A couple of years ago, I shared a couple of posts (here and here) about a Savannah vacation that became an unintentional Wesleyan mini-pilgrimage. Wesley, as many of you know, briefly ministered in the new British colony of Georgia (from February 6, 1736 to December 2, 1737), an experience that, by Wesley’s own account, was a failure. Like all such “failures” in God’s kingdom, however, God used it as an important formative experience from which Wesley learned and grew.
Last week my family and I vacationed at St. Simons Island, where John and his brother Charles also ministered. Charles established the St. James parish, which is now the Christ Episcopal Church parish. Both John and Charles preached at nearby Fort Frederica, the ruins of which you can see below. (Click on pictures to expand.)
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- Ruins of Fort Frederica
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- The Wesleys couldn’t have asked for a prettier parish in which to minister!
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- Fort Frederica National Park
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- A monument at Fort Frederica commemorating John and Charles
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- John Wesley preached at the North Storehouse.
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- The ruins of the North Storehouse, where John preached
While the Wesleys didn’t preach in the present sanctuary of Christ Episcopal Church, built in the 19th century, there is a stained-glass window in the church depicting John Wesley.
Stained glass in Christ Church depicting John Wesley.
The nave and sanctuary of Christ Church
Here are some more pictures around Christ Church and a nearby memorial garden.
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- Yours truly, feeling inadequate compared to the founders of Methodism
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- A Celtic cross monument commemorating the Wesley brothers’ ministry here.
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- The Methodists and Episcopalians jointly created a memorial garden. While Wesley reluctantly endorsed the establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the newly liberated United States, he and his brother remained Anglicans to the end.
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- My boys in period uniforms at the national park museum. Townshend called General Oglethorpe a “baller.”
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- My son Townshend at Christ Church.
June 24, 2014 at 10:17 pm
[…] Rev. Brent L White traveled to the coast of Georgia on vacation and encountered memories of John Wesley‘s missionary work with the Georgia colony at […]