Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley was John Wesley’s little brother. He was a pastor in the Church of England too. While John was really good at organizing people into groups, Charles had a different gift. He was a poet and song writer. He could take the stories from the Bible and theology (beliefs about God) and turn them into beautiful songs.

Charles published 4,500 songs and wrote at least 3,000 more. As Methodism grew, leaders relied heavily on his hymnal and the Bible, because they couldn’t take a lot of books on horseback. Charles wrote songs for lots of people who didn’t know church music…so he would take popular songs and change the words so people didn’t have to worry about knowing the melody.

We still sing a lot of his songs today!

Activities

1.      Look up Charles Wesley’s songs in the hymnal. Do you know any?

2.      Read John Wesley’s Directions for Singing in the hymnal. What would be your 7 rules for singing in church?

3.      Pick a favorite pop song. Using that tune, write words to make it into a church song. You can use Bible stories for inspiration or a theological idea.