Watching over One Another

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another. HEBREWS 10:24–25

Whitefield, it is often said, was the greater preacher, but Wesley’s converts lasted. Whether or not the comparison is fair to Whitefield, the reason behind it is real. Wesley did not preach and move on. He gathered those who were awakened into societies, divided the societies into classes, and gave every member a small circle of people who met weekly to ask how their souls prospered. He believed that the Christian life is not meant to be lived alone, and that the soul which has no one watching over it is in danger. This chapter looks at what he built and why.

How it began

Wesley tells the story himself in a late sermon, On God’s Vineyard. The early Methodist preachers, he says, had no plan at all. They simply went wherever they had a prospect of saving souls. But when more and more people came asking what they must do to be saved, they were desired to meet together. Twelve came the first Thursday night, forty the next, and soon a hundred. The London society grew to some thousands.

Then came a practical question: how should this multitude be kept together, and how should anyone know whether they walked worthy of their profession? The answer came, Wesley says, when they were thinking about something else entirely: paying off a debt. In Bristol in 1742 someone proposed dividing the society into small companies of about a dozen, each with a leader who would call on the members weekly to collect a penny for the debt. It was soon realised that the leader who called weekly could also inquire into their souls. The class meeting was born.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. ECCLESIASTES 4:9–10

What the class meeting did

By this means, Wesley writes, “it was quickly discovered if any of them lived in any known sin.” Those who did were first admonished and, if they would not change, excluded from the society. Quarterly, the preacher examined every member and renewed their ticket of membership; exclusion was done quietly, by not renewing it.

That sounds severe, and it could be. But the heart of the class meeting was not discipline. It was care. Once a week, in a kitchen or a front room, a dozen ordinary people — miners, weavers, servants, shopkeepers — met with their leader, who asked each in turn how it was with their soul. They confessed their struggles, gave thanks for answered prayer, sang, prayed for one another, and went home knowing that someone would ask again next week. For thousands of people who had never had a pastor who knew their name, it was the first time anyone had asked.

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. JAMES 5:16

For those who wanted to go deeper, there were smaller bands, grouped by sex and marital status, which met for more searching confession. And the whole structure was held together by the annual Conference of preachers and by quarterly meetings of stewards and leaders.

The one condition

Wesley’s General Rules for the societies set only one condition for membership: a desire to flee from the wrath to come and to be saved from one’s sins. That was deliberately simple. No one had to prove his conversion or subscribe to a list of doctrines. But the rules went on to say how that desire would show itself: by doing no harm, by doing good of every possible sort, and by attending on all the ordinances of God. Those who continued in the society were expected to walk accordingly.

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:11

This combination is worth noticing. The door was wide; anyone who wanted to be saved could come in. But once inside, people were expected to change, and others would help them.

Companions who watch over the soul

In On God’s Vineyard Wesley turns to those who had grown cold in the societies and asks why. One cause, he suggests, was their despising that excellent help, union with a Christian society. Have you not read, he asks, how can one be warm alone? And then a question worth putting to every Christian: you may have companions enough, perhaps more than enough, “But have you enough that are athirst for God, and that labour to make you so?” Have you companions “that watch over your soul, as they that must give account; and that freely and faithfully warn you, if you take any false step”?

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. PROVERBS 27:6

He also asks those who are members whether they make full use of the privilege: whether they never fail to meet their class, and do so not as a matter of form but expecting that when they meet in His name, the Lord will be among them.

Why it mattered

Wesley’s small groups did at least three things that preaching alone could not. They turned converts into disciples, giving them a place to grow and not only a moment of decision. They made pastoral care possible on a scale no clergy could manage, by putting it into the hands of ordinary believers; many class leaders were women. And they trained leaders. Men and women who had never spoken in public learned to pray aloud, to counsel, and eventually, some of them, to preach.

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. GALATIANS 6:2

Where to read with care

The system also shows the weakness of its maker. Wesley governed the Methodist connexion with a firm and often autocratic hand. He appointed the preachers and moved them from circuit to circuit, admitted and excluded members, called the Conference and decided what it would discuss. He was usually wise and often generous, but he did not easily share authority, and critics within the movement complained of it. His famous defence of his power was that he had not sought it, and that those who submitted to it did so freely. That was true, but it left the movement poorly prepared for his death, and some of its later divisions trace back to the question of who should govern.

The class meeting, too, could decay. Where it lost its warmth, it became a form of inspection; where leaders were unwise, it could become intrusive. Wesley’s own question, whether people met as a matter of form or expecting Christ among them, is the test.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Ask Wesley’s question honestly: have you companions who watch over your soul and will faithfully warn you if you take a false step?

2. If you do not, name one or two believers you could invite to meet regularly to ask how your souls are prospering.

3. If you are in a small group, ask whether it meets as a matter of form or in expectation that Christ is present.

4. Practise James 5:16 this week: confess one struggle to a trusted brother or sister, and pray for each other.

5. Read On God’s Vineyard in Wesley’s Sermons on Several Occasions for his own account of the societies.

A PRAYER

Lord, You did not make me to be warm alone. Thank You for every brother and sister who has prayed for me, warned me and encouraged me.

Give me companions who thirst for You and who will watch over my soul, and make me such a companion to others.

Where I have hidden my struggles, give me courage to confess them. Where I have neglected fellowship, draw me back.

And when we meet in Your name, let us expect You in the midst of us. Amen.