Who was John Wesley and why is this page about his 21 Questions?
John Wesley was an English cleric and theologian who, with his brother Charles and fellow cleric George Whitefield, founded Methodism.
He held that, in this life, Christians could achieve a state where the love of God “reigned supreme in their hearts”, giving them outward holiness. His evangelicalism, firmly grounded in sacramental theology, maintained that means of grace were the manner by which God sanctifies and transforms the believer, encouraging people to experience Jesus Christ personally.
When John Wesley was a student at Oxford, he was part of a discipleship group where as men, they grew together in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Over those years, John developed these questions to help keep himself accountable and usable in the Lord’s hands.
These questions can be divided into three sections: Upward, Inward, and Outward. Seven of them ask you to consider your relationship with God, seven ask you to examine yourself, and seven ask what you are doing for others.
What if you are not Methodist, or even not Christian at all?
Other denominations will find these personally helpful. If you are not a Christian, you may substitute your spiritual guide, but you may find some of the questions will be unanswerable without a context to compare to. The 14 questions that deal with your inner self and helping others outwardly will be more useful. They will help make this world a kinder place.
If Christians did more self-reflection and were less like the Pharisees, the world would be a better place.
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