News: Aldersgate Lectures

Jason Woo is the Communications Executive at MCS Comms. / Screenshots courtesy of MCS Comms

Seeking your own

Aldersgate moment

Bishop Dr Gordon Wong gracing the online event and praying that hearts would be receptive to the teachings for the evening ETAC President, Rev Philip Abraham, in attendance

The lectures being conducted in Mandarin with English subtitles on both evenings

The Aldersgate lectures have become an important component of the Aldersgate SG celebrations. They enable local Methodists as well as attendees from other faiths and denominations to learn more about Methodism and how it relates to society at large.

This year’s lectures, which took place via Zoom on the evenings of 20 and 21 May 2021, were given by Rev Dr Wilfred Ho. Rev Dr Ho was ordained in 1998 as a Methodist pastor under the Chinese Annual Conference. In 2007, he joined Trinity Theological College and currently serves as Director of the EQUIP programme as well as Associate Chaplain. His lectures, delivered in Mandarin with English subtitles, dealt primarily with how John Wesley’s Aldersgate experience was and can still be relevant to believers everywhere.

Wesley’s Aldersgate experience revisited

Ask an average Methodist and they might be able to recount the gist of John Wesley’s Aldersgate experience on the evening of 24 May 1738. John Wesley had reluctantly gone to a Christian gathering when he felt his “heart strangely warmed” by a reading of Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. Wesley’s spiritual worldview underwent a fundamental shift, not only a bolstering of his faith but also providing assurance that his salvation was indeed found in Christ.

All in all, it is a familiar tale to both the Methodist churchgoer and the Wesleyan scholar. However, is this all there is to it? An old story of how Wesley’s zeal for God was re-ignited, leading to his founding a movement that would ultimately span the globe? Rev Dr Wilfred Ho differs in his view, arguing that there is much to learn from Wesley’s divine encounter.

A heart strangely warmed

As much as Wesley’s experience on 24 May 1738 rolls off the tongue of even those who are half familiar with the origins of Methodism, the way that he described his experience clearly showed that it was anything but a perfunctory milestone in his spiritual life.

This point may be inferred from the fact that John Wesley wrote about his “heart strangely warmed” moment in the second volume of his personal journals on 29 September 1740—two years after it happened.

“Therefore, we have good reason to believe that the content published in Wesley’s Journals had undergone a rigorous selection and editing process. Only events that Wesley thought were beneficial for the readers were included,” argued Rev Dr Ho.

Rev Dr Ho drew the attention of the audience to the paragraph preceding the record of the Aldersgate experience in John Wesley’s journal: “What occurred on [24 May], I think best to relate at large, after premising what may make it the better understood. Let him that cannot receive it ask of the Father of lights that he would give more light both to him and me.”

It is interesting to note that after this paragraph, Wesley dropped the use of the typical pattern of penning journal entries in chronological sequence. Instead, he dedicated 18 entries to recounting his faith experience from the age of 10 till shortly after his Aldersgate experience, ending his entries with 25 May 1738, the day after his fateful encounter with God. The last four entries dealt exclusively with the entirety of the Aldersgate experience and its aftermath.

Why did John Wesley do this?

The key to the answer, according to Rev Dr Ho, may be inferred from Wesley’s use of the words, “relate at large”. It was clear that Wesley found it vital for his readers to know in detail about his faith journey leading up to his Aldersgate experience rather than just about what happened on 24 May 1738.

It is clear then that by recounting his faith journey, Wesley intended that the reader’s most important takeaway be God’s role—in not just Wesley’s own life but also that of believers—is more than just a conceptual experience. Rather He must be an experiential and relational part of daily living.

To drive this point further, Rev Dr Ho invited the audience to notice the words Wesley used to describe his Aldersgate experience, especially his use of the first person pronouns:

“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 save me from the law of sin and death.”

Rev Dr Ho also explained that Wesley’s 18-paragraph description illustrated his personal journey towards developing inward holiness and the transformation in the way he related with God and with sin.

“Wesley hinted that the lesson that he would eventually learn after 25 years was that of inward holiness… The Aldersgate experience was, for Wesley, more than just ‘believing in Jesus and receiving new birth.’ The Aldersgate experience would always be intertwined with Wesley’s life journey towards inward holiness,” said Rev Dr Ho, “an inward holiness that translates to holy living has always been Wesley’s emphasis, and it also should be so for us Methodists. It is one of the defining marks of a Methodist.” It was also interesting to find out from Wesley’s journal that even after his life-changing experience on 24 May evening, he was not immune to having his faith tested, even on the very next day.

“Wesley admitted that he had [earlier] depended on works, and therefore decided to shift the object of his faith, changing from dependence on his own works to a complete dependence on the gospel of Christ,” explained Rev Dr Ho.

However, it was not to be taken to mean that works are not needed, but that they are a “means of grace” towards an end that involves the receiving of “justifying, saving faith”. It is a faith that exhibits, in the words of John Wesley, “a full reliance on the blood of Christ shed for me; a trust in him as my Christ, as my sole justification, sanctification, and redemption.”

“Even though Wesley knew what ‘justifying, saving faith’ was, whether it can be achieved remains another thing altogether. To have such faith requires continual prayer. And since Wesley did not have such faith, he had to ask God for faith,” said Rev Dr Ho.

A personal Aldersgate moment

Rev Dr Ho concluded with saying that John Wesley’s Aldersgate experience was totally life-changing for him. However, Wesley’s experience was entirely his own. Each Methodist or Christian today may also experience their own unique “Aldersgate experience”. The crux is whether we desire to seek it for ourselves.

In closing, Rev Dr Ho challenged his audience with: “I trust that you truly believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But have you personally experienced the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you desire this experience? Will you, out of your desire for a personal experience of the gospel of Jesus, wrestle with God with all your might?”

Rev Wilfred Ho presenting his lectures in an easy-to-follow style by organising his content in readable bullet points