Built Upon Prayer
3. Movements Empower Lay Leaders
4. Movements Spread Rapidly
5. Movements are Led by Apostolic Leaders

41
 Chapter 4

CREATING DISCIPLE-MAKING
SYSTEMS

“The Wesleyan revolution is an illustration that long-lasting spiritual

transformation is not the product of dynamic preaching... It comes only
through disciple building, in keeping with Christ’s Great Commission to
‘go into all the world and make disciples.’”
—D. Michael Henderson

I n much of the Western world, the church is experiencing

a discipleship crisis, and we are seeing the fallout from this
deficiency. At the First International Consultation on Discipleship,
John Stott called attention to the “strange and disturbing paradox”
of the contemporary Christian situation. He warned, “We have
experienced enormous statistical growth without corresponding
growth in discipleship. God is not pleased with superficial
discipleship.”1 Sadly, some churches focus on evangelism at the
expense of discipleship by seeking to win converts instead of making
disciples, despite the fact that the goal of evangelism is disciple
making.
One of the key lessons we can learn from the Wesleyan revival
is that the goal of multiplication is to make and multiply disciples.
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 Marks of a Movement

John Wesley can also teach us about the importance of intentional

discipleship. In his life, he wasn’t just interested in saving souls, but
also in growing those souls into disciples for the kingdom. He knew
that preaching was not enough—people need to be discipled. This
is perhaps the most notable tenet of the Wesleyan revival, which
made disciples by organizing the people into class, society, and
band meetings to encourage and nurture believers in the faith. Such
prayer, instruction, and mutual fellowship served to nourish whole
persons and not simply their personal piety.
The opponents of the early Wesleyan movement called them
“Methodists” because they had intentional methods for making
disciples. Are these methods still relevant for today? Yes. After
more than three hundred years since Wesley was born, his life,
message, and ministry still speak to us with the same power and
relevance today as it did many years ago. Let’s look even closer at the
movement so we can see other important elements that yield great
insights for us today.

Mark #6: Movements Unite Evangelism and Discipleship

The Wesleyan revival has made many contributions to the
church as a whole. Wesley’s society structure, for example, can be
found in many of our contemporary denominations. A part of his
genius was to put new converts into these societies in order that
they receive care, accountability, and fellowship. Examples of this
influence can be seen in cell groups, ministry, and accountability
groups, as well as in group structures of other discipleship
movements. Another contribution of the Wesleyan movement is a
reminder that the Great Commission involves both evangelism and

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 Marks of a Movement

discipleship. While Whitfield focused on evangelism, Wesley saw

that evangelism and discipleship are two sides of the same coin; they
cannot be separated. Evangelism is the beginning of the journey,
and discipleship is the process of spiritual growth. The church today
needs to rediscover the integrative process that focuses on serious
disciple making, not just leading people to make a decision. The
Great Commission compels Christians to focus on making disciples
through discipleship as much as they focus on reaching people
through evangelism. If we want to see a multiplication movement, it
will begin with a renewed focus on discipleship!

Mark #7: Movements Create Disciple-Making Systems

Discipleship for every believer was absolutely essential for John
Wesley. (He would have problems with our modern, individualistic
approaches to Christianity.) Wesley warns that “preaching like
an apostle, without joining together those that are awakened and
training them up in the ways of God, is only begetting children for
the murderer.”2 This was one of the major differences between the
ministries of Wesley and Whitfield. At the close of his life, Whitfield
lamented that he had not cared enough about discipleship. He
looked up to Wesley for how he had prioritized discipleship. Wesley
knew that preaching was not enough to keep people in the faith. He
wrote, “I determined, by the grace of God, not to strike one stroke in
any place where I cannot follow the blow.”3 He followed the “blow”
of salvation by putting people into groups to make sure that they
continued to grow in Christ.
Malcolm Gladwell notes in The Tipping Point the significance
of the Methodist movement. He highlights Wesley’s organizational
genius and emphasis on community:

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 Marks of a Movement

He wasn’t one person with ties to many other people. He was

one person with ties to many groups, which is a small but critical
distinction. Wesley realized that if you wanted to bring about a
fundamental change in peoples’ belief and behavior, a change
would persist and serve as an example to others, you needed to
create a community around them, where those new beliefs could
be practiced and expressed and nurtured.4

In terms of Christian movements, the genius of Wesley was that

he realized the importance of creating disciple-making systems.
He organized people into three interlocking discipleship groups:
societies, class meetings, and bands. Societies were larger gatherings
of fifty to seventy people that provided worship and teaching
(much like a new church). It was the smaller, more intentional
class meetings, however, where deep discipleship happened. Class
meetings were about twelve people, and bands were five people. D.
Michael Henderson says, “It could be said metaphorically that the
society aimed for the head, the class meeting for the hands, and the
band for the heart.”5
Wesley would take new converts and place them into class
meetings, which were much like small groups; they were designed
to meet spiritual needs. These class meetings met weekly for prayer,
instruction, and mutual fellowship. Each group had a designated
male or female leader. The leaders served their group with a kind
of pastoral oversight. Wesley himself described these societies in the
following way:

Such a society is no other than a company of [people] having the

form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray

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 Marks of a Movement

together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over

one another in love, that they may help each other to work out
their salvation.6

Part of Wesley’s training included admonishing leaders to do the

following things: first, do no harm and avoid evil; do good of every
possible sort; and attend upon all the ordinances of God, including
prayer, the sacraments, searching the scriptures, and fasting.
Christians who were even more spiritually mature became
members of a band. The bands had fewer members and more
rigorous requirements than societies. They were divided by gender
and marital status and were designed to provide a forum where each
member of the group could confess their sins, encourage others, and
pray for one another. The rules of the band were as follows:

The design of our meeting is to obey that command of God,

“Confess your faults to one another, and to pray one for another,
that ye may be healed” (James 5:16). To this end, we intend:

1. To meet once a week, at the least.

2. To come punctually at the hour appointed, without some
extraordinary reason.
3. To begin (those who are present) exactly at the hour, with
singing or prayer.
4. To speak each of us in order, freely and plainly, the true state
of our souls, with the faults we have committed in thought,
word, or deed, and the temptations we have felt since our last
meeting.
5. To end every meeting with prayer suited to the state of each
person present.

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 Marks of a Movement

6. To desire some person among us to speak his own state first,

and then to ask the rest, in order, as many and as searching
questions as may be, concerning their state, sins, and
temptations.7

This account gives us a little glimpse into what it was like to

participate in one of these group meetings. These groups were for
the committed, although Wesley made the general requirement
for admission that people “desire to flee from the wrath to come,
to be saved from their sins.” Wesley wanted the members to show
constant progress in their walk with the Lord, and through the
grace of God, these groups provided structure and relationships that
fostered this progress. Wesley exhorted them to:

Never omit meeting your Class or Band; never absent yourself

from any public meeting. These are the very sinews of our
Society; and whatever weakens or tends to weaken our regard for
these, or our exactness in attending them, strikes at the very root
of our community. As one saith, “That part of our economy,
the private weekly meetings for prayer, examination, and
particular exhortation, has been the greatest means of deepening
and confirming every blessing that was received by the word
preached, and of diffusing it to others, who could not attend the
public ministry; whereas, without this religious connection and
intercourse, the most ardent attempts, by mere preaching, have
proved of no lasting uses.”8

Christians need discipleship that involves the whole body of

Christ. There are no lone rangers in the kingdom of God. Wesley
recognized the importance of meeting together with other Christians

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 Marks of a Movement

to share experiences, hold one another accountable, and pray for

one another. The goal was that Christians grow in the faith and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they knew that that growth
didn’t happen in isolation. We must constantly be growing in our
relationship with the Lord, which involves interdependence with
fellow believers. Forming people into these groups was a successful
part of John Wesley’s ministry.

Mark #8: Movements Engage in Holistic Mission

Another unique contribution of John Wesley’s discipleship
was creating innovative forms of education and learning. Personal
piety was not enough; he was committed to the process of life-long
learning. Wesley promoted education to make his followers more
knowledgeable and his preachers more effective in their ministry.
There are several ways in which he promoted the education of the
people called “Methodists.”
Wesley wanted to make Christian literature available to
every Methodist. He did this by publishing hundreds of books,
pamphlets, and other publications, which included a wide range
of topics. The various subjects included poetry, history, grammars,
dictionaries, and doctrine. He published his sermons, letters,
journals and his Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament. He
also edited a 50-volume Christian Library, which included many
Christian classics. The printing press was a means of spreading the
gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the British Isles, and Wesley used
the press to defend the doctrines of Methodism, provide guidance
for his followers, and address the various needs of the movement.
Wesley founded several schools in places with a strong Methodist
presence. He wanted to make education available to everyone and

48
 Marks of a Movement

he was particularly interested in the education of children. One of

the most prominent schools he founded was Kingswood School
in Bristol, which opened in 1748. School administrators required
students to maintain a rigorous schedule of study, which included
philosophy, reading, writing, mathematics, science, music, and
theology. In addition, they were expected to learn Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, and French. Wesley also supported the use of Sunday
schools among Methodism. He empowered a woman named
Hannah Ball to organize the first Methodist Sunday school in
1769. After Wesley’s death, Methodists continued to build schools,
universities, and seminaries around the world, many of which
remain in existence today.
The Wesleyan revival sought to transform all of society with
holistic mission. While Wesley valued “inward religion,” he wasn’t
concerned simply with the soul of a person, but with the whole
person and the whole gospel. He sought to meet the needs of the
entire individual, not just aspects of an individual, as well as seeking
to alleviate the evils of society. John and his brother, Charles,
were moved by compassion for the poor, the lower classes, and
the disenfranchised people of society. They were not afraid to
associate themselves with others who stood for human-rights causes,
including fighting slavery, equal rights for women and children,
and establishing better labor laws. John wrote a letter to William
Wilberforce, who fought against slavery in England, in which he
said, “O, be not weary in well doing! Go on, in the name of the God
and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest
that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.”9
John Wesley not only supported different social causes, but he
was also actively involved with them. He used societies as a means

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 Marks of a Movement

of “doing good” to others. He urged his followers to actively

participate in meeting the needs of those around them:

By doing good, by being in every kind merciful after their power;

as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort,
and as far as is possible, to all men: to their bodies, of the ability
which God giveth, by giving food to the hungry, by clothing the
naked, by visiting or helping them that are sick, or in prison; to
their souls by instructing, reproving, or exhorting all they that
have intercourse with.10

John Wesley was no hypocrite, because he practiced what he

preached. He often made fourteen hundred pounds in a year
from his book sales; he would, however, only keep thirty pounds
for himself. He gave his money to the poor and other worthwhile
causes. He said, “If I leave behind me ten pounds, you and all
mankind bear witness against me that I lived and died a thief and
a robber.”11 His denial of self and property for the sake of the less
fortunate is very much like the early church, but this type of practice
is almost totally foreign in North America and Europe today.
Wesley felt that the church should care for all of society,
especially those who could not take care of themselves, and he
purported that believers have a social responsibility to the world:
“‘Holy Solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the Gospel
than ‘holy adulterers.’ The Gospel of Christ knows of no religion,
but social; no holiness, but social holiness. Faith working by
love is the length and breadth and depth and height of Christian
perfection.”12 The church is to be the body of Christ for the
sake of the world and to offer community for those within the

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 Marks of a Movement

world, especially for those who are less fortunate. This is a natural
outworking of faith.

Discipleship and Mission Today

There is so much we can learn today from the methods of the
Wesleyan revival and the ministry of John Wesley. His ministry
contributions are timeless and can be applied to our present ministry
situation—whether in a local church, university, or the mission
field. His basic ministry strategy had to do with meeting the needs of
the total person. Evangelism—or sharing the gospel—speaks to the
human need of salvation from sin and death; it is a message of hope
and healing. All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ can experience
genuine Christianity. This experience is open to all the people of
the world regardless of their economic, racial, social, or political
background.
Discipleship and the gathering together of believers can offer
many spiritual blessings. Accountability, fellowship, encouragement,
and study are only a few. Lastly, social witness allows the Christian
family to move beyond themselves and reach out to meet the needs
of those in our societies who are hurting and in need. Many of
these elements have been lost in our churches and in our culture
as a whole. They desperately need to be regained if we going to be
the church that God has called us to be. We should draw from the
witness of John Wesley and take up his missionary charge to meet
the needs of the whole person in our societies. Let us do good to
the souls of others and “especially those of the household of faith”
(Galatians 6:10).

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 Marks of a Movement

Marks of a Movement
1. Movements start with Personal Experience
2. Movements are Built Upon Prayer
3. Movements Empower Lay Leaders
4. Movements Spread Rapidly
5. Movements are Led by Apostolic Leaders
6. Movements Unite Evangelism and Discipleship
7. Movements Create Disciple-Making Systems
8. Movements Engage in Holistic Mission

52
 Chapter 5

MAKING A MOVEMENT
THAT LASTS

“The Wesleyan Revival witnessed perhaps the most thorough-going

transformation of a society by the gospel in history.”
—Howard Snyder

T here is a saying that “wine gets better with age.” The same
could be said of John Wesley, because his latter years as the
leader of the Methodist revival were as productive, if not more so,
than his earlier years. The mark of a true leader is their ability to
prepare their organization to outlast themselves. Wesley not only
accomplished this for one generation, but he worked hard to create
an organizational structure and a leadership team that would insure
that Methodism would continue to thrive long after his death.
Rather than being a time of relenting, his final years were a time in
which he worked harder than ever to consolidate the movement.
There were several major developments in the latter years of his life
that assured that his movement would continue well beyond his
days.
By the late 1770s, the Foundry had begun to wear down; it had
become too small for the Methodists gatherings in London. There
53
 Marks of a Movement

was a growing need to find permanent headquarters for Methodism.

So out of necessity, Wesley built what is known as “New Chapel in
City Road,” which became the new headquarters of Methodism.
In April 1777, he laid the foundation for the chapel in City Road.
Samuel Tooth, a class leader and local preacher, built the chapel in
1778. It was not only a preaching house, but also the first Methodist
chapel to include an altar and a communion rail. The chapel seated
about fifteen hundred people and provided a home for Wesley and
the preachers of the chapel, their families, and “servants.” When the
foundation was laid, Wesley preached a sermon that highlighted the
rise of Methodism and connected the movement to the primitive
religion of the Bible. Some have called New Chapel the “Mother
of World Methodism” because it became the center for Methodist
leadership, influence, and activities throughout the world.
In 1778, Wesley made provision for a stable governmental system
that would assure Methodism to remain intact after his death. On
February 28, 1787, he initiated the Deed of Declaration, which
gave legal rights to the preachers of the Methodist Conference.
The Deed listed one hundred preachers by name and gave them
the right to meet once a year to elect a president and a secretary,
appoint preachers to circuits, admit candidates for ministry, and
conduct general business for the Methodist Conference. The annual
conference was also an opportunity for preachers to be heard, have
fellowship with one another, and share their triumphs and trials
from the previous year.
Some of the preachers who were not among the initial one
hundred, though, were offended that they had not been included in
this meeting, but in response, Wesley argued that all the preachers
could not attend because that would have left vacancies in many

54
 Marks of a Movement

of the circuits. After Wesley’s death, the conference extended the

privileges of the Deed of Declaration to all preachers who were
in full fellowship with the Conference. The Deed of Declaration
accomplished the solidifying of the Methodist movement by giving
the legal power of the church to the preachers. Thus, today the
Methodist Conference still meets annually in much the same way
that it did in Wesley’s day.

Mark #9: Movements Outlast Their Founder

Due to the fact that lay ministers could not administer the
sacraments, Methodists in America were dependent upon the
Anglican clergy to baptize their children and serve the Lord’s
Supper. Certain lay ministers like Strawbridge, though, felt the
necessity to administer the sacraments even though they were
not ordained. Because of the growing pressure to provide proper
spiritual care for his flock in America, Wesley reluctantly decided to
ordain lay preachers for the work in America.
On September 18, 1784, Wesley ordained Richard Whatcoat
and Thomas Vasey and dedicated Thomas Coke, who was already
an Anglican priest. Coke and the two other men were sent to the
Colonies with instructions for organizing the American Methodist
Church, which included instructions for the ordination of ministers,
and directions to install Coke and Francis Asbury as Superintendents
of the new church. They also brought with them a prayer book
that was based on the Anglican liturgy, The Sunday Service of
the Methodists in North America, and another book of songs, A
Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the Lord’s Day. The Sunday
Service included a set of twenty-four doctrinal statements called

55
 Marks of a Movement

“Articles of Religion,” which were simplified from the Anglican

thirty-nine Articles of Religion.
On December 24, 1784, American Methodists held the
now famous Christmas Conference, at the Lovely Lane Chapel
in Baltimore, Maryland, to organize the new church. “The
Methodist Episcopal Church in America” was the newly adopted
name, and Asbury and Coke were unanimously reelected as the
Superintendents by the preachers. Several ministers received
ordination, which permitted them to administer the sacraments.
The newly formed church added an article at the Christmas
Conference that recognized the United States as a sovereign and
independent nation. The Conference also approved a motion that
prohibited Methodists from participating in the slave trade, which
would become a cause of later division in the church. They also
added more doctrinal standards, namely John Wesley’s Standard
Sermons and his Notes Upon the New Testament.
The Christmas Conference is thought to be the cradle of
American Methodism. It marked the official organization of the
American Methodist Church, which has numerous Methodist
denominations today. The conference also marked the beginning
of the newly formed church’s doctrinal standards and discipline,
which continue to be important guides for American Methodism
today. At the time of the Conference, American Methodism had a
few hundred members and about eighty preachers. Under Asbury’s
leadership, though, Methodism grew to two hundred thousand
strong with over four thousand preachers.
Wesley had accomplished many of his goals for the movement.
He consolidated both the British and American Methodists by
giving them the power to continue after his death. He saw his

56
 Marks of a Movement

movement spread throughout the British Isles and into North

America in a relatively short time period. He saw hundreds of
thousands of souls come to Christ as a result of his ministry
endeavors. He created the class meeting system that would ensure
that his followers would continue to grow in the faith. He also
founded several educational institutions. In addition, he left his
followers his written works, which were intended to serve as a basis
for the doctrine and discipline of his movement. He was the father
of Methodism all the way to the end of his time on earth.

God With Us
Toward the end of his life, Wesley began to lose many of
his close associates to death. John Fletcher died in 1785, and his
brother Charles died in 1788. Despite the painful losses, Wesley was
determined to be busy until the very end. In fact, he said that he did
not want to live to be useless; thus, he remained very active in his
old age. He continued to travel, preach, and oversee the Methodist
movement. The following quote gives a picture of the keen mind
and whit that Wesley still possessed at the age of eighty-five:

I this day enter on my eighty-fifth year. And what cause have I

to praise God, as for a thousand spiritual blessings, so for bodily
blessings also! How little have I suffered yet, by the rush of
numerous years! It is true, I am not so agile as I was in times past:
I do not run or walk so fast as I did. My sight is a little decayed.
My left eye is grown dim, and hardly serves me to read…. I find
likewise some decay in my memory, with regard to names and
things lately past; but not at all with regard to what I have read
or heard twenty, forty, or sixty years ago.1

57
 Marks of a Movement

He continued to preach and travel to the very end of his life.

Although he became quite sickly, he preached several sermons in
February of 1791. Then, he preached his last sermon to a small group
at Leatherhead called, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found,
call ye upon Him while He is near.” The next day he penned his last
letter to William Wilberforce to exhort him to remain steadfast in his
endeavors against slavery. His mind remained as sharp as ever. Then,
toward the end of February 1791, Wesley became very ill. He returned
to City Road to prepare for his death. Both friends and family were
called to say their last goodbyes to the weary saint.
During his last night, he faintly whispered, “I’ll praise, I’ll
praise.” Then, in what would be his last words, he said, “The best of
all is God is with us.” The next morning, on March 2, 1791, he passed
into eternity to be with the Lord at the age of eighty-eight. Wesley
was laid to rest in the cemetery at his chapel at City Road in London.
Nearly ten thousand people came out to see his funeral.
The latter years of John Wesley’s life were as productive as the
earlier years, if not more. The true test of a leader is not how they
start the race, but how they finish it. Wesley truly finished well. His
final years were a time in which he worked hard to strengthen and
consolidate the great advances of the Methodist revival. He created
organizational structures and a leadership team that would last
long after his death. One mark of a great leader—and it takes great
leaders for movements to happen—is their ability to ensure that the
organization will outlive and outlast him or her. In fact, now that
it’s over three hundred years since Wesley’s was born, his legacy is as
strong as it ever was. In light of Wesley’s life, we should ask ourselves
as leaders, What will I leave to the world when I die? I believe that
Wesley would want us to help make the world a better place. He left

58
 Marks of a Movement

the following challenge to the church: “It matters not how long we
live, but how well.”
A critical mark of multiplication movements is that they outlast
their founding leaders. Think about Jesus Christ, who trained up
12 disciples who would in turn lead the movement after his death
and resurrection. In the book of Acts, we see the explosion of a
multiplication movement under the leadership of the apostles. In
a similar way, Wesley’s lasting legacy was not fulfilled until long
after his death. Today, nearly eighty million Christians around the
world are a part of the Wesleyan tradition (in one way or another).
Other countless millions have been influenced by his emphasis on
discipleship, small groups, lay ministry, and innovative preaching.
These are but a few ways in which we can learn multiplication
lessons from the Wesleyan revival for our world today. In no way is
this an exhaustive list; rather these are some small suggestions toward
a rediscovery of multiplication. The genius of the Wesleyan revival
was that they empowered leaders to make disciples of the nations.
May we follow their examples and go and make disciples who
make disciples of others. Perhaps we, too, will see a multiplication
movement in our day!

Mark #10: Movements Reproduce Everything

As we saw earlier in this book, the Methodist movement spread
rapidly throughout the British Isles and North America. Methodism
was a multiplication movement that reproduced everything:
disciples, leaders, small groups, and societies. To keep up with the
growth, they planted hundreds of new societies around the world.
Societies were essentially like new churches that were planted in

59
 Marks of a Movement

geographic centers. They would quickly reproduce themselves by

planting other societies in neighboring areas and surrounding towns
to reach even more people with the gospel.
Wesley carefully chose, appointed, and empowered leaders for
these societies—men and women of piety and experience. Wesley’s
careful selection solidified the growth of the movement. As a result,
Wesleyan societies began to multiply and they continued to grow
rapidly throughout England. Everywhere they went, societies
were created to keep and nurture new converts. As a result of this
intentional discipleship paradigm, the number of Methodists grew
at an amazing rate from a handful of people to several million
followers in a short period of time.
I want to close this chapter by saying that for Wesley, Methodism
was not a new denomination but a call to radical discipleship.
He wanted to bring renewal to all denominations, especially his
own, the Church of England. John Wesley wrote a tract called,
“Character of a Methodist,” where he offered several marks of true
Christianity that would distinguish them from the world, not
from other Christians. So, what is a Methodist? He said, “By these
marks, by these fruits of a living faith, do we labor to distinguish
ourselves from the unbelieving world… But from real Christians,
of whatsoever denomination they be, we earnestly desire not to be
distinguished at all.”2 These marks are not distinctively Methodist,
but the marks of genuine Christianity in all ages. Wesley’s vision
was not denominational; rather it was a universal vision of what a
genuine Christian should be like in every Christian denomination.

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 Marks of a Movement

Marks of a Movement
1. Movements start with Personal Experience
2. Movements are Built Upon Prayer
3. Movements Empower Lay Leaders
4. Movements Spread Rapidly
5. Movements are Led by Apostolic Leaders
6. Movements Unite Evangelism and Discipleship
7. Movements Create Disciple Making Systems
8. Movements Engage in Holistic Mission
9. Movements Outlast Their Founder
10. Movements Reproduce Everything

61
 Conclusion

“While we need the past, we must not let ourselves become imprisoned
by it or allow it to become an idol.”
—Esther de Waal

A s we come to the end of this book, I hope you have received

some insight and wisdom from John Wesley and the Methodist
movement. As we conclude, I want to make something clear: I am
not saying we should simply copy, or even perpetuate, the traditions
of the movements of the past. Many denominations and churches
are stuck in the past, thinking that if they could just return to the
‘good ole’ days,’ everything would be all right. Trying to perpetuate
the successes of the past is the reason many of our churches are
becoming more and more empty and void. It’s taking the spirit and
principles of past movements—what I am calling the “marks of a
movement”—and letting those shape our methods, practices, and
movements today.
Moreover, I do not believe that we should return to any specific
church tradition or create a new denomination; we have too many
as it is! Similarly, we should not have one specific style or model of
church ministry. I’m simply trying to call the church to rediscover
some of the time-honored movemental practices of the Wesleyan
revival—nothing more, nothing less. How that plays out entirely
depends on you and your church context.

62
 Marks of a Movement

Throughout this book, I have presented key marks of a

movement, from the Wesleyan revival, which I believe will lead to
multiplication movements today. In many ways, these marks have
been alive in the apostolic DNA of the church in every generation
of believers since the time of Christ, and they are alive in the church
today. They are common essentials for making disciples—whether
you lived in the first century or in the twenty-first century—and we
as the church must find them and recover their power. My prayer is
that we may draw inspiration from the Wesleyan movement to spark
a multiplication movement in our day. May the Sovereign Lord do
something powerful like that again in our day!
Here is a final summary of multiplication lessons from the
Wesleyan movement for today.

Marks of a Movement
1. Movements Start with Personal Experience
2. Movements are Built Upon Prayer
3. Movements Empower Lay Leaders
4. Movements Spread Rapidly
5. Movements are Led by Apostolic Leaders
6. Movements Unite Evangelism and Discipleship
7. Movements Create Disciple-Making Systems
8. Movements Engage in Holistic Mission
9. Movements Outlast Their Founder
10. Movements Reproduce Everything

63
 Endnotes

Foreword

1. George Hunter III, To Spread the Power: Church Growth in the

Wesleyan Spirit (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1987) 40.
2. Steve Addison, Movements That Change the World: Five Keys to
Spreading the Gospel (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011)
44. See also Howard Snyder, The Radical Wesley, and George
Hunter, To Spread the Power, for excellent takes on the dynamics
of early Wesleyanism.
3. The decline is measured per capita. See Rodney Stark and
Roger Finke, The Churching of America, 1776–2005: Winners and
Losers in Our Religious Economy (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press, 2005).

Introduction

1. http://www.faithcommunitiestoday.org/sites/default/files/
American-Congregations-2015.pdf
2. Phil Zuckerman, Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old
Questions (New York: Penguin Books, 2015) 60.
3. For an in-depth study on the spirituality of youth and young
adults, see Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul
Searching: The Religious Lives and Spiritual Lives of American
Teenagers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) and Christian
Smith and Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious and

64
 Marks of a Movement

Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 2009). Their findings showed that the majority of youth
adhere to a vague understanding of religion, which the authors
call “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” (or “MTD”). For statistics
on the over all state of youth involvement in religion among
North Americans, the Pew Research Center has observed that
about one third of older Millennials—adults currently in their
late 20s or early 30s—now say that they have no religion, which
is up 9 percent among this age range from 2007. Nearly one
quarter of Generation X now say that they have no particular
religion, or they describe themselves as “atheists” or “agnostics”.
See http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-
religious-landscape/.
4. For a detailed discussion of England during Wesley’s time period,
see J. Wesley Bready, England: Before and After Wesley (New
York: Russell & Russell, 1971).
5. Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, The Churching of America, 1776-
2005: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy (Piscataway,
New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2005) 55ff.
6. George G. Hunter III, The Recovery of a Contagious Methodist
Movement (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011) 5.
7. Sections from this eBook have been used with permission from
the publisher out of Winfield Bevins, Rediscovering John Wesley
(Cleveland, TN: Pathway Press, 2003).

Chapter 1

1. Thomas Jackson, The Works of John Wesley (Grand Rapids,

Michigan: Baker Books, 1979) 1:103.

65
 Marks of a Movement

2. Steve Addison, Movements That Change the World: Five Keys to

Spreading the Gospel (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011)
37.
3. John Wesley, How to Pray: The Best of John Wesley on Prayer
(Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour Publishing, 2007) 52.
4. Works, 22:348.
5. Leslie F. Church, The Early Methodist People (Eugene: Wipf and
Stock Publishers, 2014) 18.
6. John Telford, The Life of John Wesley (London: The Epworth
Press, 1947) 394.

Chapter 2

1. Works, 1:185.
2. Wesley actually had a hierarchical structure for small groups.
Societies were the largest of these groups, and “bands” were the
smallest.
3. http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-letters-of-john-wesley/
wesleys-letters-1777.
4. David Garrison, Church Planting Movements: How God Is
Redeeming a Lost World (Monument, CO: WIG Take Resources,
2004) 189.

Chapter 3

1. George Hunter III, cited in James C. Logan, ed. Theology and

Evangelism in the Wesleyan Heritage (Nashville: Kingswood
Books, 1994) 159.
2. Works, 8:299.

66
 Marks of a Movement

Chapter 4

1. John R. W. Stott, “Make Disciples, Not Just Converts:

Evangelism without Discipleship Dispenses Cheap Grace,”
Christianity Today, Vol. 43, No. 12 (October 25, 1999) 28.
2. Works, 3:144.
3. Works, 1:416.
4. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point. How Little Things Can
Make a Big Difference (New York: Little,asdf Brown, and
Company, 2000) 173.
5. D. Michael Henderson, John Wesley’s Class Meeting: A Model
for Making Disciples (Nappanee, IN: Evangel Publishing House,
1997) 112.
6. Albert C. Outler, John Wesley (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1980) 178.
7. Outler, John Wesley, 181.
8. Works, 11:433.
9. Outler, John Wesley, 86.
10. Ibid, 179.
11. Bready J. Wesley, England: Before and After Wesley (London:
Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.) 238.
12. John Wesley, Poetical Works, I:IX-XXII; cited in D. Michael
Henderson, John Wesley’s Class Meeting: A Model for Making
Disciples (Nappanee, IN: Evangel Publishing House, 1997) 86.

Chapter 5

1. Works, 5:39.
2. Works, 8:346.

67
 Appendix

CHARACTERISTICS OF
MOVEMENTS
This short eBook includes what I believe are the key characteristics
of a movement, but it is by no means comprehensive, but is limited
first by the Wesleyan revival. Not only do other movements outside
of the Wesleyan revival provide insights to movements in general,
but other writers have compiled their lists, too, which supplement
what I’ve written here. I’ve included their lists so you can find some
overlap and perhaps other aspects of movements that were not
emphasized or addressed in this eBook.

Characteristics of Movements
by Howard Snyder, Signs of the Spirit: How God Reshapes the Church

1. Thirst for Renewal

2. Stress on the Work of the Spirit
3. An Institutional/Charismatic tension
4. A Concern for being a Countercultural community
5. Nontraditional or non-ordained leadership
6. Ministry to the poor
7. Energy and dynamism

68
 Marks of a Movement

Six Characteristics of a Movement

by Steve Addison, Movements That Change the World: Five Keys to
Spreading the Gospel

1. White-Hot Faith
2. Commitment to a Cause
3. Contagious Relationships
4. Rapid Mobilization
5. Adaptive Methods
6. Pioneering or Apostolic Leadership

Common Characteristics of Church Planting Movements

by David Garrison, Church Planting Movements: How God Is
Redeeming a Lost World

1. Extraordinary Prayer
2. Abundant Evangelism
3. Intentional Planting of Reproducing Churches
4. The Authority of God’s Word
5. Local Leadership
6. Lay Leadership
7. House Churches
8. Churches Planting Churches
9. Rapid Reproduction
10. Healthy Churches

69
 Marks of a Movement

10 Characteristics of Movemental Christianity

by Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im, 1,000 Churches: How Past Movements
Did It—And How Your Church Can, Too

1. Prayer
2. Intentionality of multiplication
3. Sacrifice
4. Reproducibility
5. Theological Integrity
6. Incarnational Ministry
7. Empowerment of God’s People
8. Charitably in Appreciating Other Models
9. Scalability
10. Holism in Overall Approach

70
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 About the Author

Winfield Bevins is passionate about equipping others for missional

engagement in a post-Christian context. He is Director of Church
Planting at Asbury Seminary and also serves as Director of Re-
missioning for Fresh Expressions US. A seasoned practitioner, he
has helped plant several churches and has used his experience to
train leaders from around the world. Winfield is a sought-after
missional consultant and frequently speaks at conferences on a
variety of topics. He has a doctorate from Southeastern Seminary in
Wake Forest, North Carolina. In addition to training others, he has
helped create a number of assessment tools for planters and churches
including those available at www.churchplantingeq.com and www.
remissioning.org.
Winfield is the author of several books including:

• Church Planting Revolution

• Grow at Home: A Beginner’s Guide to Family Discipleship
• Our Common Prayer: A Field Guide to the Book of Common
Prayer
• Creed: Connect to the Essentials of the Historic Faith

As an author, one of his passions is writing about the

intersection of spiritual formation and mission. As a follower of
Christ, his primary ministry is being a devoted husband and father.
He and his wife, Kay, have three beautiful girls—Elizabeth, Anna
Belle, and Caroline. They live in the Bluegrass State of Kentucky.
You can connect with him online at winfieldbevins.com or on
Twitter @winfieldbevins.
80