Contents
John Wesley was a man of order. He loved the regular church service, the church and the pulpit. His story shows the Principle of Plan and Adaptation from an unusual angle: sometimes adaptation has to win out against your own convictions about the right form. The objective stays the same. The way turns out to be completely different from the one you yourself thought was right.
A preacher without a pulpit
Situation
After a formative experience of faith in May 1738, Wesley, a clergyman of the Church of England, preaches with new passion about faith and the assurance of salvation. To many parish clergy, his preaching is too enthusiastic. One pulpit after another is closed to him.
Link to the principle
Wesley’s plan is clear: preach the gospel in churches, as is proper. But reality responds. The doors close. The plan meets resistance he had not reckoned with.
The call to Bristol
Situation
The churches in Bristol are closed to his friend George Whitefield as well. So since February 1739, Whitefield has been preaching in the open air to the coal miners of Kingswood. On March 22, he urges Wesley to come to Bristol without delay. Wesley hesitates. In the end, his religious society in Fetter Lane in London decides by lot that he should go. He sets out on March 29 and arrives on the evening of March 31.
Link to the principle
Adaptation often begins not with an idea of your own but with a nudge from outside. Whitefield has already tried out the new form. Wesley doesn’t have to invent it; he only has to embrace it. And that is exactly what he finds hard.
Reluctance
Situation
On Sunday, April 1, 1739, Wesley sees Whitefield preach in the open air. In his journal he writes: “I could scarcely reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields.” He had been all his life, until very recently, so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order that he “should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.”
Link to the principle
This is the most honest part of the story. The greatest resistance to adaptation often comes not from outside but from your own conviction about how something is properly done. Wesley has to separate the form from the content. Preaching is the objective; the church is only the familiar way.
April 2, 1739
Situation
On Monday, April 2, 1739, at about four in the afternoon, Wesley preaches in the open air for the first time. About 3,000 people listen. His text speaks of the Spirit of the Lord having sent the preacher to bring good news to the poor. In his journal he describes the step as an act of self-abasement: “I submitted to be more vile.”
Link to the principle
The Bible text fits the new form. He reaches the poor, the miners who never set foot in a church, precisely where he would never have stood of his own accord. The adaptation serves the objective better than the original plan. What begins as a makeshift solution opens a door to people the plan would never have reached.
The exception becomes the way forward
Situation
In the weeks that follow, Wesley preaches in the open air at more places around Bristol, often to several thousand people. On May 12, 1739, the foundation stone is laid in Bristol for a meeting house of their own, the New Room. For decades, field preaching remains a hallmark of the Methodist movement that grows out of Wesley’s work.
Link to the principle
Helmuth von Moltke called strategy a system of expedients. With Wesley, an expedient becomes a system. He does not go back to the old form as soon as he can; instead, he builds out the new one. At the same time, he establishes permanent societies and meeting houses. Adaptation and new order go hand in hand.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
- Separate your objective from the form you are used to.
- Pay attention to people who have already tried out a new way.
- Be prepared to find the greatest resistance within yourself.
- A makeshift solution can bring you to people your plan would never have reached.
- Build out an adaptation that has proven itself instead of going back at the first opportunity.
Summary
John Wesley wanted to preach in churches, but the pulpits were closed to him. Against his own convictions, he followed George Whitefield into the fields and on April 2, 1739, preached to about 3,000 people near Bristol. The makeshift solution became the hallmark of a movement. That is the Principle of Plan and Adaptation: the objective stays, and the form follows reality.
Sources
- Helmuth von Moltke: Über Strategie (1871; in German). In: Moltkes Militärische Werke, Vol. II, Part 2. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn 1900.
- John Wesley: The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley. Edited by Nehemiah Curnock. London 1909–1916.
