I Love The Entry In His Diary Where He Says, "And ...

I love the entry in his diary where he says, "And today I submitted to be even more vile: I descended to the level of field preaching."

In essence, what Wesley did was take the church beyond the walls. To do that he preach out in the open—something was seen as heresy by the church leaders of his day. And so it goes still today as we try contemporary approaches to field preaching.

On his travels throughout Britain and Ireland, Wesley preached to thousands

of ordinary people in market squares, under trees, on hills, in fields, on

the streets, from tombstones (including his father’s in Epworth churchyard),

in yards, gardens, village greens, beaches or any open place where he could

draw a crowd. And if he was not in the open air, he could be found preaching

in houses, public buildings, military barracks, prisons - and in parish

churches, when he was allowed. One of the best times for drawing a crowd was

apparently at 5 a.m. That was prime time back then.