“the next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him “follow me”. John 1:43
You can read this passage about the first disciples, from v 35 to 51. It is the story of the start of a movement – read carefully and you will see how many times Jesus moved around from town to town just in these short verses. In fact, starting at the beginning of the entire Bible, you will see a God who is on the move, and the same God moving his people constantly until he brought them to a place of rest, the Promised Land.
When Wesley founded the Methodist movement, it was done so from the saddle of his donkey as he travelled around Britain preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in every town and village (it was said that the preaching of Wesley saved Britain from the same revolution that occurred in much of Europe). The same movement grew, when other preachers travelled around on horseback, founding small movements, which themselves became small movements that set about founding other small movements. Methodism was a movement, like Jesus originally founded.
The Methodist movement spread to the US, and pushed the Gospel through the frontiers, and in many instances lead the pushing back of frontiers. They were called the ‘mobile circuit riders’ men who had been touched by Christ and decided to take him at his word and follow him. Church was never mentioned at the time, because to almost everyone, church meant sombre Latin mass in a big building.
Interestingly enough, you can almost pick the start of the decline of Methodism to the point where the mobile circuit riders decided to stop riding around and got off their horses and became educated clergy that founded parishes and built churches. If you go to Britain today, the legacy of the Methodist movement is barely seen as the last of the church buildings struggle to keep their doors open. Few would comprehend the enormous influence and impact such a few men had on the current state of their country. In many senses, God has moved on, and we didn’t.
What can we take from these lessons about the Methodists? Does it mean that we need to travel from town to town to have any impact with the Gospel on the people? No, of course not, although some are definitely called to that life.
An important lesson to be learned is that Jesus commanded us to ‘Go’ into the world. Far too many believers today assume that call now means ‘come into my church’. This week I read something that has been playing around and around in my mind – Jesus Christ did not come to make bad people better, he came to make dead people alive. Isn’t that incredible – we are alive, and only alive, in Christ Jesus. Yet, with him, we really do live! Too often with conventional attitudes, the purpose seems to be to make bad people better. Those who really need Christ – the dead, wouldn’t be seen in church if they were. We need to go out and find them.
The second lesson is that being a disciple of Christ is work. It is intentional, and it requires effort on our behalf. We don’t make people alive, but we do persistently call people towards the one who does. I have to remind myself continually that my discipleship training requires constant effort, and God won’t do my part of the work for me.
We cannot ignore Jesus‘ call. It is an enormous privilege.
For encouragement this week, read Philippians 3:17-21. In it Paul explains why he did all that he did for Christ – he knew that the time was coming, when he would be with this Jesus for all eternity. Then, the work will stop and the rest will start.
Let’s look forward to that day.
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