In the 1760, lots of
people were moving from England to the colonies in North America.
Robert Strawbridge
was one of them. Robert was from Ireland and came to the colonies in 1760 to be
a farmer in Maryland. He had been a leader of a Methodist class back in
Ireland, and so he decided to start one here in America, too. He didn’t actually tell John Wesley what he was up to, he just did it.
Barbara Heck moved to
the colonies around the same time. She had attended a Methodist group before
she moved. She traveled to the colonies with Philip Embury, who John Wesley had
licensed to preach. She encouraged him to start a group, and rounded up five
friends to be a part of it. Later, as the group grew to a church, she would help design John Street Chapel in NYC.
The Methodist
movement grew because of people like Robert and Barbara, who were willing to
take risks and begin new groups even if they might fail. They knew they needed
to meet with other Christians. And as the colonies grew, and the frontier grew,
Methodists groups grew. When a Methodist moved, they started a new group. Many
of those groups grew into churches.
Questions:
1.
Are
there jobs in the church that only the pastor can do?
2.
What
do people do at our church when they see a need?
3.
Do
we try new things, even if they might fail?
4.
If
you started a small group, who are the 5 people you would start it with?
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