John Wesley Preaching in Ireland. (c) John Wesleys House & The Museum of Methodism; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
[This is part of the A.P.E. Pitfalls series. Check out the other posts here.]
If you are going to be a person who starts new things for God, takes any kind of risk, or wants to prohpetically call the church out into things on the horizon, you will face trials, rejection and at times marginalization.
What will you do at that point?
Well, Here is something that might help you!
John Wesley
Lets take a look into the journal of John Wesley!
He is what I would call the epitome of an Apostolic leader…He started new things, led movements of people and organized mission around the common person as well as anyone… He was the father of Methodism.
Often times we make the apostolic leader the sexy thing, when in fact it is often very hard to be called by God in this way and it comes with great costs. Often times much failure and rejection is part of the resume.
Take a peak at Wesley’s journal…
Sunday, A.M May 5
Preached in St. Anne’s. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday, P.M. May 5
Preached in St. Jude’s. Can’t go back there, either.
Sunday, A.M. May 19
Preached in St. Somebody Else’s. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return.
Sunday, P.M May 19
Preached on street. Kicked off street.
Sunday, A.M. May 26
Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday, A.M. June 2
Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.
Sunday, P.M June 2
Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.
This was shared with me at church the other day and then I heard my wife share it when she preached this weekend as she exhorted 500 college students to obey the things Jesus tells them to do no matter the costs.
Apostolic, Prophetic, and Evangelistic people tend to face rejection and failure as we lean into our callings and start new things or call the church out into new horizons beyond the current comforts of the culture.
I hope this journal of Wesley encourages you to take risks and follow Jesus no matter the cost. Jesus will call some of us APEs to really press the edge at different points and we need Wesley’s perseverance to continue in faithfulness. As I read this journal, I am emboldened this week to keep going and take more risk for Jesus.
“3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.” - James 1:3
Two Worship Songs
Here are a couple worship songs that we sang Saturday at the conference that helped me pray into this way of living. I hope you can listen to at least the first one and let it sink into your soul today. What if we actually lived like this and followed in the foot steps of Wesley! I know I want to…
So how does this encourage you today? Do you have any other quotes or heroes that help you live this way? We would love to hear.
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