Baadhi ya maandishi haya bado hayajatafsiriwa kwa Kiswahili; sehemu hizo zinaonyeshwa kwa Kiingereza.

Kusoma mitazamo tofauti ya kiteolojia. Masomo ya kihistoria yanaeleza mitazamo ya waandishi wake, ikiwemo mapokeo ya Kiarminiani na ya Kireformed au ya Kikalvini. Kujumuishwa hakufanyi msimamo wa mwandishi kuwa fundisho thabiti la CTS. Soma pamoja na Maandiko na nyenzo zilizopangwa. Jibu lenye hoja kutoka mtazamo mwingine wa kiinjili linapaswa kupimwa kwa hoja zake, si kuadhibiwa kwa sababu tu linatofautiana na mwandishi. Ikiwa alama ya kompyuta inakataa jibu kama hilo, omba CTS ilipitie.

Masomo Yaliyopangwa ya Uzamili (yote matano)

Wanafunzi wa M.Div. na Th.M. husoma masomo yote matano yaliyopangwa na kufanya mtihani wake tofauti baada ya kuanzishwa. Ukurasa wa mtihani unaeleza kanuni ya sasa; ukamilishaji halali wa awali unabaki halali.

Heshima ya Hiari (chagua matatu)

Heshima ni ya hiari kwa kila programu. Wanafunzi wa Cheti na wa Shahada ya Mshiriki wanaweza kusoma masomo matatu ya heshima bila mtihani wa masomo ya lazima. Heshima haichukui nafasi ya mtihani wowote wa Uzamili.

The Master's textbook test: read The Journal of John Wesley, 1735–1740 (selections), then take its test: twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once. Correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. It is separate from the reading test on the five digests below: passing one does not pass the other. On the M.Div. and Th.M. tracks both tests are being introduced; each test's page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take them, and a pass is kept in your record.

The Master's reading test: separate from the honors invitation below. Honors asks you to read any three of these digests; the Master's test covers all five. It has twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, four from each reading, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once; correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. You may try again after a short wait. The test is being introduced: its page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take it, and a pass is kept in your record.

Chaguo la heshima: Kamilisha masomo matatu yoyote kati ya matano yaliyo hapa chini. Masomo haya yanaongeza kozi na hayachukui nafasi ya sehemu zake wala mitihani yake.

Kwenye tovuti hii: Kila moja ya masomo matano ni muhtasari wa Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala, ulioandikwa na CTS, unaopatikana hapa kwenye tovuti — kila mmoja unafunguka moja kwa moja kutoka ukurasa huu, bila kupakua chochote. Kila kadi inataja kitabu ambacho muhtasari wake umetokana nacho.

Yaliyochaguliwa: 0 kati ya 3

Somo la 1 · The Voyage and the Moravians

Not Afraid to Die

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Journal, 14 Oct 1735 – 5 Feb 1736; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1

Wesley sails for Georgia in 1735 with his brother Charles and two Oxford friends, keeping a strict rule of prayer and study on board. Twenty-six Moravians impress him with their humility, and when a storm splits the mainsail they calmly sing on while the English scream. Their freedom from the fear of death exposes what his own disciplined religion still lacks.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Muhtasari wa Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — muhtasari asilia ulioandikwa na CTS, unaopatikana kwa Kiingereza, Kihispania na Kifaransa, unaosomeka bila mtandao. Huu ni muhtasari wa CTS, si maandishi kamili ya chanzo asilia.

Bila Hofu ya Kufa: Safari ya Kwenda Georgia na Ushuhuda wa WamoraviaNot Afraid to Die: The Voyage to Georgia and the Moravian Witness

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — kurasa za kwanza za Jarida lililochapishwa la Wesley, kuanzia kuondoka kwake kwenda Georgia Oktoba 1735 hadi kuona kwa mara ya kwanza ufuko wa Amerika Februari 1736A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the opening pages of Wesley’s published Journal, from his departure for Georgia in October 1735 to the first sight of the American shore in February 1736

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Jarida la John Wesley, 14 Oktoba 1735 – 5 Februari 1736, kama lilivyochapishwa katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (toleo la 3, 1872), juzuu ya 1. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley’s Journal, 14 October 1735 – 5 February 1736, as printed in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Jarida, Okt 1735 – Feb 1736Journal, Oct 1735 – Feb 1736
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Safari ya AtlantikiThe Atlantic voyage
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Kozi hii inamfuata John Wesley (1703–1791) katika miaka mitano yenye maamuzi makuu zaidi ya maisha yake, ikitumia Jarida lake mwenyewe. Jarida si shajara ya faragha. Wesley alilihariri na kulichapisha kwa sehemu, kwa sehemu ili kutetea vuguvugu la Wamethodisti dhidi ya wakosoaji wake. Kwa hiyo tunalisoma kama ushuhuda wake: wa unyoofu, mara nyingi wa kuumiza, lakini ulioumbwa na yale aliyokuja kuamini baadaye. Katika somo hili la kwanza yeye ni mchungaji wa Kianglikana mwenye umri wa miaka thelathini na miwili, mcha Mungu sana na mwenye nidhamu kubwa, anayesafiri kwenda koloni jipya la Georgia. Yeye pia ni, kwa maelezo yake mwenyewe ya baadaye, mtu ambaye bado hajaijua amani ya imani. A word before you read. This course follows John Wesley (1703–1791) through the most decisive five years of his life, using his own Journal. The Journal is not a private diary. Wesley edited it and published it in parts, partly to defend the Methodist movement against its critics. So we read it as his testimony: honest, often painfully so, but shaped by what he later came to believe. In this first reading he is a thirty-two-year-old Anglican clergyman, deeply devout and very disciplined, sailing to the new colony of Georgia. He is also, by his own later account, a man who does not yet know the peace of faith.

1.Kabla ya Safari: Oxford na Klabu Takatifu1.Before the Voyage: Oxford and the Holy Club

Ili kumwelewa mtu aliyepanda meli mwaka 1735 ni lazima turudi Oxford. Wesley alikuwa Mwanachama wa Chuo cha Lincoln na kasisi aliyewekwa wakfu wa Kanisa la Uingereza. Mwaka 1729 alijiunga na kikundi kidogo ambacho kaka yake mdogo Charles alikuwa amekikusanya. Walikutana kusoma Agano Jipya la Kigiriki na Mababa wa kwanza wa Kanisa, kuomba, kujichunguza maisha yao, na kupokea Meza ya Bwana kila juma. Kuanzia mwaka 1730 walitembelea pia wafungwa katika gereza la Oxford Castle na kusaidia familia maskini mjini. Wanafunzi wengine waliwacheka na kuwapa majina ya utani: “Klabu Takatifu,” “Nondo wa Biblia,” na jina lililodumu, “Wamethodisti,” kwa sababu waliishi kwa kanuni na utaratibu (method). Juzuu ya Jackson inaanza na barua ya Wesley ya mwaka 1732 kwa Richard Morgan, ambaye mwanawe William alikuwa mmoja wa wanachama wa kwanza. Ndani yake Wesley anaeleza jinsi, Agosti 1730, yeye na kaka yake walivyotembea pamoja na Morgan mdogo hadi gereza la Castle. Klabu Takatifu ilikuwa na bidii na ukarimu, lakini pia ilikuwa dini ya juhudi. Wanachama wake walitumaini kuwa watakatifu kwa kutenda kila kitu Mungu alichoamuru, kikamilifu kadiri walivyoweza.To understand the man who boarded ship in 1735 we need to go back to Oxford. Wesley was a Fellow of Lincoln College and an ordained priest of the Church of England. In 1729 he joined a small circle that his younger brother Charles had gathered. They met to read the Greek New Testament and the early church fathers, to pray, to examine their lives, and to receive Holy Communion every week. From 1730 they also visited prisoners in the Oxford Castle jail and helped poor families in the town. Other students laughed at them and gave them nicknames: the “Holy Club,” the “Bible moths,” and the name that stuck, “Methodists,” because they lived by rule and method. Jackson’s volume opens with Wesley’s 1732 letter to Richard Morgan, whose son William had been one of the first members. In it Wesley describes how, in August 1730, he and his brother walked with young Morgan to the Castle prison. The Holy Club was earnest and generous, but it was also a religion of effort. Its members hoped to become holy by doing everything God commanded, as fully as they could.

2.Kwa Nini Georgia? Oglethorpe na Koloni Jipya2.Why Georgia? Oglethorpe and the New Colony

Georgia ilikuwa imepokea hati yake ya kifalme mwaka 1732. Mwanzilishi wake mkuu, Jenerali James Oglethorpe, alikuwa askari na Mjumbe wa Bunge aliyetaka kuzipa familia maskini za Kiingereza mwanzo mpya, kuwahifadhi Waprotestanti waliodhulumiwa kutoka Ulaya, na kulinda ukingo wa kusini wa makoloni ya Uingereza dhidi ya Florida ya Kihispania. Bodi ya Wadhamini huko London iliitawala koloni. Savannah ilianzishwa mwaka 1733. Wadhamini walihitaji mchungaji, na Oglethorpe aliijua familia ya Wesley. Baba yao Samuel alipofariki Aprili 1735, John alikubali kwenda, na Charles pia alienda, kama katibu wa Oglethorpe. Wesley anasema kusudi lake waziwazi kwenye ukurasa wa kwanza. Hakwenda kuikimbia ufukara wala kupata mali au heshima, bali “hili peke yake,—kuziokoa nafsi zetu; kuishi kabisa kwa utukufu wa Mungu.” Katika barua za wakati huo aliongeza tumaini la pili: kuhubiri kwa mataifa ya asili ya Amerika, ambao alidhani kuwa wasikilizaji wasio na hila, tayari kuipokea injili bila uharibifu wa Ulaya. Matumaini yote mawili yatajaribiwa. Vijana wengine wawili wa kikundi cha Oxford walisafiri pamoja na hao ndugu: Benjamin Ingham wa Chuo cha Queen’s na Charles Delamotte, mwana wa mfanyabiashara wa London.Georgia had received its royal charter in 1732. Its leading founder, General James Oglethorpe, was a soldier and Member of Parliament who wanted to give poor English families a new start, to shelter persecuted Protestants from Europe, and to protect the southern edge of the British colonies against Spanish Florida. A board of Trustees in London governed the colony. Savannah was founded in 1733. The Trustees needed a minister, and Oglethorpe knew the Wesley family. After their father Samuel died in April 1735, John agreed to go, and Charles went too, as Oglethorpe’s secretary. Wesley states his purpose plainly on the first page. He did not go to escape poverty or to gain riches or honour, but “singly this,—to save our souls; to live wholly to the glory of God.” In letters of the time he added a second hope: to preach to the Native peoples of America, whom he imagined as simple hearers, ready to receive the gospel without the corruptions of Europe. Both hopes will be tested. Two other young men from the Oxford circle sailed with the brothers: Benjamin Ingham of Queen’s College and Charles Delamotte, the son of a London merchant.

3.Klabu Takatifu Inayoelea3.A Floating Holy Club

Marafiki hao wanne walipanda meli Simmonds huko Gravesend tarehe 14 Oktoba 1735. Pepo zilizo kinyume ziliishikilia meli kwa majuma kadhaa kando ya pwani ya Uingereza, nao hawakuvuka Kisiwa cha Wight hadi tarehe 10 Desemba. Waliutumia wakati huo kama walivyoutumia huko Oxford. Wesley anaandika kanuni yao ya kila siku. “Kuanzia saa kumi alfajiri hadi saa kumi na moja, kila mmoja wetu alifanya maombi ya faragha.” Kisha zilifuata saa mbili za kusoma Biblia pamoja, ambazo walizilinganisha kwa uangalifu na “maandishi ya karne za kwanza kabisa.” Kulikuwa na maombi ya hadharani, kujifunza lugha, kuwafundisha watoto, na kuwatembelea abiria katika vyumba vyao. Saa sita mchana walikutana kutoa taarifa kwa kila mmoja juu ya waliyoyafanya na waliyokusudia kufanya. Waliacha nyama na divai na baadaye chakula cha jioni, wakiamini kwamba kujikana nafsi katika mambo madogo kungesaidia nafsi zao. Jumapili ya kwanza Wesley “alihubiri kwa mara ya kwanza bila maandishi” (extempore), yaani, bila matini iliyoandikwa, na kuwahudumia watu sita au saba Meza ya Bwana. Pia alibatiza familia moja ya Waquaker wa zamani baada ya kufundishwa kwa uangalifu. Mwanamke mmoja aliyekuwa akipona alipoomba kufundishwa juu ya Meza ya Bwana, aliamua kwamba kwanza alihitaji kufundishwa “asili ya Ukristo,” na akasoma naye kila siku kitabu cha William Law Christian Perfection. Huyu ndiye Wesley kijana katika kilele chake na katika udai wake mkubwa: asiyechoka, mwenye utaratibu, mchungaji, lakini mwenye imani inayoegemea sana juu ya nidhamu.The four friends boarded the Simmonds at Gravesend on 14 October 1735. Contrary winds held the ship for weeks off the English coast, and they did not clear the Isle of Wight until 10 December. They used the time exactly as they had used their time at Oxford. Wesley records their daily rule. “From four in the morning till five, each of us used private prayer.” Then came two hours of Bible study together, which they carefully compared with “the writings of the earliest ages.” There was public prayer, study of languages, teaching the children, and visits to passengers in their cabins. At noon they met to give account to one another of what they had done and what they intended to do. They gave up meat and wine and later suppers, believing that self-denial in small things would help their souls. On the first Sunday Wesley “now first preached extempore,” that is, without a written text, and gave Communion to six or seven people. He also baptized a family of former Quakers after careful instruction. When a recovering woman asked to be taught about the Lord’s Supper, he decided she first needed teaching “in the nature of Christianity,” and read William Law’s Christian Perfection with her every day. This is the young Wesley at his best and at his most demanding: tireless, orderly, and pastoral, but with a faith that rests heavily on discipline.

4.Wajerumani Ndani ya Meli4.The Germans on Board

Abiria ishirini na sita Wajerumani walikuwa wakisafiri kwenda Georgia. Walikuwa wa Kanisa la Wamoravia, Umoja uliofanywa upya wa Ndugu, ambao ulikuwa umepata kimbilio katika mali ya Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf huko Herrnhut, Saxony. Kiongozi wao ndani ya meli alikuwa David Nitschmann, askofu. Siku ya tatu Wesley alianza kujifunza Kijerumani “ili aongee na Wajerumani,” na Nitschmann na wengine wawili walianza kujifunza Kiingereza. Wesley anaomba kwamba wawe “si wa lugha moja tu, bali wa nia moja na moyo mmoja.” Aliwatazama watu hawa kwa makini. Walifanya kazi chafu na duni ambazo abiria Waingereza walizikataa, na hawakupokea malipo kwa hizo, wakisema ni “nzuri kwa mioyo yao ya kiburi” na kwamba “Mwokozi wao mwenye upendo alikuwa amefanya zaidi kwa ajili yao.” Waliposukumwa au kupigwa, waliinuka tu na kuondoka bila malalamiko. Wesley alivutiwa na unyenyekevu wao na upole wao. Hakuwa bado ameelewa vinatoka wapi.Twenty-six German passengers were travelling to Georgia. They belonged to the Moravian Church, the renewed Unity of the Brethren, which had found refuge on the estate of Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf at Herrnhut in Saxony. Their leader on board was David Nitschmann, a bishop. On the third day Wesley began to learn German “in order to converse with the Germans,” and Nitschmann and two others began to learn English. Wesley prays that they may be “not only of one tongue, but of one mind and of one heart.” He watched these people closely. They did the dirty and humble work that the English passengers refused, and they took no pay for it, saying it was “good for their proud hearts” and that “their loving Saviour had done more for them.” When they were pushed or struck, they simply got up and walked away without complaint. Wesley admired their humility and meekness. He did not yet understand where it came from.

5.Dhoruba Tatu na Ungamo la Unyoofu5.Three Storms and an Honest Confession

Januari 1736 ilileta hali mbaya ya hewa. Tarehe 17 Januari bahari ilipiga juu ya meli na kuufurika chumba alimokaa Wesley. Alijilaza bila kujua kama angeamka akiwa hai, na “akiona aibu sana kwa kutokuwa radhi kufa.” Anaandika: “Ee, jinsi gani lazima awe safi moyoni yule atakayefurahia kuonekana mbele za Mungu kwa taarifa ya dakika moja tu!” Baada ya dhoruba ya usiku ya awali alikuwa tayari ameungama kwamba mtikisiko wa meli “ulionyesha wazi kwamba sikuwa tayari, kwa kuwa sikuwa radhi kufa.” Dhoruba ya pili ilikuja tarehe 23 Januari, naye akajiuliza swali la Yesu kwa wanafunzi: “Imekuwaje huna imani?” Dhoruba ya tatu, Jumapili tarehe 25 Januari, ilikuwa mbaya zaidi. Wamoravia walikuwa wakiimba zaburi katika ibada yao ya jioni bahari ilipopasua tanga kuu, kuifunika meli na kumwagika kati ya sitaha. “Kilio cha kutisha kilianza miongoni mwa Waingereza. Wajerumani waliendelea kuimba kwa utulivu.” Baadaye Wesley alimwuliza mmoja wao, “Hukuogopa?” Alijibu, “Namshukuru Mungu, la.” Wesley alisisitiza: je, wanawake na watoto hawakuogopa? “La; wanawake wetu na watoto wetu hawaogopi kufa.” Wesley alienda moja kwa moja kwa abiria Waingereza walioogopa na kuwaonyesha tofauti kati ya wanaomcha Mungu na wasiomcha. Kisha aliandika: “Hii ilikuwa siku tukufu zaidi ambayo nimewahi kuiona hadi sasa.”January 1736 brought violent weather. On 17 January the sea broke over the ship and flooded the cabin where Wesley sat. He lay down not knowing whether he would wake alive, and “much ashamed of my unwillingness to die.” He writes: “O how pure in heart must he be, who would rejoice to appear before God at a moment’s warning!” After an earlier night storm he had already confessed that the tossing ship “plainly showed I was unfit, for I was unwilling, to die.” A second storm came on 23 January, and he asked himself the question of Jesus to the disciples: “How is it that thou hast no faith?” The third storm, on Sunday 25 January, was the worst. The Moravians were singing a psalm at their evening service when the sea split the mainsail, covered the ship and poured in between the decks. “A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on.” Afterwards Wesley asked one of them, “Was you not afraid?” He answered, “I thank God, no.” Wesley pressed him: were not the women and children afraid? “No; our women and children are not afraid to die.” Wesley went straight to the frightened English passengers and pointed out the difference between those who fear God and those who do not. Then he wrote: “This was the most glorious day which I have hitherto seen.”

6.Kile Dhoruba Ilichofichua6.What the Storm Revealed

Tunapaswa kuzingatia kile ambacho Wesley ana unyoofu wa kukiandika. Maana ya hadithi ya dhoruba si hatari ya bahari bali hali ya moyo wake mwenyewe. Ameacha mali, starehe na nchi. Anaomba saa nne kwa siku na hufunga mara nyingi. Hata hivyo kifo kinapokaribia anaogopa, na kundi la mafundi na wakulima rahisi Wajerumani hawaogopi. Pia anagundua jambo kuhusu mabaharia. Baada ya dhoruba ya kwanza wengi wao walikana kwamba walikuwa katika hatari yoyote kabisa, naye anahitimisha kwamba watu hawawezi “kumtii Mungu kwa muda mrefu kwa hofu, ambao ni viziwi kwa sababu za upendo.” Bila kuliona bado, ameandika uchunguzi wake mwenyewe wa ugonjwa wake. Dini yake pia ilitegemea wajibu na hofu zaidi kuliko tumaini thabiti katika upendo wa Mungu. Wamoravia walikuwa na kitu alichokikosa, naye atatumia miaka miwili na nusu ijayo kujaribu kugundua kilikuwa nini. Tarehe 5 Februari meli iliingia mto Savannah. Wesley anaeleza vichaka vya misonobari kando ya ufuko kuwa “maua ya majira ya kuchipua katikati ya kina cha majira ya baridi,” na Somo la jioni lilionekana kusema na utume huo: “Mlango mkubwa, wenye kufaa, umefunguliwa.” Anaongeza ombi: “Ee, asiufunge mtu yeyote!”We should notice what Wesley is honest enough to record. The point of the storm story is not the danger of the sea but the condition of his own heart. He has given up wealth, comfort and country. He prays four hours a day and fasts often. Yet when death comes near he is afraid, and a group of simple German craftsmen and farmers are not. He also notices something about the sailors. After the first storm most of them denied they had been in any danger at all, and he concludes that people cannot “long obey God from fear, who are deaf to the motives of love.” Without yet seeing it, he has written his own diagnosis. His religion, too, rested more on duty and fear than on a settled confidence in the love of God. The Moravians had something he lacked, and he will spend the next two and a half years trying to find out what it was. On 5 February the ship entered the Savannah River. Wesley describes the pine groves along the shore as “the bloom of spring in the depth of winter,” and the evening lesson seemed to speak to the mission: “A great door, and effectual, is opened.” He adds a prayer: “O let no one shut it!”

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kimethodisti au Kinazareno Anachochukua Kutoka Kwake7.What a Methodist or Nazarene Pastor Takes from It

Kila kanisa la Kiwesley leo, kuanzia Kanisa la Methodisti la Muungano (United Methodist Church) hadi Kanisa la Nazarene na makanisa ya Wesleyan na Free Methodist, hufuatilia hadithi yake kupitia Aldersgate hadi meli hii. Mafunzo kadhaa yanajitokeza. Kwanza, utaratibu (method) si adui wa neema. Kanuni ya Klabu Takatifu ya maombi, masomo, uwajibikaji na huduma ingekuja kuwa uti wa mgongo wa jamii, vikundi vidogo (classes) na vikundi vya karibu (bands) vya Wamethodisti. Kilichobadilika baada ya 1738 hakikuwa nidhamu bali msingi chini yake. Pili, unyoofu kuhusu hali ya kiroho ya mtu mwenyewe ni karama ya kichungaji. Wesley hakuficha hofu yake; aliiandika na kuichapisha. Wachungaji wanaokiri uhitaji wao wenyewe huwarahisishia watu wao kukiri wao. Tatu, Mungu mara nyingi hutufundisha kupitia Wakristo wa mapokeo mengine. Wamoravia walikuwa Wapietisti wa Kijerumani, warithi wa Matengenezo ya Kilutheri na Ndugu wa zamani wa Czech, si Waanglikana. Wesley alijifunza lugha yao ili ajifunze kutoka kwao. Mchungaji huko Mexico anayejifunza kutoka kwa waumini wa kanisa jingine, au lugha nyingine, anasimama katika mapokeo hayo. Mwishowe, hofu ya kifo ni mtihani halisi wa imani. Wesley hakuuliza kama alikuwa mcha Mungu wa kutosha. Aliuliza kama angeweza kufa kwa amani.Every Wesleyan church today, from the United Methodist Church to the Church of the Nazarene and the Wesleyan and Free Methodist churches, traces its story back through Aldersgate to this ship. Several lessons stand out. First, method is not the enemy of grace. The Holy Club’s rule of prayer, study, accountability and service would later become the backbone of Methodist societies, classes and bands. What changed after 1738 was not the discipline but the foundation under it. Second, honesty about one’s own spiritual state is a pastoral gift. Wesley did not hide his fear; he wrote it down and published it. Pastors who admit their own need make it easier for their people to admit theirs. Third, God often teaches us through Christians of another tradition. The Moravians were German Pietists, heirs of the Lutheran Reformation and the old Czech Brethren, not Anglicans. Wesley learned their language in order to learn from them. A pastor in Mexico who learns from believers of another church, or another tongue, stands in that tradition. Finally, fear of death is a real test of faith. Wesley did not ask whether he was religious enough. He asked whether he could die in peace.

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Wesley alipanga siku yake ndani ya meli kuanzia saa kumi alfajiri hadi saa nne usiku. Ni mpangilio gani wa maombi na Maandiko unaoumba siku yako mwenyewe, na je, unategemea wajibu au upendo? Wamoravia “hawakuogopa kufa.” Ungejibu nini kama Wesley angekuuliza, “Hukuogopa?” Na ni Wakristo gani walio nje ya kanisa lako ambao Mungu anaweza kutaka kukufundisha kitu kupitia kwao ambacho bado hujakijifunza? For reflection. Wesley’s day on board was planned from four in the morning to ten at night. What rhythm of prayer and Scripture shapes your own day, and does it rest on duty or on love? The Moravians were “not afraid to die.” What would you have answered if Wesley had asked you, “Was you not afraid?” And who are the Christians outside your own church from whom God may want to teach you something you have not yet learned?

Chagua

Somo la 2 · The Georgia Ministry

A Strange Land

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Journal, 6 Feb 1736 – 22 Dec 1737; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1

Wesley’s twenty-two months in Savannah: Spangenberg’s question, “Do you know he has saved you?”; a strict High Church ministry and the first little societies; respectful conversations with Tomo Chachi and Chickasaw warriors beside a prejudiced second-hand summary of Native peoples; compassion for enslaved Africans in Carolina; and the Sophia Hopkey affair and lawsuit that drove him from Georgia in December 1737.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Nchi ya Kigeni: Huduma ya Wesley Georgia, 1736–1737A Strange Land: Wesley’s Ministry in Georgia, 1736–1737

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — miezi ishirini na miwili ya Wesley kama mchungaji wa Savannah: swali la kuchunguza kutoka kwa mchungaji wa Kimoravia, parokia ngumu iliyogawanyika, mikutano na watu wa asili na Waafrika, kashfa yenye maumivu, na kuondoka usikuA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — Wesley’s twenty-two months as minister of Savannah: a searching question from a Moravian pastor, a hard and divided parish, encounters with Native and African people, a painful scandal, and a night departure

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Jarida la John Wesley, 6 Februari 1736 – 22 Desemba 1737, kama lilivyochapishwa katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (toleo la 3, 1872), juzuu ya 1. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley’s Journal, 6 February 1736 – 22 December 1737, as printed in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Jarida, Feb 1736 – Des 1737Journal, Feb 1736 – Dec 1737
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Savannah na FredericaSavannah and Frederica
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Hili ndilo somo refu zaidi na kwa namna fulani lisilofurahisha zaidi katika kozi. Wesley alienda Georgia akiwa amejaa bidii na akarudi nyumbani, kwa maneno yake mwenyewe, baada ya kuhubiri Injili huko “si kama nilivyopaswa, bali kama nilivyoweza.” Jarida linaonyesha mchungaji mwaminifu, mwenye bidii ya kazi, lakini pia mkaidi aliyefanya makosa makubwa. Pia linaandika mitazamo yake kwa Wamarekani wa asili na Waafrika waliotumwa utumwani, baadhi yake ya ukarimu na baadhi yake ya ubaguzi mkubwa. CTS inakuomba usome yote kwa unyoofu. Warithi wa Wesley hawahudumiwi na shujaa aliyesafishwa. A word before you read. This is the longest and in some ways the most uncomfortable reading in the course. Wesley went to Georgia full of zeal and came home, in his own words, having preached the gospel there “not as I ought, but as I was able.” The Journal shows a faithful, hard-working pastor, but also a rigid one who made serious mistakes. It also records his attitudes toward Native Americans and enslaved Africans, some of them generous and some of them deeply prejudiced. CTS asks you to read all of it honestly. Wesley’s heirs are not served by a cleaned-up hero.

1.Maswali ya Spangenberg1.Spangenberg’s Questions

Siku moja baada ya kutua, Wesley alikutana na August Gottlieb Spangenberg, mchungaji wa walowezi wa Kimoravia huko Savannah. Wesley alimwomba shauri juu ya mwenendo wake mwenyewe. Spangenberg alijibu kwa maswali. “Je, unayo ushuhuda ndani yako mwenyewe? Je, Roho wa Mungu anashuhudia pamoja na roho yako, kwamba wewe ni mtoto wa Mungu?” Wesley alishangaa na hakujua aseme nini. Spangenberg aliuliza, “Je, unamjua Yesu Kristo?” Wesley alisema, “Ninajua kwamba yeye ni Mwokozi wa ulimwengu.” “Kweli,” alisema Mmoravia, “lakini je, unajua kwamba amekuokoa wewe?” Wesley alijibu, “Natumaini kwamba alikufa ili kuniokoa.” Kisha anaongeza mstari wenye maumivu katika Jarida lake mwenyewe: “Lakini naogopa yalikuwa maneno ya bure.” Swali la uhakikisho (assurance), kwamba muumini anaweza kujua kwa ushuhuda wa Roho kwamba yeye ni mtoto wa Mungu (Warumi 8:16), liliwekwa kwake mlangoni mwa huduma yake. Angelibeba kwa zaidi ya miaka miwili. Majuma machache baadaye Wesley alikaa kwa Wamoravia na kuwatazama wakimchagua na kumweka wakfu askofu. Urahisi wao ulimfanya karibu asahau “miaka elfu moja mia saba iliyopita kati yetu,” kana kwamba alikuwa miongoni mwa mitume.The day after landing, Wesley met August Gottlieb Spangenberg, a pastor of the Moravian settlers in Savannah. Wesley asked his advice about his own conduct. Spangenberg answered with questions. “Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit, that you are a child of God?” Wesley was surprised and did not know what to say. Spangenberg asked, “Do you know Jesus Christ?” Wesley said, “I know he is the Saviour of the world.” “True,” said the Moravian, “but do you know he has saved you?” Wesley answered, “I hope he has died to save me.” Then he adds a painful line to his own Journal: “But I fear they were vain words.” The question of assurance, that a believer may know by the witness of the Spirit that he is a child of God (Romans 8:16), had been put to him at the door of his ministry. He would carry it for more than two years. A few weeks later Wesley lodged with the Moravians and watched them elect and ordain a bishop. Their simplicity made him almost forget “the seventeen hundred years between,” as if he were among the apostles.

2.Mchungaji Mkali Savannah2.A Strict Pastor in Savannah

Wesley alianza huduma yake Savannah tarehe 7 Machi 1736, akihubiri juu ya 1 Wakorintho 13. Kanisa lilikuwa limejaa na watu walikuwa makini, hata hivyo aliandika kwamba hakuweza kuamini ni wangapi kati yao wangegeuka baadaye dhidi ya mhubiri. Alikuwa sahihi. Wesley aliitumikia koloni kama Mwanglikana wa Kanisa Kuu (High Church) aliyekusudia kufuata Kitabu cha Maombi ya Pamoja neno kwa neno, kama alivyoamini kanisa la kwanza lilivyofanya. Alimbatiza mtoto mchanga, Mary Welch, “kwa kuzamishwa,” kama kanuni ya Kanisa la Uingereza ilivyoelekeza wakati huo kwa watoto wenye afya. Mama mwingine alipokataa mtoto wake achovywe, hakukubali kumwagia maji isipokuwa wazazi watangaze mtoto ni dhaifu, na mtoto akabatizwa na mtu mwingine. Aligawanya ibada za Jumapili kuwa ibada ya asubuhi mapema, ibada ya asubuhi ya marehemu yenye Ushirika, na ibada ya alasiri. Aliwakatalia Ushirika wale ambao hawakuwa wametoa majina yao siku iliyotangulia, na hakukubali baba na mama wa kumbatiza ambao hawakuwa washiriki wa Meza ya Bwana. Alitembelea kila kaya katika joto la mchana, kuanzia saa sita hadi saa tisa, wakati watu hawawezi kufanya kazi. Wengi waliiheshimu bidii yake. Wengi wengine walimwona mkali, na mahubiri yake yalichukuliwa kama mashambulizi ya kibinafsi.Wesley began his ministry in Savannah on 7 March 1736, preaching on 1 Corinthians 13. The church was crowded and the people attentive, yet he wrote that he could hardly believe how many of them would later turn against the preacher. He was right. Wesley served the colony as a High Church Anglican who meant to follow the Prayer Book to the letter, as he believed the early church had done. He baptized an infant, Mary Welch, “by immersion,” as the rubric of the Church of England then directed for healthy children. When another mother refused to have her child dipped, he would not pour water unless the parents declared the child weak, and the child was baptized by someone else. He divided the Sunday services into an early morning service, a late morning service with Communion, and an afternoon service. He refused Communion to those who had not given their names the day before, and he would not accept godparents who were not communicants. He visited every household in the heat of the day, from noon to three, when people could not work. Many respected his devotion. Many others found him harsh, and his sermons were taken as personal attacks.

3.Jamii Ndogo na Kundi Pana Zaidi3.Little Societies and a Wider Flock

Mwezi Aprili 1736, wakiwa hawajaona mlango wazi bado wa kuhubiri kwa mataifa ya asili, Wesley na marafiki zake waliamua jinsi ya kulitumikia “kundi dogo la Savannah.” Walikubaliana kuwashauri washiriki walio makini zaidi “wajiunde kuwa aina ya jamii ndogo,” wakikutana mara moja au mbili kwa juma “kukemeana, kufundishana, na kuhimizana,” na kuchagua kutoka miongoni mwao kikundi kidogo zaidi kwa ushirika wa karibu zaidi. Wesley baadaye alikiita hiki mwanzo wa pili wa Umethodisti, baada ya Klabu Takatifu huko Oxford. Aliwaandikia Washirika wa Dkt. Bray, ambao walikuwa wametuma maktaba ya parokia, akieleza shule ya watoto iliyofundishwa na Delamotte, katekisimu kila Jumamosi na Jumapili, na mikutano nyumbani kwake kwa maombi, kuimba na kuhimizana. Savannah ilikuwa koloni mchanganyiko, naye Wesley alijaribu kuifikia yote. Alisoma maombi kwa Kifaransa huko Highgate, kwa Kijerumani huko Hampstead, na kwa Kiitaliano kwa Wavaudois wachache. Mwezi Aprili 1737 alianza kujifunza Kihispania “ili aongee na waumini wangu Wayahudi,” baadhi yao, aliandika, walionekana karibu zaidi na nia ya Kristo kuliko wengi wanaomwita Kristo Bwana. Frederica, mji wa kijeshi upande wa kusini, ulikuwa mgumu zaidi. Mtu mmoja mashuhuri huko alimwambia usoni, “Sipendi chochote unachofanya,” na mwezi Januari 1737 Wesley aliondoka Frederica kabisa katika “kukata tamaa kabisa ya kutenda mema huko.”In April 1736, finding no door yet open to preach to the Native peoples, Wesley and his friends decided how to serve “the little flock at Savannah.” They agreed to advise the more serious members “to form themselves into a sort of little society,” meeting once or twice a week “to reprove, instruct, and exhort one another,” and to choose from these a smaller group for closer fellowship. Wesley later called this the second beginning of Methodism, after the Holy Club at Oxford. He wrote to Dr. Bray’s Associates, who had sent a parish library, describing a children’s school taught by Delamotte, catechism every Saturday and Sunday, and meetings at his house for prayer, singing and mutual exhortation. Savannah was a mixed colony, and Wesley tried to reach all of it. He read prayers in French at Highgate, in German at Hampstead, and in Italian to a few Vaudois. In April 1737 he began to learn Spanish “to converse with my Jewish parishioners,” some of whom, he wrote, seemed nearer the mind of Christ than many who called Christ Lord. Frederica, the military town to the south, was harder. A leading man there told him to his face, “I like nothing you do,” and in January 1737 Wesley left Frederica for good in “an utter despair of doing good there.”

4.Wamarekani wa Asili: Heshima, Matumaini na Ubaguzi4.Native Americans: Respect, Hope and Prejudice

Wesley alikuwa amekuja hasa kuhubiri kwa mataifa ya asili, na Jarida linaandika mikutano kadhaa nao. Ndani ya juma moja baada ya kutua, kiongozi wa Yamacraw, Tomo Chachi, alikuja ndani ya meli na kusema kupitia mkalimani Mary Musgrove. Alifurahi kwamba wamisionari wamekuja, lakini alionya, “Hatutaki kufanywa Wakristo jinsi Wahispania wanavyowafanya Wakristo: Tutafundishwa kabla hatujabatizwa.” Mwezi Julai 1736 Wesley aliwahoji kundi la mashujaa wa Chickasaw juu ya Mungu, roho na maisha baada ya kifo, na akaandika majibu yao yote kwa heshima dhahiri. Mmoja wao, Paustoobee, alisema wangefurahi kusikia “neno kuu” kama wangekuwa na amani wakati wowote, lakini kwa sasa walikuwa na muda wa kupigana tu. Mzee wa Creek, Chicali, alimwambia kwamba watu weupe hujenga nyumba kubwa “kana kwamba wataishi milele.” Hata hivyo Wesley hakuenda kamwe kuishi miongoni mwa taifa lolote. Oglethorpe hakumruhusu kuiacha Savannah bila mchungaji, na mpaka ulikuwa vitani. Mwishoni mwa kukaa kwake Wesley aliandika muhtasari wa “Wahindi wa Georgia,” uliotokana, anakiri, hasa na wafanyabiashara. Ni mkali na wa jumla mno. Anawaita, isipokuwa labda Wachoctaw, “walafi, walevi, wezi, wanafiki, waongo,” na anasema Wacreek hawaonyeshi hamu ya kujifunza Ukristo. Wanafunzi wa CTS wanapaswa kulitaja hili waziwazi. Ni ubaguzi wa mkono wa pili, ulioandikwa na mmisionari aliyekatishwa tamaa ambaye alikuwa na mawasiliano ya moja kwa moja kidogo na watu anaowaeleza. Pia unapingana na sauti za heshima za Tomo Chachi na Paustoobee ambazo Wesley mwenyewe alikuwa ameziandika.Wesley had come above all to preach to the Native peoples, and the Journal records several meetings with them. Within a week of landing, the Yamacraw leader Tomo Chachi came aboard and spoke through the interpreter Mary Musgrove. He was glad the missionaries had come, but warned, “We would not be made Christians as the Spaniards make Christians: We would be taught, before we are baptized.” In July 1736 Wesley questioned a group of Chickasaw warriors about God, the soul and the afterlife, and recorded their answers in full and with evident respect. One of them, Paustoobee, said they would be glad to hear the “great word” if they were ever at peace, but that now they had time only to fight. The Creek elder Chicali told him that white men build great houses “as if they were to live for ever.” Yet Wesley never went to live among any nation. Oglethorpe would not let him leave Savannah without a minister, and the frontier was at war. At the end of his stay Wesley wrote a summary of the “Georgian Indians,” drawn, he admits, largely from traders. It is harsh and sweeping. He calls them, except perhaps the Choctaws, “gluttons, drunkards, thieves, dissemblers, liars,” and says the Creeks show no desire to learn Christianity. CTS students should name this plainly. It is second-hand stereotyping, written by a disappointed missionary who had little direct contact with the people he describes. It also contradicts the dignified voices of Tomo Chachi and Paustoobee that Wesley himself had recorded.

5.Waafrika Waliotumwa Utumwani Carolina5.Enslaved Africans in Carolina

Georgia ilipoanzishwa, Wadhamini wake walikataza utumwa katika koloni; marufuku hiyo ilidumu hadi 1751. Hata hivyo katika Carolina Kusini jirani, Waafrika waliotumwa utumwani walifanya kazi nyingi za mashamba makubwa. Katika ziara zake huko Wesley aliguswa na aliyoyaona. Huko Charleston mwaka 1736 alisema na mwanamke mmoja aliyetumwa utumwani aliyehudhuria kanisa kwa uaminifu lakini hakuwahi kuambiwa ana roho, naye akapaza sauti, “Ee Mungu, rehema zako nyororo ziko wapi?” Mwezi Aprili 1737, karibu na Ponpon, alitumia siku moja kumfundisha mwanamke kijana aliyetumwa utumwani juu ya Mungu na roho, na alishangazwa na jinsi alivyosikiliza kwa makini. Mahali pengine mtu mlemavu alimwambia angetambaa hadi kanisani kama lingekuwa karibu naye. Wesley alipendekeza mpango: kutafuta wakulima makini na kwenda shamba hadi shamba kuwafundisha wale waliowashikilia kama watumwa. Aliwaona wanaume na wanawake hawa kama nafsi ambazo Kristo alikufa kwa ajili yao, na aliwalaumu mabwana wao kwa kuwapuuza. Lakini katika kurasa hizi bado hajaulaani utumwa wenyewe, na lugha yake juu yao, “hawa waliotupwa na wanadamu,” inaakisi zama zake. Miongo kadhaa baadaye angefanya hivyo. Mwaka 1774 alichapisha Thoughts upon Slavery, na mwaka 1791 barua yake ya mwisho, iliyoandikwa kwa William Wilberforce, ilimhimiza aendelee dhidi ya biashara ya watumwa.When Georgia was founded, its Trustees forbade slavery in the colony; the ban lasted until 1751. In neighbouring South Carolina, however, enslaved Africans did most of the work on the plantations. On visits there Wesley was moved by what he saw. At Charleston in 1736 he spoke with an enslaved woman who attended church faithfully but had never been told she had a soul, and he cried out, “O God, where are thy tender mercies?” In April 1737, near Ponpon, he spent a day teaching a young enslaved woman about God and the soul, and was struck by how carefully she listened. Elsewhere a lame man told him he would crawl to church if there were one within reach. Wesley proposed a plan: to find serious planters and go from plantation to plantation teaching those they held as slaves. He saw these men and women as souls for whom Christ died, and he blamed their masters for neglecting them. But in these pages he does not yet condemn slavery itself, and his language for them, “these outcasts of men,” reflects his age. Decades later he would. In 1774 he published Thoughts upon Slavery, and in 1791 his last letter, written to William Wilberforce, urged him on against the slave trade.

6.Sophia Hopkey na Mwisho wa Utume6.Sophia Hopkey and the End of the Mission

Utume huo ulimalizika kwa jambo la kibinafsi lenye maumivu. Sophia Hopkey alikuwa mpwa wa Thomas Causton, hakimu mkuu na mtunza ghala wa Savannah. Wesley alimpa mafundisho ya kiroho, na wawili hao wakawa karibu. Alifikiria ndoa lakini alisita, kwa sehemu kutokana na shaka zake mwenyewe na kwa sehemu kwa shauri la marafiki. Tarehe 4 Machi 1737 anaandika, bila kulitaja jambo hilo, “maelekezo” aliyopokea kutoka kwa Mungu kuhusu “jambo la umuhimu mkubwa kabisa.” Kutoka karatasi zake za faragha tunajua kwamba yeye na marafiki zake walipiga kura (lots), desturi aliyojifunza kutoka kwa Wamoravia, na kwamba kura ilimwambia asioe. Mwezi huo huo Sophia aliolewa na William Williamson. Mwezi Julai Wesley alimkemea faraghani kwa mambo aliyoona yanastahili lawama katika mwenendo wake, na tarehe 7 Agosti alimkatalia Ushirika, akitaja kanuni ya Kitabu cha Maombi kwamba washiriki lazima watoe taarifa mapema. Mumewe na mjomba wake walimpeleka mahakamani. Causton aliuambia mji kwamba Wesley alitenda “kwa kisasi tupu” kwa sababu alimkataa. Baraza Kuu la Wazee (grand jury), ambalo Wesley anasema lilijazwa na wapinzani wake, lilileta mashtaka kumi dhidi yake. Wazee kumi na wawili walitia sahihi malalamiko wakiita kesi hiyo hila ya Causton. Wesley alionekana mahakamani tena na tena lakini hakupewa usikilizwaji kamwe. Tarehe 2 Desemba 1737 mahakimu waliamuru asitoke katika koloni. Jioni hiyo, baada ya maombi, “alikung’uta mavumbi” ya miguu yake na kuondoka kwa mashua kwenda Carolina. Tarehe 22 Desemba alisafiri kwenda Uingereza.The mission ended in a painful personal affair. Sophia Hopkey was the niece of Thomas Causton, the chief magistrate and storekeeper of Savannah. Wesley gave her spiritual instruction, and the two grew close. He considered marriage but hesitated, partly from his own doubts and partly on the advice of friends. On 4 March 1737 he records, without naming the matter, “directions” he received from God about “an affair of the greatest importance.” From his private papers we know that he and his friends drew lots, a practice he had learned from the Moravians, and that the lot told him not to marry. That same month Sophia married William Williamson. In July Wesley privately rebuked her for things he thought blameworthy in her conduct, and on 7 August he refused her Communion, citing the Prayer Book rule that communicants must give notice beforehand. Her husband and uncle took him to court. Causton told the town that Wesley had acted “purely out of revenge” because she had refused him. A grand jury, which Wesley says was packed with his opponents, brought ten charges against him. Twelve jurors signed a protest calling the case an artifice of Causton. Wesley appeared at court again and again but was never given a hearing. On 2 December 1737 the magistrates ordered that he must not leave the colony. That evening, after prayers, he “shook off the dust” of his feet and slipped away by boat to Carolina. On 22 December he sailed for England.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kimethodisti au Kinazareno Anachochukua Kutoka Kwake7.What a Methodist or Nazarene Pastor Takes from It

Georgia ilikuwa kushindwa kwa kipimo cha Wesley mwenyewe, hata hivyo mengi ya Umethodisti wa baadaye yalipandwa huko: jamii ndogo za kutunzana, kuhubiri kwa lugha kadhaa, shule, na usadikisho kwamba kila mtu, awe wa taifa au hali yoyote, ana roho ambayo Mungu anaipenda. Mchungaji leo pia anaweza kujifunza kutokana na makosa ya Wesley. Kanuni zinazotumika bila hekima hugawanya kusanyiko. Mchungaji hapaswi kamwe kutumia nidhamu ya kanisa katika jambo ambalo moyo wake mwenyewe umehusika; Wesley huenda alitenda kwa kanuni, lakini hakuweza kuonekana kuwa asiyependelea. Utume hushindwa tunapokosa kuishi miongoni mwa watu tunaotumaini kuwafikia, na ripoti zetu juu yao huwa zisizo za haki tunapotegemea maoni ya wengine. Na zaidi ya yote, swali la Spangenberg linabaki kuwa swali sahihi la kumwuliza mhudumu: si “Je, unafanya kazi kwa bidii?” bali “Je, unajua kwamba amekuokoa wewe?”Georgia was a failure by Wesley’s own measure, yet much of later Methodism was planted there: small societies for mutual care, preaching in several languages, schools, and the conviction that every person, whatever their nation or condition, has a soul God loves. A pastor today can also learn from Wesley’s mistakes. Rules applied without wisdom divide a congregation. A pastor should never exercise church discipline in a matter where his own heart is involved; Wesley may have acted on principle, but he could not be seen as impartial. Missions fail when we never actually live among the people we hope to reach, and our reports about them become unfair when we rely on others’ opinions. And above all, Spangenberg’s question remains the right one to ask a minister: not “Are you working hard?” but “Do you know he has saved you?”

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Ungejibu vipi maswali ya Spangenberg leo? Ni wapi katika huduma yako ukali unaweza kuwa unaficha ukosefu wa upendo au hekima? Ni lini hisia zako za kibinafsi zimefanya iwe vigumu kutenda kwa haki kama kiongozi, na ni kinga gani zingesaidia? Tomo Chachi aliomba afundishwe kabla ya kubatizwa. Inaonekanaje kuheshimu utu na sauti ya watu wa utamaduni mwingine unapowashirikisha injili? For reflection. How would you answer Spangenberg’s questions today? Where in your ministry might strictness be hiding a lack of love or wisdom? When have your personal feelings made it hard to act fairly as a leader, and what safeguards would help? Tomo Chachi asked to be taught before being baptized. What does it look like to respect the dignity and voice of people from another culture as you share the gospel with them?

Chagua

Somo la 3 · Böhler and Aldersgate

A Heart Strangely Warmed

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Journal, 1 Feb – 24 May 1738; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1

Back in England, Wesley meets the Moravian Peter Böhler, who convinces him that saving faith is a sure trust in Christ that brings peace and power over sin and may be given in a moment. The Fetter Lane society forms its bands, Charles Wesley finds peace, and on 24 May 1738 John feels his heart “strangely warmed” at Aldersgate Street.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Moyo Uliopata Joto la Ajabu: Peter Böhler, Uhakikisho na AldersgateA Heart Strangely Warmed: Peter Böhler, Assurance and Aldersgate

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — miezi minne kuanzia kurudi kwa Wesley Uingereza hadi jioni ya tarehe 24 Mei 1738, aliposikia dibaji ya Luther kwa Warumi ikisomwa katika mkutano wa London na akaja kumtegemea Kristo peke yakeA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the four months from Wesley’s return to England to the evening of 24 May 1738, when he heard Luther’s preface to Romans read in a London meeting and came to trust in Christ alone

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Jarida la John Wesley, 1 Februari – 24 Mei 1738, kama lilivyochapishwa katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (toleo la 3, 1872), juzuu ya 1. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley’s Journal, 1 February – 24 May 1738, as printed in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Jarida, Feb – Mei 1738Journal, Feb – May 1738
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
AldersgateAldersgate
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Hii ndiyo sehemu maarufu zaidi ambayo Wesley aliwahi kuandika, na kila mwanafunzi Mmethodisti, Mwesley na Mnazareno anapaswa kuijua vizuri. Lakini inaeleweka vizuri zaidi kama mwisho wa safari, si kama radi ya ghafla kutoka anga safi. Kurasa zilizotangulia tarehe 24 Mei zinaonyesha mtu anayeshawishiwa hatua kwa hatua kutoka kutegemea haki yake mwenyewe hadi kumtegemea Kristo. Soma polepole, na uone jinsi Maandiko, mazungumzo, ushuhuda na maombi ya Kanisa yote yanavyochukua sehemu yake. A word before you read. This is the most famous passage Wesley ever wrote, and every Methodist, Wesleyan and Nazarene student should know it well. But it is best understood as the end of a journey, not as a sudden bolt from a clear sky. The pages before 24 May show a man being argued, step by step, out of trust in his own righteousness and into trust in Christ. Read slowly, and watch how Scripture, conversation, testimony and the prayers of the Church all play their part.

1.Kurudi Nyumbani Kutoka Georgia1.Home from Georgia

Wesley alitua Deal tarehe 1 Februari 1738 na kufika London siku mbili baadaye, baada ya kutokuwepo kwa “miaka miwili na karibu miezi minne.” Alijaribu kuhesabu baraka za utume ulioshindwa. Mungu alikuwa amemnyenyekeza na “kumwonyesha yaliyokuwa moyoni mwake.” Alikuwa ameondokewa na hofu ya bahari. Alikuwa amewajua Wamoravia, na kupitia kwao maandishi ya watu watauwa kwa Kijerumani, Kihispania na Kiitaliano. Na kila mtu huko Georgia, alisema, alikuwa angalau amesikia neno la Mungu. Aliwaripoti Wadhamini wa Georgia kwa unyoofu juu ya hali ya koloni, “si tofauti kidogo” na ripoti walizozoea kupokea, na akarudisha hati iliyomteua kuwa mchungaji wa Savannah. Pia alianza kuhubiri katika makanisa ya London. Tena na tena Jarida linaongeza dokezo lile lile baada ya mahubiri: aliambiwa asihubiri huko tena. Ujumbe wake wa dini ya moyo uliwakwaza makutaniko ya heshima hata kabla hajaipata imani ambayo baadaye angeihubiri.Wesley landed at Deal on 1 February 1738 and reached London two days later, after an absence of “two years and near four months.” He tried to count the blessings of the failed mission. God had humbled him and “shown me what was in my heart.” He had lost his fear of the sea. He had come to know the Moravians, and through them the writings of devout people in German, Spanish and Italian. And everyone in Georgia, he said, had at least heard the word of God. He reported honestly to the Georgia Trustees about the state of the colony, “not a little differing” from the reports they usually received, and he handed back the document that had appointed him minister of Savannah. He also began to preach in London churches. Again and again the Journal adds the same note after a sermon: he was told he was to preach there no more. His message of a religion of the heart offended respectable congregations even before he had found the faith he would later preach.

2.Peter Böhler: “Hubiri Imani Hadi Uwe Nayo”2.Peter Böhler: “Preach Faith till You Have It”

Tarehe 7 Februari, siku anayoiita “ya kukumbukwa sana,” Wesley alikutana na Peter Böhler, mhudumu kijana wa Kimoravia aliyefika hivi punde kutoka Ujerumani akiwa njiani kwenda Carolina. Wesley alimtafutia malazi na kutumia kila saa iwezekanavyo pamoja naye. Mwanzoni, anakiri, “sikumwelewa.” Böhler alimwambia kwa Kilatini, “Ndugu yangu, ndugu yangu, falsafa hiyo yako lazima isafishwe kwa moto.” Tarehe 5 Machi, huko Oxford, Wesley “alisadikishwa wazi juu ya kutoamini, juu ya kukosa imani ile ambayo kwayo peke yake tunaokolewa.” Mara wazo lilimjia: angewezaje kuwahubiria wengine, ikiwa yeye mwenyewe hana imani? Alimwuliza Böhler kama aache kuhubiri. “Hata kidogo,” lilikuja jibu. “Hubiri imani hadi uwe nayo; na kisha, kwa sababu unayo, utahubiri imani.” Wesley alitii. Mtu wa kwanza ambaye alimtolea wokovu kwa imani peke yake alikuwa mfungwa aliyehukumiwa aitwaye Clifford. Baadaye mwezi huo, pamoja na rafiki yake Charles Kinchin, aliomba katika gereza la Oxford Castle na mtu mwingine aliyehukumiwa, aliyeinuka kutoka magotini na kusema, “Sasa niko tayari kufa. Najua Kristo ameondoa dhambi zangu.” Zingatia jambo moja dogo lakini muhimu. Jackson anachapisha maelezo ya chini ambayo Wesley aliongeza katika matoleo ya baadaye, akieleza kwamba imani aliyoikosa ilikuwa imani “kwa wokovu kamili wa Kikristo.” Wesley wa baadaye hakutaka wasomaji wadhani hakuwa na imani yoyote kabla ya 1738.On 7 February, a day he calls “much to be remembered,” Wesley met Peter Böhler, a young Moravian minister just arrived from Germany on his way to Carolina. Wesley found him lodgings and spent every possible hour with him. At first, he admits, “I understood him not.” Böhler told him in Latin, “My brother, my brother, that philosophy of yours must be purged away.” On 5 March, at Oxford, Wesley was “clearly convinced of unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved.” Immediately the thought struck him: how could he preach to others, if he had no faith himself? He asked Böhler whether he should stop preaching. “By no means,” came the reply. “Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.” Wesley obeyed. The first person to whom he offered salvation by faith alone was a condemned prisoner named Clifford. Later that month, with his friend Charles Kinchin, he prayed in Oxford Castle with another condemned man, who rose from his knees and said, “I am now ready to die. I know Christ has taken away my sins.” Notice a small but important detail. Jackson prints a footnote Wesley added in later editions, explaining that the faith he lacked was faith “with the full Christian salvation.” The older Wesley did not want readers to think he had no faith at all before 1738.

3.Imani kwa Dakika Moja?3.Faith in a Moment?

Kufikia mwishoni mwa Aprili Wesley hakuwa na pingamizi kwa ufafanuzi wa Böhler wa imani, anaoutoa kwa maneno ya mahubiri ya Kanisa la Uingereza: “tegemeo na uhakika thabiti alio nao mtu kwa Mungu, kwamba kwa sifa za Kristo dhambi zake zimesamehewa.” Pia alikubali kwamba utakatifu na furaha ni matunda ya imani hii hai. Alichoshindwa kukubali ni “kazi ya papo hapo”: mtu angewezaje kugeuzwa “kutoka gizani kuingia nuruni” kwa dakika moja? Kwa hiyo alitafuta Maandiko, hasa Matendo ya Mitume, na akakuta “karibu hakuna mifano huko ya uongofu wowote usio wa papo hapo.” Alirudi kwenye ulinzi wake wa mwisho: labda Mungu alifanya kazi hivyo katika karne za kwanza, lakini nyakati zimebadilika. Jumapili tarehe 23 Aprili Böhler alileta mashahidi walio hai walioeleza jinsi Mungu alivyowapa imani ya namna hiyo kwa dakika moja. “Hapa mabishano yangu yalikoma,” anaandika Wesley. “Sasa niliweza tu kupaza sauti, Bwana, usaidie kutokuamini kwangu!” Huu ni mfano wa jinsi Wesley angejaribu daima mafundisho: kwanza kwa Maandiko, kisha kwa uzoefu wa waumini halisi, na Maandiko yakiwa kanuni ya mwisho.By late April Wesley had no objection to Böhler’s definition of faith, which he gives in the words of the Church of England’s homilies: “a sure trust and confidence which a man hath in God, that through the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven.” He also accepted that holiness and happiness are the fruits of this living faith. What he could not accept was “an instantaneous work”: how could a person be turned “from darkness to light” in a moment? So he searched the Scriptures, especially the Acts of the Apostles, and found “scarce any instances there of other than instantaneous conversions.” He retreated to his last defence: perhaps God worked that way in the first ages, but times had changed. On Sunday 23 April Böhler brought living witnesses who told how God had given them such faith in a moment. “Here ended my disputing,” Wesley writes. “I could now only cry out, Lord, help thou my unbelief!” This is a model of how Wesley would always test doctrine: first by Scripture, and then by the experience of real believers, with Scripture as the final rule.

4.Jamii ya Fetter Lane na Pentekoste ya Charles4.The Fetter Lane Society and Charles’s Pentecost

Tarehe 1 Mei 1738, kwa shauri la Böhler, Wesley na marafiki zake waliunda jamii huko London ambayo upesi ilikutana Fetter Lane. Kanuni zake, zilizochapishwa katika Jarida, ni mbegu ya maisha mengi ya Kimethodisti ya baadaye. Washiriki wangekutana kila juma “kuungamiana makosa yetu, na kuombeana, ili tuponywe” (Yakobo 5:16). Waligawanywa katika “vikundi vya karibu” (bands), makundi madogo ya watu watano hadi kumi, ambapo kila mtu alipaswa kusema kwa uhuru na wazi juu ya “hali halisi ya moyo wake.” Washiriki wapya walipokelewa kwa majaribio ya miezi miwili. Kulikuwa na siku za maombezi na karamu ya upendo ya mara kwa mara. Böhler alisafiri kwenda Carolina tarehe 4 Mei, na Wesley aliandika, “Ee kazi gani Mungu ameianza, tangu kuja kwake Uingereza!” Charles Wesley, ambaye mwanzoni alipinga alichokiita “imani mpya,” alishawishiwa na, wakati wa ugonjwa, alipata amani siku ya Pentekoste, tarehe 21 Mei 1738. John alipokea habari kwamba kaka yake “alikuwa amepata pumziko kwa nafsi yake.” Kwa siku tatu zilizofuata John mwenyewe alihisi “huzuni na uzito wa daima.” Katika barua aliandika kwamba alijua sheria ya Mungu ni takatifu na kwamba hastahili chochote ila ghadhabu, hata hivyo alisikia sauti ikisema, “Amini, nawe utaokoka.”On 1 May 1738, on Böhler’s advice, Wesley and his friends formed a society in London that soon met in Fetter Lane. Its rules, printed in the Journal, are the seed of much later Methodist life. Members would meet weekly “to confess our faults one to another, and pray one for another, that we may be healed” (James 5:16). They were divided into “bands,” little companies of five to ten, where each person was to speak freely and plainly about “the real state of his heart.” New members were received on trial for two months. There were days of intercession and a regular love-feast. Böhler sailed for Carolina on 4 May, and Wesley wrote, “O what a work hath God begun, since his coming into England!” Charles Wesley, who had at first resisted what he called “the new faith,” was won over and, during an illness, found peace on Whitsunday, 21 May 1738. John received the news that his brother “had found rest to his soul.” For the next three days John himself felt “continual sorrow and heaviness.” In a letter he wrote that he knew God’s law was holy and that he deserved only wrath, yet he heard a voice saying, “Believe, and thou shalt be saved.”

5.Wesley Anasimulia Hadithi Yake Mwenyewe5.Wesley Tells His Own Story

Kabla ya kueleza tarehe 24 Mei, Wesley anasimama kusimulia hadithi nzima ya maisha yake ya kidini katika aya zilizohesabiwa. Akiwa mtoto alifundishwa kwamba angeweza kuokolewa tu “kwa utii wa kila namna.” Shuleni alitumaini kuokolewa kwa kutokuwa mbaya kama wengine, kwa kuwa na wema kwa dini, na kwa kusoma Biblia, kwenda kanisani na kusema maombi. Huko Oxford alisoma Thomas à Kempis na William Law na akaazimia kushika sheria yote ya Mungu, ya ndani na ya nje. Mwaka 1730 alianza kutembelea magereza na wagonjwa, akitoa kila alichoweza na kufunga mara mbili kwa juma. Hata hivyo alipodhani yu karibu na kifo, yote haya hayakumpa uhakikisho wa kukubaliwa na Mungu. Alikuwa “amejenga juu ya mchanga.” Wakati wa safari Wamoravia walijaribu kumwonyesha “njia iliyo bora zaidi,” lakini alikuwa “na elimu nyingi mno na hekima nyingi mno.” Georgia alikuwa “akipiga hewa,” akijaribu kuweka haki yake mwenyewe. Dai la Böhler kwamba imani ya kweli huleta utawala juu ya dhambi na amani ya daima itokayo kwa hisia ya msamaha lilionekana kwake kuwa “Injili mpya.” Lakini Maandiko na mashahidi vilimsadikisha, naye akaazimia kuitafuta imani hii kwa kuacha kila kutegemea kazi zake mwenyewe na kwa maombi ya daima kwa ajili yake.Before describing 24 May, Wesley pauses to tell the whole story of his religious life in numbered paragraphs. As a child he was taught that he could be saved only “by universal obedience.” At school he hoped to be saved by not being as bad as others, by having a kindness for religion, and by Bible reading, church and prayers. At Oxford he read Thomas à Kempis and William Law and resolved to keep God’s whole law, inward and outward. In 1730 he began visiting prisons and the sick, giving away all he could and fasting twice a week. Yet when he thought himself near death, all this gave him no assurance of acceptance with God. He had been “building on the sand.” On the voyage the Moravians tried to show him “a more excellent way,” but he was “too learned and too wise.” In Georgia he was “beating the air,” trying to establish his own righteousness. Böhler’s claim that true faith brings dominion over sin and constant peace from a sense of forgiveness seemed to him “a new Gospel.” But Scripture and the witnesses convinced him, and he resolved to seek this faith by renouncing all dependence on his own works and by continual prayer for it.

6.Aldersgate Street, Robo Kabla ya Saa Tatu Usiku6.Aldersgate Street, a Quarter before Nine

Asubuhi ya Jumatano tarehe 24 Mei, Wesley alifungua Agano lake Jipya kwenye ahadi kwamba tunaweza kuwa “washiriki wa tabia ya Mungu” (2 Petro 1:4), kisha kwenye maneno, “Wewe hu mbali na ufalme wa Mungu.” Alasiri katika Kanisa Kuu la St. Paul’s kwaya iliimba Zaburi 130: “Kutoka vilindini nimekulilia, Ee Bwana.” Kisha inakuja sehemu ambayo kila Mmethodisti anaijua. “Jioni nilienda kwa kutopenda kabisa kwa jamii moja huko Aldersgate-Street, ambapo mtu mmoja alikuwa akisoma dibaji ya Luther kwa Waraka kwa Warumi.” Karibu robo kabla ya saa tatu usiku, msomaji alipokuwa akieleza badiliko ambalo Mungu hulifanya moyoni kwa imani ndani ya Kristo, “nilihisi moyo wangu ukipata joto la ajabu.” Anaendelea: “Nilihisi nilimtegemea Kristo, Kristo peke yake kwa wokovu.” Na “uhakikisho ulipewa kwangu, kwamba ameondoa dhambi zangu, hata zangu mimi.” Alianza mara kuwaombea wale waliomtendea vibaya, na akawaambia wote waliokuwapo alichokihisi sasa. Mashaka yalikuja upesi: “Hii haiwezi kuwa imani; kwa maana furaha yako iko wapi?” Alijifunza kwamba amani na ushindi juu ya dhambi ni vya imani, lakini kwamba Mungu hutoa au huzuia furaha kuu apendavyo. Majaribu yalirudi usiku huo, lakini sasa, anasema, “nilikuwa mshindi daima.”On the morning of Wednesday 24 May, Wesley opened his New Testament on the promise that we may be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), and then on the words, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” In the afternoon at St. Paul’s Cathedral the choir sang Psalm 130: “Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord.” Then comes the passage every Methodist knows. “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate-Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans.” About a quarter before nine, while the reader described the change God works in the heart through faith in Christ, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.” He continues: “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation.” And “an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine.” He began at once to pray for those who had mistreated him, and he told everyone present what he now felt. Doubts came quickly: “This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?” He learned that peace and victory over sin belong to faith, but that God gives or withholds the transports of joy as he wills. Temptations returned that night, but now, he says, “I was always conqueror.”

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kimethodisti au Kinazareno Anachochukua Kutoka Kwake7.What a Methodist or Nazarene Pastor Takes from It

Aldersgate mara nyingi huitwa uongofu wa Wesley, na Wamethodisti kote ulimwenguni hukumbuka tarehe 24 Mei kama Siku ya Aldersgate. Baadhi ya wanahistoria wanapendelea kuiita uhakikisho wake wa kiinjili, kwa kuwa Wesley alikuwa muumini wa dhati na aliyebatizwa kwa miaka, naye mwenyewe baadaye alisema juu ya kuwa na imani ya mtumishi kabla ya kupokea imani ya mwana. Maoni yote mawili yanakubaliana juu ya kilichobadilika: Wesley alihama kutoka kutegemea juhudi zake mwenyewe hadi kumtegemea Kristo peke yake, na akapokea ushuhuda wa Roho kwamba amesamehewa. Kanisa la Nazarene na makanisa mengine ya utakatifu huongeza kwamba huu ulikuwa mwanzo, si mwisho, wa mafundisho ya Wesley juu ya neema; angeendelea kuhubiri kwamba imani ile ile inayohesabia haki huongoza pia kwenye utakaso kamili. Kwa mchungaji leo mafunzo ni ya vitendo. Uhakikisho ni fursa ya waumini wa kawaida, si ya watakatifu tu. Hisia hubadilika, lakini kumtegemea Kristo ndiko msingi. Mungu hutumia njia: Maandiko, maombi ya Kanisa, kikundi kidogo, shauri la rafiki, na maandishi yaliyosomwa kwa sauti na mlei asiyetajwa jina katika chumba cha nyuma. Na moyo wa mchungaji mwenyewe ni muhimu. Wesley alipaswa kupokea alichotumaini kukihubiri.Aldersgate is often called Wesley’s conversion, and Methodists around the world remember 24 May as Aldersgate Day. Some historians prefer to call it his evangelical assurance, since Wesley had been a sincere and baptized believer for years, and he himself later spoke of having had the faith of a servant before he received the faith of a son. Both views agree on what changed: Wesley moved from trusting his own efforts to trusting Christ alone, and he received the witness of the Spirit that he was forgiven. Nazarene and other holiness churches add that this was the beginning, not the end, of Wesley’s teaching about grace; he would go on to preach that the same faith that justifies also leads on to entire sanctification. For a pastor today the lessons are practical. Assurance is a privilege of ordinary believers, not only of saints. Feelings vary, but trust in Christ is the ground. God uses means: Scripture, the prayers of the Church, a small group, a friend’s counsel, and a text read aloud by an unnamed layperson in a back room. And the pastor’s own heart matters. Wesley had to receive what he hoped to preach.

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Soma tena orodha ya Wesley ya mambo aliyotumaini kuokolewa kwayo hapo awali. Ni yapi kati yake uliyoyategemea wakati fulani? Böhler alimwambia Wesley “ahubiri imani hadi awe nayo.” Je, hilo ni shauri la busara kwa mchungaji mwenye shaka, na kwa nini? Wesley alienda Aldersgate Street “kwa kutopenda kabisa.” Ni lini Mungu amekutana nawe mahali ambapo hukutaka kwenda? Na ungeelezaje, kwa maneno yako mwenyewe, tofauti kati ya kujua kwamba Kristo ni Mwokozi wa ulimwengu na kujua kwamba ameondoa dhambi zako? For reflection. Read again Wesley’s list of the things he once hoped to be saved by. Which of them have you trusted at some point? Böhler told Wesley to “preach faith till you have it.” Is that wise counsel for a doubting pastor, and why? Wesley went to Aldersgate Street “very unwillingly.” When has God met you in a place you did not want to go? And how would you describe, in your own words, the difference between knowing that Christ is the Saviour of the world and knowing that he has taken away your sins?

Chagua

Somo la 4 · Bristol and Field Preaching

Submitting to Be More Vile

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Journal, 31 Mar – 30 Jun 1739; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1

In April 1739 Wesley follows George Whitefield to Bristol and, overcoming his love of church order, “submitted to be more vile,” preaching in the open air to thousands, among them the Kingswood colliers. He preaches free grace for all, tests dramatic bodily signs by their fruits and by Scripture, lays the first stone of the New Room, and claims all the world as his parish.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Kukubali Kuwa Duni Zaidi: Bristol na Mageuzi ya Kuhubiri MashambaniSubmitting to Be More Vile: Bristol and the Turn to Field Preaching

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — majira ya kuchipua ya 1739, George Whitefield alipomvuta Wesley hadi Bristol, Wesley alipohubiri nje wazi kwa mara ya kwanza, wachimba makaa wa Kingswood waliposikia injili, na New Room ilipoanza kuinukaA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the spring of 1739, when George Whitefield drew Wesley to Bristol, Wesley preached in the open air for the first time, the colliers of Kingswood heard the gospel, and the New Room began to rise

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Jarida la John Wesley, 31 Machi – 30 Juni 1739, kama lilivyochapishwa katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (toleo la 3, 1872), juzuu ya 1. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley’s Journal, 31 March – 30 June 1739, as printed in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Jarida, Machi – Juni 1739Journal, Mar – Jun 1739
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Bristol na KingswoodBristol and Kingswood
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Kati ya Aldersgate na somo hili, Wesley alitumia kiangazi cha 1738 kuwatembelea Wamoravia huko Ujerumani, ikiwemo Count Zinzendorf huko Herrnhut, na majira ya baridi akihubiri katika jamii za London. Uamsho wa kiinjili ulikuwa tayari unachochea Uingereza, Wales na New England. Katika majira ya kuchipua ya 1739 ulilipuka kutoka makanisani hadi mashambani. Somo hili linaonyesha kuzaliwa kwa vuguvugu la Kimethodisti kama vuguvugu la umati miongoni mwa maskini. Pia linaonyesha matukio ya ajabu ya watu kupiga kelele na kuanguka chini, ambayo Wesley anaripoti kwa undani. Yasome kwa uangalifu: Wesley mwenyewe alisisitiza yahukumiwe kwa matunda yake. A word before you read. Between Aldersgate and this reading, Wesley spent the summer of 1738 visiting the Moravians in Germany, including Count Zinzendorf at Herrnhut, and the winter preaching in London societies. The evangelical revival was already stirring in England, Wales and New England. In the spring of 1739 it burst out of the churches and into the fields. This reading shows the birth of the Methodist movement as a mass movement among the poor. It also shows strange scenes of people crying out and falling down, which Wesley reports in detail. Read them with care: Wesley himself insisted they be judged by their fruits.

1.George Whitefield na Mashamba1.George Whitefield and the Fields

George Whitefield (1714–1770) alikuwa mwanachama mdogo wa Klabu Takatifu huko Oxford. Kufikia 1739 alikuwa mhubiri maarufu zaidi Uingereza, mtu mwenye sauti ya kipekee na nguvu ya kuigiza. Mimbari za London zilipofungwa kwake, alitoka kuhubiri nje wazi, kwanza kwa wachimba makaa wa Kingswood, karibu na Bristol, mwezi Februari 1739. Maelfu walikuja. Alikuwa karibu kusafiri kwenda Georgia na akamsihi Wesley aje kuchukua kazi hiyo. Rafiki za Wesley huko Fetter Lane waligawanyika; hatimaye waliamua kwa kura kwamba aende. Alifika Bristol tarehe 31 Machi na kumtazama Whitefield akihubiri nje wazi siku iliyofuata. Mwitikio wake wa unyoofu unatuambia mengi juu yake: “Mwanzoni sikuweza kujipatanisha na njia hii ngeni ya kuhubiri mashambani.” Alikuwa amezoea maisha yake yote “adabu na utaratibu” hata “angedhani kuokoa roho karibu ni dhambi, kama isingefanyika kanisani.” Wesley alikuwa kasisi mwaminifu wa Kanisa la Uingereza, na kuhubiri mashambani kulionekana kwake karibu na machafuko.George Whitefield (1714–1770) had been a younger member of the Holy Club at Oxford. By 1739 he was the most famous preacher in England, a man of extraordinary voice and dramatic power. When London pulpits closed to him, he went out to preach in the open air, first to the coal miners of Kingswood, near Bristol, in February 1739. Thousands came. He was about to sail for Georgia and begged Wesley to come and take over the work. Wesley’s friends at Fetter Lane were divided; they finally decided by lot that he should go. He reached Bristol on 31 March and watched Whitefield preach in the open air the next day. His honest reaction tells us much about him: “I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields.” He had been all his life so attached to “decency and order” that he “should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if it had not been done in a church.” Wesley was a loyal priest of the Church of England, and field preaching seemed to him close to disorder.

2.Tarehe 2 Aprili 1739: “Nilikubali Kuwa Duni Zaidi”2.2 April 1739: “I Submitted to Be More Vile”

Jioni iliyofuata Wesley alianza kufafanua Mahubiri ya Mlimani kwa jamii ndogo huko Nicholas Street, na anabainisha kwa kidogo cha ucheshi kwamba ni “mfano mmoja wa kuvutia kabisa wa kuhubiri mashambani.” Kisha, Jumatatu tarehe 2 Aprili, saa kumi jioni, alichukua hatua iliyobadilisha maisha yake. “Nilikubali kuwa duni zaidi, na nikatangaza katika barabara kuu habari njema za wokovu.” Maneno hayo yanamkumbusha Mfalme Daudi, aliyekuwa radhi kuwa “duni zaidi” kwa ajili ya Bwana (2 Samweli 6:22). Wesley alisimama juu ya mwinuko mdogo nje ya mji na kuhubiri kwa watu wapatao elfu tatu. Andiko lake lilikuwa Luka 4:18: “Roho wa Bwana yu juu yangu, kwa sababu amenitia mafuta nihubiri Injili kwa maskini.” Aliamini kwamba maneno haya yanatimizwa katika kila mhudumu wa kweli wa Kristo. Tangu siku hiyo mtindo uliwekwa. Ndani ya majuma machache alikuwa akihubiri Baptist Mills, Hanham Mount, Rose Green, Bowling Green mjini, Bath, na Two Mile Hill kwa wachimba makaa. Makutano yake yalikuwa kati ya elfu moja na, kwa makadirio yake, elfu kumi.The next evening Wesley began explaining the Sermon on the Mount to a small society in Nicholas Street, and he notes with a touch of humour that it is “one pretty remarkable precedent of field-preaching.” Then, on Monday 2 April, at four in the afternoon, he took the step that changed his life. “I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation.” The phrase recalls King David, who was willing to be “more vile” for the Lord’s sake (2 Samuel 6:22). Wesley stood on a little rise of ground outside the city and preached to about three thousand people. His text was Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.” He believed that these words are fulfilled in every true minister of Christ. From that day the pattern was set. Within a few weeks he was preaching at Baptist Mills, on Hanham Mount, at Rose Green, at the Bowling Green in the city, at Bath, and at Two Mile Hill to the colliers. His congregations ranged from one thousand to, as he estimated, ten thousand.

3.Wachimba Makaa wa Kingswood na Neema ya Bure3.The Colliers of Kingswood and Free Grace

Kingswood ilikuwa wilaya ya mashimo ya makaa mashariki mwa Bristol ambayo watu wake hawakuwa na kanisa lao, elimu kidogo, na sifa ya ulevi na jeuri. Jarida la Wesley linaorodhesha mzunguko wake wa kila juma: kila asubuhi maombi na kuhubiri katika gereza la Newgate, kila jioni mkutano wa jamii, na kuhubiri nje wazi Kingswood na kuzunguka Bristol katika juma lote. Mada yake ilikuwa kile anachokiita neema ya bure ya Mungu inayotolewa kwa wote. Tarehe 26 Aprili, akihubiri Newgate, aliongozwa kutangaza “kwa nguvu na wazi” kwamba Mungu anataka watu wote waokolewe, na alimwomba Mungu ashuhudie neno lake kama ni kweli. Watu kadhaa walizama ardhini mara moja. Msisitizo huu ni muhimu. Whitefield na wahubiri wengine wengi wa uamsho walikuwa Wakalvini waliofundisha kwamba Mungu alikuwa amewachagua baadhi tu kwa wokovu. Wesley alifundisha kwamba Kristo “alijitoa kuwa fidia kwa ajili ya wote.” Mwaka 1739 alichapisha mahubiri yaitwayo Free Grace, na tofauti hiyo hatimaye ilisababisha utengano wenye maumivu na Whitefield mwaka 1741, ingawa wawili hao baadaye walifanya upya urafiki wao.Kingswood was a district of coal pits east of Bristol whose people had no church of their own, little schooling, and a reputation for drunkenness and violence. Wesley’s Journal lists his weekly round: every morning prayers and preaching at Newgate prison, every evening a society meeting, and open-air preaching in Kingswood and around Bristol through the week. His theme was what he calls the free grace of God offered to all. On 26 April, preaching in Newgate, he was led to declare “strongly and explicitly” that God wills all people to be saved, and he asked God to bear witness to his word if it were true. Several people sank to the ground at once. This emphasis matters. Whitefield and many other revival preachers were Calvinists who taught that God had chosen only some for salvation. Wesley taught that Christ “gave himself a ransom for all.” In 1739 he published a sermon called Free Grace, and the disagreement eventually led to a painful separation from Whitefield in 1741, although the two men later renewed their friendship.

4.Kupiga Kelele na Kuanguka4.Crying Out and Falling Down

Kurasa zinazochanganya zaidi za somo hili zinaeleza watu waliopiga kelele, kutetemeka au kuanguka ardhini chini ya mahubiri, kisha kuinuka “wakiwa wamejaa amani, na furaha katika Roho Mtakatifu.” Daktari aliyeshuku udanganyifu alisimama karibu na mwanamke mmoja huko Newgate hadi aliposadikishwa kwamba haukuwa udanganyifu wala ugonjwa wa kawaida. Mquaker aliyedharau “unafiki” huu alianguka mwenyewe. Mfumaji, aliyetajwa katika Jarida kwa herufi za kwanza tu lakini kwa kawaida anatambuliwa kuwa John Haydon, ambaye alikuwa amezunguka akisema yote ni udanganyifu wa shetani, alishikwa nyumbani alipokuwa akisoma mahubiri juu ya wokovu kwa imani. Wesley aliomba pamoja naye hadi aliposhikwa huru. Wesley aliulizwa tena na tena, “Mambo haya yanawezaje kuwa?” Jibu lake ni la uangalifu. Hahukumu kwa machozi, mshtuko au vilio, ambavyo “si matunda,” bali kwa badiliko la maisha linalofuata: “yule aliyekuwa simba hadi wakati huo, na sasa ni mwana-kondoo.” Baadaye mwezi Juni aliionya jamii ya Bristol isitegemee maono, ndoto, machozi au “athari zisizo za hiari zinazofanyika juu ya miili yao,” bali ijaribu kila roho kwa “Sheria na Ushuhuda,” yaani, kwa Maandiko. Mhudumu Mskoti Ralph Erskine aliandika kwamba ishara kama hizo za nje zaweza kutoka kwa Mungu, kwa asili, au hata kwa Shetani, na kwamba jambo kuu ni tunda la maisha matakatifu. Usawaziko huo bado ni wa hekima.The most puzzling pages of this reading describe people who cried out, trembled or fell to the ground under the preaching, and then rose “full of peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” A physician who suspected fraud stood close to a woman at Newgate until he was convinced it was neither fraud nor natural illness. A Quaker who scorned these “dissimulations” fell down himself. A weaver, named only by his initials in the Journal but usually identified as John Haydon, who had gone about calling it all a delusion of the devil, was seized at home while reading a sermon on salvation by faith. Wesley prayed with him until he was set free. Wesley was asked again and again, “How can these things be?” His answer is careful. He does not judge by the tears, fits or cries, which “are not the fruits,” but by the change of life that follows: “him that was a lion till then, and is now a lamb.” Later in June he warned the Bristol society not to rely on visions, dreams, tears or “involuntary effects wrought upon their bodies,” but to test every spirit by “the Law and the Testimony,” that is, by Scripture. The Scottish minister Ralph Erskine wrote that such outward signs may come from God, from nature, or even from Satan, and that the main thing is the fruit of a holy life. That balance is still wise.

5.New Room na Beau Nash5.The New Room and Beau Nash

Tarehe 9 Mei jamii za Bristol zilichukua kipande cha ardhi katika Horsefair, na tarehe 12 Mei jiwe la kwanza liliwekwa la kile kilichokuja kuitwa New Room, kanisa dogo la zamani zaidi la Kimethodisti duniani. Wesley alikuwa amekusudia wadhamini wabebe gharama na udhibiti. Lakini Whitefield na rafiki wa London walionya kwamba wadhamini siku moja wangeweza “kunitoa nje ya chumba nilichojenga” wasipopenda mahubiri yake, kwa hiyo Wesley alichukua jukumu lote, na deni la zaidi ya paundi mia moja na hamsini, juu yake mwenyewe. Majuma machache baadaye shule kwa watoto wa wachimba makaa ilianzishwa Kingswood. Upinzani pia ulikuja. Huko Bath tarehe 5 Juni bwana mashuhuri wa mitindo, Richard “Beau” Nash, alimkabili Wesley na kuuliza kwa mamlaka gani anahubiri. Wesley alijibu: kwa mamlaka ya Yesu Kristo, aliyopewa na Askofu Mkuu wa Canterbury alipowekwa wakfu. Nash aliita mkusanyiko huo mkutano haramu na kusema mahubiri yanawatisha watu hadi wakose akili zao. Wesley aliuliza kama amewahi kumsikia akihubiri. Hakuwahi. Mwanamke mzee katika umati alimaliza hoja: “Wewe, Bw. Nash, tunza mwili wako; sisi tunatunza nafsi zetu.”On 9 May the Bristol societies took possession of a piece of ground in the Horsefair, and on 12 May the first stone was laid of what came to be called the New Room, the oldest Methodist chapel in the world. Wesley had intended trustees to bear the cost and the control. But Whitefield and the London friends warned that trustees could one day “turn me out of the room I had built” if they disliked his preaching, so Wesley took the whole responsibility, and a debt of more than one hundred and fifty pounds, on himself. A few weeks later a school for the colliers’ children was begun in Kingswood. Opposition came too. At Bath on 5 June the famous master of fashion, Richard “Beau” Nash, confronted Wesley and asked by what authority he preached. Wesley answered: by the authority of Jesus Christ, conveyed to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury when he was ordained. Nash called the gathering an illegal meeting and said the preaching frightened people out of their wits. Wesley asked whether he had ever heard him preach. He had not. An old woman in the crowd finished the argument: “You, Mr. Nash, take care of your body; we take care of our souls.”

6.“Dunia Yote Kama Parokia Yangu”6.“All the World as My Parish”

Wesley alijua kwamba wachungaji wengi walidhani hana haki ya kuhubiri katika parokia za wanaume wengine. Mwezi Juni alichapisha sehemu ya barua iliyojibu rafiki aliyemhimiza akae chuoni au apokee parokia. Wesley alijibu kwamba hakubali kanuni yoyote ya imani au utendaji isipokuwa Maandiko Matakatifu. Mungu alimwamuru kuwafundisha wajinga na kuwarekebisha waovu; mwanadamu alimkataza kufanya hivyo katika parokia ya mwingine, “yaani, kwa kweli, kutofanya kabisa,” kwa kuwa hakuwa na parokia yake mwenyewe. Kisha yanakuja maneno maarufu: “Naitazama dunia yote kama parokia yangu.” Alimaanisha kwamba popote alipo, ilikuwa wajibu wake kutangaza injili kwa wote walio radhi kusikia. Mwezi Juni alienda kwa muda mfupi London, ambapo jamii ya Fetter Lane ilikuwa katika mkanganyiko. Pamoja na Whitefield alihubiri Blackheath kwa labda watu elfu kumi na mbili au kumi na nne, na muda mfupi baadaye Moorfields na Kennington Common. Aliporudi Bristol alikutana na Howel Harris, kiongozi wa uamsho wa Wales. Miongoni mwa wale walioangushwa chini Bristol tarehe 21 Mei alikuwa kijana aitwaye Thomas Maxfield, ambaye baadaye angekuwa mmoja wa wahubiri walei wa kwanza wa Wesley.Wesley knew that many clergy thought he had no right to preach in other men’s parishes. In June he printed part of a letter answering a friend who had urged him to settle in college or accept a parish. Wesley replied that he allowed no rule of faith or practice except the Holy Scriptures. God commanded him to instruct the ignorant and reform the wicked; man forbade him to do it in another’s parish, “that is, in effect, to do it at all,” since he had no parish of his own. Then come the famous words: “I look upon all the world as my parish.” He meant that wherever he was, it was his duty to declare the gospel to all who were willing to hear. In June he went briefly to London, where the Fetter Lane society was in confusion. With Whitefield he preached at Blackheath to perhaps twelve or fourteen thousand, and soon afterwards in Moorfields and on Kennington Common. Back in Bristol he met Howel Harris, the leader of the Welsh revival. Among those struck down in Bristol on 21 May was a young man named Thomas Maxfield, who would later become one of Wesley’s first lay preachers.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kimethodisti au Kinazareno Anachochukua Kutoka Kwake7.What a Methodist or Nazarene Pastor Takes from It

Kuhubiri mashambani kulifanya Umethodisti kuwa vuguvugu la watu. Kanisa la Nazarene, ambalo waanzilishi wake walisema juu ya kuhubiri kwa maskini, na makanisa mengi ya Kimethodisti yaliyokua katika miji ya uchimbaji, mitaa ya miji na vijiji vya mashambani, yote yanasimama katika mapokeo haya. Mafunzo matatu yanafuata. Kwanza, uaminifu wakati mwingine unamtaka mhudumu kuacha mapendeleo yake mwenyewe na hadhi yake. Wesley hakuacha kamwe kupenda utaratibu, lakini “alikubali kuwa duni zaidi” kwa ajili ya watu ambao hawangeingia kanisani kamwe. Pili, injili ni kwa wote. Mahubiri ya Wesley ya neema ya bure ndiyo mzizi wa usadikisho wa Kiwesley kwamba hakuna aliye nje ya kufikiwa na upendo wa Mungu. Tatu, uamsho unahitaji moto na utambuzi pamoja. Wesley hakuzima hisia kali, lakini alikataa kuzichukulia kama uthibitisho wa jambo lolote. Alipima kazi kwa maisha yaliyobadilika na kwa Maandiko, na mara moja alijenga miundo, chumba, shule na jamii, ili kuwatunza watu waliojibu.Field preaching made Methodism a movement of the people. The Church of the Nazarene, whose founders spoke of preaching to the poor, and the many Methodist churches that grew in mining towns, city streets and rural villages, all stand in this tradition. Three lessons follow. First, faithfulness sometimes requires a minister to give up his own preferences and dignity. Wesley never stopped loving order, but he “submitted to be more vile” for the sake of people who would never enter a church. Second, the gospel is for all. Wesley’s free grace preaching is the root of the Wesleyan conviction that no one is beyond the reach of God’s love. Third, revival needs both fire and discernment. Wesley did not suppress strong emotion, but he refused to treat it as proof of anything. He measured the work by changed lives and by Scripture, and he immediately built structures, a room, a school and societies, to care for the people who responded.

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Ni “adabu na utaratibu” gani katika huduma yako mwenyewe ambao Mungu anaweza kuwa anakuomba uuweke kando kwa ajili ya watu walio nje ya kanisa? “Wachimba makaa wa Kingswood” wako wapi katika mji wako leo? Unajibuje ibada inapokuwa ya hisia: kwa mashaka, kwa shauku, au kwa utambuzi wa subira kwa matunda ya maisha yaliyobadilika? Na ingemaanisha nini kwako kuiona “dunia yote” kama parokia yako? For reflection. What “decency and order” in your own ministry might God be asking you to lay aside for the sake of people outside the church? Where are the “colliers of Kingswood” in your town today? How do you respond when worship becomes emotional: with suspicion, with enthusiasm, or with patient discernment by the fruit of changed lives? And what would it mean for you to see “all the world” as your parish?

Chagua

Somo la 5 · The Early Societies

The Old Paths

A CTS digest of John Wesley, Journal, 1 Nov 1739 – 31 Dec 1740; Works, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1

Wesley resists Philipp Molther’s teaching that seekers should “be still” and give up prayer, Scripture and the Lord’s Supper, insisting instead on degrees of faith and the means of grace. In July 1740 he leaves the Fetter Lane society, gathers his followers at the Foundery, cares for the poor, and lays the groundwork for the bands, classes and General Rules of Methodism.

MUHTASARI WA CTSSoma muhtasari wote — unafunguka hapa hapa

Njia za Zamani: Utulivu, Foundery na Kuumbwa kwa JamiiThe Old Paths: Stillness, the Foundery and the Shaping of the Societies

Somo la Seminari ya Kitheolojia ya Chapala — Novemba 1739 hadi Desemba 1740, ugomvi juu ya “utulivu” (stillness) ulipoigawanya jamii ya Fetter Lane, Wesley alipowaongoza wafuasi wake hadi Foundery, na nidhamu ya jamii za Kimethodisti ilipoanza kuchukua umboA Chapala Theological Seminary reading — November 1739 to December 1740, when a quarrel over “stillness” divided the Fetter Lane society, Wesley led his followers to the Foundery, and the discipline of the Methodist societies began to take shape

Muhtasari wa CTS wa Jarida la John Wesley, 1 Novemba 1739 – 31 Desemba 1740, kama lilivyochapishwa katika The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, mhariri Thomas Jackson (toleo la 3, 1872), juzuu ya 1. Kitabu asilia kiko katika umma (public domain); nukuu fupi zifuatazo zimetoka humo.A CTS digest of John Wesley’s Journal, 1 November 1739 – 31 December 1740, as printed in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson (3rd ed., 1872), vol. 1. The original is in the public domain; the short quotations below are from it.

Jarida, Nov 1739 – Des 1740Journal, Nov 1739 – Dec 1740
Chanzo cha msingiPrimary source
Fetter Lane na FounderyFetter Lane and the Foundery
John WesleyJohn Wesley

Neno kabla ya kusoma. Uamsho husisimua mwanzoni na huwa mgumu katika mwaka wa pili. Somo hili linamwonyesha Wesley kama mchungaji na mpangaji kuliko kama mhubiri. Anapaswa kushughulika na mafundisho ya uongo ndani ya ushirika wake mwenyewe, na makundi ya wahuni nje yake, na umaskini miongoni mwa watu wake, na dalili za kwanza za mgawanyiko juu ya kuchaguliwa tangu awali (predestination). Mzozo ulio kiini cha somo hili unaweza kuonekana wa kitaalamu, lakini unagusa swali ambalo kila Mkristo analikabili: mtu anayetamani imani anapaswa kumngojea Mungu vipi? A word before you read. Revivals are exciting at the beginning and difficult in the second year. This reading shows Wesley as a pastor and organizer more than as a preacher. He has to deal with false teaching inside his own fellowship, with mobs outside it, with poverty among his people, and with the first signs of a division over predestination. The controversy at the centre of this reading may seem technical, but it touches a question every Christian faces: how should a person who longs for faith wait for God?

1.Molther na Fundisho la “Utulivu”1.Molther and the Doctrine of “Stillness”

Wesley aliporudi London mwezi Novemba 1739, mtu wa kwanza aliyekutana naye alimwambia kwamba alisadikishwa na Philipp Heinrich Molther, mhudumu kijana wa Kimoravia aliyefika hivi karibuni kutoka Ujerumani, kwamba “hakuwahi kuwa na imani yoyote hata kidogo.” Molther alikuwa amemshauri, hadi apokee imani, “atulie, akiacha kazi za nje.” Wengine huko Fetter Lane walikuwa wakisema vivyo hivyo. Mkutano uliketi kimya kwa saa moja, na washiriki walidai kwamba hadi mtu apate imani ya kweli hapaswi kutumia “njia za neema,” hasa Meza ya Bwana, kwa sababu “hakuna njia nyingine isipokuwa Kristo.” Wesley alishauriana na Spangenberg, aliyekuwa London wakati huo, na kukubaliana naye juu ya nguvu za imani. Lakini hakuweza kukubali kwamba hakuna mtu mwenye imani yoyote maadamu bado anasumbuliwa na “shaka au hofu yoyote,” au kwamba watafutaji wanapaswa kujiepusha na maagizo ya Mungu. Alikutana na mwanamke aliyeambiwa hana imani ambaye alijibu kwamba Kristo hakuwahi kumwacha tangu “alipojulikana kwangu katika kuumega mkate.” Kutokana na ushuhuda huo mmoja Wesley alihitimisha jambo lililokuja kuwa kuu kwa Umethodisti: zipo njia za nje, Meza ya Bwana ikiwemo, ambazo kwazo Mungu kwa kawaida hutoa neema yake, hata kwa wale ambao bado hawaamini.When Wesley returned to London in November 1739, the first person he met told him she had been convinced by Philipp Heinrich Molther, a young Moravian minister recently arrived from Germany, that she “never had any faith at all.” Molther had advised her, until she received faith, “to be still, ceasing from outward works.” Others at Fetter Lane were saying the same. The meeting sat in silence for an hour, and members claimed that until a person had true faith he ought not to use “the means of grace,” especially the Lord’s Supper, because “there being no other means than Christ.” Wesley consulted Spangenberg, who was then in London, and agreed with him about the power of faith. But he could not agree that no one has any faith while still troubled by “any doubt or fear,” or that seekers should abstain from the ordinances of God. He met a woman who had been told she had no faith and who replied that Christ had never left her since “He was made known to me in the breaking of bread.” From that one testimony Wesley drew a conclusion that became central to Methodism: there are outward means, the Lord’s Supper among them, through which God ordinarily gives his grace, even to those who do not yet believe.

2.Jibu la Wesley: Utulivu wa Kweli2.Wesley’s Answer: True Stillness

Tarehe 31 Desemba 1739 Wesley alizungumza kwa urefu na Molther, kisha akaandika tofauti kati yao. Molther aliamini hakuna viwango vya imani, kwamba mtu hana imani yoyote hadi apate “uhakikisho kamili wa imani.” Wesley aliamini “vipo viwango katika imani,” na kwamba mtu anaweza kuhesabiwa haki kwa imani dhaifu kabla vitu vyote ndani yake havijafanywa vipya. Molther aliamini njia ya kupata imani ni kutulia: kutokwenda kanisani, kutoshiriki Meza ya Bwana, kutofunga, kutosoma Maandiko, kutowatendea wengine mema. Wesley aliamini njia ni “kumngojea Kristo na kutulia,” lakini “kwa kutumia njia zote za neema.” Alipendekeza kile alichokiita “utulivu wa kweli,” ambao aliufafanua kama kumngojea Mungu kwa subira “kwa unyenyekevu, upole, na kujisalimisha” katika njia zote za sheria ya Mungu. Mwezi Juni 1740 alihubiri mfululizo wa ufafanuzi juu ya njia za neema. Alifundisha kwamba maombi, kutafuta Maandiko na Meza ya Bwana vimeamriwa na Mungu kwa wote wanaohitaji neema, waumini na wasioamini sawa. Hata aliiita Meza ya Bwana “agizo la kugeuza moyo” (converting ordinance), kwa kuwa wasikilizaji wake wengi walijua kwamba uongofu wao ulianza kwenye meza ya Bwana. Kinachohitajika tu ili kuja, alisema, ni hisia ya uhitaji wetu: yeyote anayejua kwamba anafaa kwa jehanamu “anafaa tu kumjia Kristo.”On 31 December 1739 Wesley spoke at length with Molther, then wrote down the difference between them. Molther believed there are no degrees of faith, so that a person has none at all until he has “the full assurance of faith.” Wesley believed “there are degrees in faith,” and that a person may be justified with a weak faith before all things in him are made new. Molther believed the way to faith is to be still: not to go to church, not to take Communion, not to fast, not to read Scripture, not to do good to others. Wesley believed the way is “to wait for Christ and be still,” but “in using all the means of grace.” He recommended what he called “true stillness,” which he defined as patient waiting upon God “by lowliness, meekness, and resignation” in all the ways of God’s law. In June 1740 he preached a series of expositions on the means of grace. He taught that prayer, searching the Scriptures and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by God for all who need grace, believers and unbelievers alike. He even called the Lord’s Supper “a converting ordinance,” since many of his hearers knew their conversion had begun at the Lord’s table. All that is required to come, he said, is a sense of our need: anyone who knows he is fit for hell is “just fit to come to Christ.”

3.Utengano na Fetter Lane3.The Break with Fetter Lane

Kwa miezi kadhaa Wesley alijaribu kuiweka jamii pamoja. Mwezi Aprili 1740 watu wapatao thelathini walimwambia kwamba walikuwa wameshinikizwa kukana yale Mungu aliyofanya katika nafsi zao na kuacha maombi na Maandiko. Mshiriki mmoja alisisitiza kwamba waumini hawafungwi na amri za Agano Jipya zaidi ya jinsi raia wa Uingereza wanavyofungwa na sheria za Mfalme wa Ufaransa. Tarehe 16 Julai Wesley alisoma kwa sauti kifungu kutoka kitabu cha kifumbo kinachofundisha kwamba, kwa yule ambaye bado hajazaliwa na Mungu, kusoma Maandiko na kuomba ni “sumu ya mauti.” Mshiriki mkuu, Bw. Bell, alijibu mara moja kwamba hiyo ndiyo kweli. Mtu alipouliza kama Wesley bado angeruhusiwa kuhubiri Fetter Lane, jibu lilikuwa la: mahali hapo sasa “pamechukuliwa kwa ajili ya Wajerumani.” Jumapili tarehe 20 Julai 1740, mwishoni mwa karamu ya upendo, Wesley alisoma taarifa. Washiriki walikuwa wamefundisha kwa miezi tisa kwamba hakuna kitu kama imani dhaifu na kwamba watafutaji hawapaswi kutumia maagizo ya kanisa. Aliamini hili ni kinyume kabisa cha neno la Mungu na alikuwa amewavumilia kwa muda mrefu. “Ninyi mlio na hukumu hiyo hiyo, nifuateni.” Alitoka nje, na watu kumi na nane au kumi na tisa walienda pamoja naye. Siku tatu baadaye, anaandika, “Kikundi chetu kidogo kilikutana Foundery, badala ya Fetter-Lane.” Wanaume wapatao ishirini na watano walikuwa wamejiunga nao, na arobaini na saba au arobaini na nane kati ya wanawake hamsini waliokuwa katika vikundi vya karibu.For months Wesley tried to keep the society together. In April 1740 some thirty people told him they had been pressed to deny what God had done in their souls and to give up prayer and Scripture. One member insisted that believers were no more bound by the commands of the New Testament than English subjects were bound by the laws of the King of France. On 16 July Wesley read aloud a passage from a mystical book teaching that, for one not yet born of God, reading the Scriptures and praying were “deadly poison.” A leading member, Mr. Bell, answered at once that this was the truth. When someone asked whether Wesley would still be allowed to preach at Fetter Lane, the answer was no: the place was now “taken for the Germans.” On Sunday 20 July 1740, at the end of the love-feast, Wesley read a statement. The members had taught for nine months that there is no such thing as weak faith and that seekers should not use the ordinances. He believed this flatly contrary to the word of God and had borne with them long. “You that are of the same judgment, follow me.” He walked out, and eighteen or nineteen went with him. Three days later, he writes, “Our little company met at the Foundery, instead of Fetter-Lane.” About twenty-five men had joined them, and forty-seven or forty-eight of the fifty women who were in bands.

4.Foundery4.The Foundery

Foundery ilikuwa jengo kubwa, lililoharibika, huko Moorfields, ukingoni mwa Jiji la London, ambalo hapo awali lilikuwa kiwanda cha kifalme cha kutengeneza mizinga. Wesley alilipata mwishoni mwa 1739 na kulikarabati kwa gharama kubwa. Lilikuwa makao makuu ya kwanza ya Umethodisti wa London: nyumba ya mahubiri iliyowatosha zaidi ya watu elfu moja, chumba cha mikutano ya vikundi vya karibu, chumba cha shule, zahanati ya wagonjwa, na vyumba vya kuishi ambapo mama yake Wesley, Susanna, alitumia miaka yake ya mwisho. Tangu sasa jamii za Kimethodisti zilikuwa za Wesley mwenyewe, ingawa alisisitiza kwamba zinabaki ndani ya Kanisa la Uingereza. Katika somo hili Foundery pia ni mahali pa mzozo. Mwezi Septemba 1740 umati ulisukuma katikati yake na kuanza kupiga kelele, lakini Wesley aliendelea kusoma, na “nyundo ya neno ilivunja miamba vipande vipande.” Mara kadhaa makundi ya wahuni yalizunguka mlango wake. Wesley alitoka kati yao, akawaambia juu ya rehema ya Mungu, na mara nyingi alitumwa kwa baraka. Aliamini upinzani unadhoofisha tu kazi ya shetani.The Foundery was a large, ruined building in Moorfields, on the edge of the City of London, which had once been a royal foundry for casting cannon. Wesley acquired it late in 1739 and repaired it at great cost. It became the first headquarters of London Methodism: a preaching house holding well over a thousand people, a meeting room for the bands, a schoolroom, a dispensary for the sick, and living quarters where Wesley’s mother Susanna spent her last years. From now on the Methodist societies were Wesley’s own, though he insisted that they remained within the Church of England. In this reading the Foundery is also a place of conflict. In September 1740 a crowd pushed into the middle of it and began to shout, but Wesley read on, and “the hammer of the word brake the rocks in pieces.” Several times mobs surrounded his door. Wesley walked out among them, spoke to them of the mercy of God, and was often sent away with blessings. He believed opposition only weakened the devil’s cause.

5.Kuwatunza Maskini, Kushika Nidhamu5.Caring for the Poor, Holding the Discipline

Jamii za mwanzo hazikuwa mikutano ya maombi tu. Wakati wa barafu kali ya Januari 1740 Wesley alichukua michango mitatu Bristol kwa familia zisizo na kazi nje ya Lawford’s Gate, nao waliweza kulisha watu mia moja, wakati mwingine mia moja na hamsini, kwa siku. Mwezi Novemba jamii ya London ilikusanya nguo kwa washiriki wake maskini zaidi. Mwezi Desemba, ili kuwaepusha wasio na kazi “mara moja na uhitaji na uvivu,” waliwaajiri kumi na wawili walio maskini zaidi, pamoja na mwalimu, kuchana na kusokota pamba katika chumba cha jamii. Wesley pia alifanya kazi kwa bidii juu ya nidhamu kwa maana ya upole ya neno hilo. Washiriki walipokwazana, aliwafanya washtaki wazungumze “uso kwa uso na washtakiwa,” na makosa mengi “yalitoweka.” Aliwakumbusha vikundi vya karibu vya Kingswood wasijue “kitu ila Kristo aliyesulubiwa.” Aliandika kwamba alitaka dini yake iwe “rahisi, isiyo na hila, ya unyofu,” ikiwa na upole, kiasi, subira, imani na upendo kama karama zake za juu zaidi. Kufikia mwisho wa 1740 dhoruba mpya ilikuwa ikikusanyika. Mtu aitwaye Acourt alidai haki ya kubishana kwa ajili ya kuchaguliwa tangu awali (predestination) popote alipoenda, na huko Kingswood mwalimu wa shule na mhubiri John Cennick alimgeuzia Wesley ubaridi kwa sababu, alisema, Wesley “hakuhubiri kweli” juu ya uchaguzi. Mgawanyiko wa Kikalvini na Whitefield na Cennick ungekuja mwaka 1741.The early societies were not only prayer meetings. During the hard frost of January 1740 Wesley took three collections in Bristol for unemployed families outside Lawford’s Gate, and they were able to feed one hundred, sometimes one hundred and fifty people a day. In November the London society gathered clothes for its poorest members. In December, to keep the unemployed “at once from want and from idleness,” they employed twelve of the poorest, with a teacher, in carding and spinning cotton in the society room. Wesley also worked hard at discipline in the gentle sense of the word. When members were offended with one another, he made accusers speak “face to face with the accused,” and most offences “vanished away.” He reminded the Kingswood bands to know “nothing but Christ crucified.” He wrote that he wanted his religion to be “plain, artless, simple,” with meekness, temperance, patience, faith and love as its highest gifts. By the end of 1740 a new storm was gathering. A man named Acourt demanded the right to argue for predestination wherever he went, and at Kingswood the schoolmaster and preacher John Cennick turned cold to Wesley because, he said, Wesley “did not preach the truth” about election. The Calvinist division with Whitefield and Cennick would come in 1741.

6.Kilichokua Kutokana na Haya: Jamii, Vikundi vya Karibu na Vikundi Vidogo6.What Grew from This: Societies, Bands and Classes

Mtindo unaoonekana katika somo hili upesi ukawa “muungano” (connexion) wa Kimethodisti. Wesley aliwaita watu walioondoka Fetter Lane pamoja naye Jamii ya Muungano (United Society). Ndani yake, vikundi vya karibu (bands) viliendelea: vikundi vidogo vya waumini wa jinsia moja walioungamiana dhambi zao, kama kanuni za Fetter Lane zilivyohitaji. Mwezi Februari 1742, huko Bristol, jamii ilikubaliana kwamba kila mshiriki aliyeweza angetoa peni moja kwa juma kulipa deni la New Room, na kuwagawanya washiriki katika vikundi vidogo (classes) vya watu kumi na wawili hivi, kila kimoja na kiongozi aliyekusanya fedha. Viongozi upesi waligundua kwamba kuwatembelea washiriki wao kila juma ndiyo njia bora ya kujua hali yao ya kiroho, na mkutano wa kikundi kidogo ukawa moyo wa utunzaji wa kichungaji wa Kimethodisti. Mwaka 1743 Wesley alichapisha Kanuni za Jumla (General Rules), zilizowaomba washiriki waonyeshe hamu yao ya wokovu kwa kutofanya madhara, kwa kutenda mema, na kwa kuhudhuria maagizo yote ya Mungu. Kanuni hiyo ya tatu ni jibu kwa Molther. Njia za neema, katika mpango wa Wesley, si mbadala wa imani bali ni mahali pa kawaida ambapo imani hupokelewa na kulishwa.The pattern visible in this reading soon became the Methodist “connexion.” Wesley called the people who left Fetter Lane with him the United Society. Within it, the bands continued: small groups of believers of the same sex who confessed their sins to one another, as the Fetter Lane rules had required. In February 1742, at Bristol, the society agreed that every member who could would give a penny a week to pay the debt on the New Room, and divided the members into “classes” of about twelve, each with a leader who collected the money. The leaders soon found that visiting their members each week was the best way to know their spiritual state, and the class meeting became the heart of Methodist pastoral care. In 1743 Wesley published the General Rules, which asked members to show their desire for salvation by doing no harm, by doing good, and by attending upon all the ordinances of God. That third rule is the answer to Molther. The means of grace, in Wesley’s plan, are not a substitute for faith but the ordinary place where faith is received and nourished.

7.Kile Mchungaji wa Kimethodisti au Kinazareno Anachochukua Kutoka Kwake7.What a Methodist or Nazarene Pastor Takes from It

Kanisa la Nazarene, Kanisa la Wesleyan, Free Methodists na makanisa mengi ya Kimethodisti ya Amerika ya Kilatini yote yalirithi usawaziko huu. Neema huja kwa imani peke yake, na imani inaweza kuwa dhaifu lakini halisi. Watu wa Mungu humngojea kwa bidii, katika maombi, Maandiko, Meza ya Bwana, ibada na kazi za rehema, si kwa kutofanya chochote. Vikundi vidogo vinahitaji kanuni wazi, viongozi wenye hekima na ujasiri wa kusema uso kwa uso. Na wakati mwingine mchungaji lazima ajitenge na ushirika uliotelekeza mafundisho ya Maandiko, lakini baada ya subira ndefu tu, na bila uchungu. Wesley alimaliza 1740 huko Kingswood “akishindana na Mungu katika maombi, na kumsifu kwa kazi ya ajabu ambayo tayari alikuwa ameitenda juu ya dunia.”The Church of the Nazarene, the Wesleyan Church, the Free Methodists and the many Methodist churches of Latin America all inherited this balance. Grace comes through faith alone, and faith may be weak but real. God’s people wait for him actively, in prayer, Scripture, the Lord’s Supper, worship and works of mercy, not by doing nothing. Small groups need clear rules, wise leaders and the courage to speak face to face. And sometimes a pastor must separate from a fellowship that has abandoned the teaching of Scripture, but only after long patience, and without bitterness. Wesley closed 1740 at Kingswood “wrestling with God in prayer, and praising him for the wonderful work which he had already wrought upon earth.”

8.Kuuchukua Moyoni8.Taking It to Heart

Kwa tafakari. Je, umewahi kuambiwa, au kumwambia mtu mwingine, kwamba imani dhaifu si imani kabisa? Fundisho la Wesley juu ya viwango vya imani linamsaidiaje muumini anayehangaika? Ni njia gani ya neema unayoipuuza zaidi, na kwa nini? Wesley aliondoka Fetter Lane baada ya miezi tisa ya mabishano ya subira tu. Ingechukua nini ili ujue kwamba wakati wa kujitenga umefika? Na kusanyiko lako lingeweza kufanya nini, kama jamii za mwanzo, ili kuwaepusha washiriki wake maskini zaidi “na uhitaji na uvivu”? For reflection. Have you ever been told, or told someone else, that a weak faith is no faith at all? How does Wesley’s teaching on degrees of faith help a struggling believer? Which means of grace do you most neglect, and why? Wesley left Fetter Lane only after nine months of patient argument. What would it take for you to know that the time to separate had come? And what could your congregation do, like the early societies, to keep its poorest members “from want and from idleness”?

Chagua

Andika usomaji wako

Ukishasoma kikamilifu masomo matatu uliyochagua, andika jina lako na uthibitishe hapa chini. Kumbukumbu hii inatunzwa kwa uaminifu wako, kwenye kivinjari hiki; inaonekana kwenye cheti chako kama kwa heshima.

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alithibitisha tarehe kuwa amesoma kikamilifu:

Chapala Theological Seminary · John Wesley and the History of Methodism · present or print this page as your honors reading record.

Masomo Zaidi: Vitabu Sita vya Uwanja wa Umma

Vitabu hivi sita ni kwa masomo zaidi, kwa mwanafunzi anayetaka kuendelea kusoma. Si sehemu ya masomo ya heshima yaliyo hapo juu: hayo yanabaki kama yalivyo — muhtasari tano za CTS, mitatu yoyote ikisomwa kikamilifu na kuandikwa kwa uaminifu wako. Vyote sita viko katika uwanja wa umma; kila kiungo kinafungua kitabu mtandaoni, na vingi vinapatikana pia katika Internet Archive au Project Gutenberg. Vingi viko kwa Kiingereza: kivinjari cha Chrome kinaweza kutafsiri ukurasa (bonyeza kitufe cha kulia cha kipanya, “Translate to…”; kwenye simu, menyu ya kivinjari).

The Whole Journal · 1735–1745

1. The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I

John Wesley; ed. Thomas Jackson · London, 1872; Wesley House Digital Library

Read the journal entries the textbook leaves out, in the 1872 Jackson edition from which its selections were taken.

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Wesley’s Sermons · 1771

2. The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I

John Wesley · Bristol, 1771

Read the sermons on salvation by faith and assurance that Wesley preached after the years the journal describes, and compare them with his account of Aldersgate.

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A Victorian Life · Tyerman

3. The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. I

Luke Tyerman · 1870

Set the journal beside a full nineteenth-century life of Wesley covering Georgia, Aldersgate and the first societies. Tyerman’s judgments are his own; weigh them against modern scholarship.

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The Movement Grows · Tyerman

4. The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. II

Luke Tyerman · 1871

Follow the story past the years of the readings, as the societies spread and Methodism took its settled form.

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The Preaching · Jackson Edition

5. The Sermons of John Wesley (1872 edition)

John Wesley; ed. Thomas Jackson · 1872; Wesley Center Online

Read the sermons in the same 1872 edition as the journal, to hear the preaching the journal keeps mentioning.

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The Journal Online · Wesley Center

6. The Journal of John Wesley

John Wesley · Wesley Center Online

Read on in the journal past 1745, entry by entry. Check which edition the page follows before you quote it.

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Uthibitisho wa heshima: Kwa kuchagua masomo matatu hapo juu, unathibitisha kwamba umesoma muhtasari hiyo mitatu kikamilifu. Muhtasari hiyo imeandikwa na CTS na inaweza kuwa na dondoo fupi au marekebisho ya kazi zilizo katika uwanja wa umma.