Saint John Wesley

I'm sure you're right about that. I think Wesley himself would go to Africa - just like he came to America (though I would hope he would do a better job this time around). Of course we've sainted JW - cut out all the bad stuff and remember just the holiness stuff and the revival and the "mini-reformation" of the Anglican Church (I wonder, does the CofE call that a rebellion like they do the American Revolution? heh)... Read his journal sometime. Okay, don't... I never did. But I got some highlights in Methodist History class in seminary...

There's the Aldersgate experience - and that was foundational and formational (is that a word?)... But, even after that moment he doubted his own salvation. He might have been mildly bi-polar - or somewhat clinically depressed - or something. He was way up and way down at times. One story I remember from Meth. History class was his missionary journey to Georgia. He was a miserable failure as a missionary. AND, to make matters worse, he wanted to marry a certain young lady and when she said no, he refused to serve her communion... Her husband (she, obviously, wanted to marry someone else) sued JW for defamation and a bunch of other people unhappy with JW's ministry in Georgia piled on the charges. He ran back to England...

But that's one (admittedly big) failure in a faithful and hugely productive career. One of the things that I really respect about JW - besides the fact that he could screw up royally like me (heh) is that he remained an Anglican priest until the day he died. He LIVED the idea of reformation from within. Though Methodism became a separate denomination, it was never his intention. He scheduled the Methodist meetings so that they would not conflict with CofE worship and meetings - he was totally committed to seeing the CofE transformed. And, in a way, it was....