A Short History of Methodism in Tamworth

By Michael Green

 

 

The Tamworth Heritage Trust would like to thank Michael Green and the Rev. D. Juliano for the information on the Methodist Movement.  Most of the notes on this page are taken from A Change To Keep by J. David Juliano.  Over the coming months, Michael Green has agreed to add various articles on the Methodist Movement to the website, for which we are grateful.

 

John Wesley - twentieth-century portrait
by Frank O. Salisbury

The first “Methodist” to visit Tamworth was none other than John Wesley himself!  Following the notorious Wednesbury riots in 1743, he made his way to Tamworth where there were sympathisers of the movement commenced by him.  It was not, however, until 1771 that there is the first recorded visit of Methodist preachers to the town.  There was no chapel and they met with others in the home of Samuel and Ann Watton.  Numbers grew and the Wattons’ home became too small and by January 1794 the Methodist Society had moved to a small building in Bolebridge Street.

 

In 1787 John Wesley had met the first Sir Robert Peel whose family was to have such a great impact on the town.  As a result of this connection, he was sympathetic to an appeal from Methodists for a site for a permanent chapel.  He granted them a licence to use a plot of land in Bolebridge Street along with exhortation “My lads, do not build your chapel too large.  People would like to go to a little chapel well filled better than a large one half full.”  On 15th July 1794 the chapel was opened. 

 

The chapel was clearly not “too large” for by 1815 it had become inadequate.  Sir Robert agreed to long lease the existing site and adjoining land and in 1816 a new and larger chapel constructed at the cost of £1000 was opened.

 

In the mid 19th century a split occurred in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, which lead to the formation of the Free Methodists.  Families, notably the Wattons, felt the future of their faith lay with them and they left the Bolebridge Street Chapel, at first meeting in a room nearby, before acquiring a room in Aldergate which was affectionately known as “The Hut.”

 

Both Societies continues to flourish and like the first chapel in Bolebridge Street the second one also became inadequate, and in the 1870’s it was decided to build a new one.  In 1877 a plot of land on the corner of Victoria Road and Back Lane (later to become Mill Lane) comprising almost 1000 square yards, was donated by Thomas Argyle, the treasurer and a local solicitor.  On 21st May 1877, memorial stones were laid for what would become the Wesleyan Temple.  This “being the most appropriate and truthful designation for God’s own house” wrote Ezekial Burton, the resident minister.  The next landmark was the “topstone service” or “topping out” ceremony held on 28th November 1877 when the choir mounted the scaffolding and sang hymns and the “Hallelujah Chorus.”  The final one was the opening on 9th April 1878.  The Temple had been constructed as a cost of £4307 2s 6d which had been raised by subscriptions, services and bazaars.  One stall realised £123 – a considerable sum in those days!  The Sunday School continued to use Bolebridge Street Chapel until the schoolrooms were constructed in 1898 at which stage the old chapel was sold to Woodcocks’ Printers and used by them for many years.

 

In the late 19th century the Free Methodists felt that The Hut did not fulfil the needs of the ever-growing congregation.  A plot of land was available in Aldergate and purchased for £250.  The memorial stones were laid at Easter 1886.  Instead of inscribing the names on the stones themselves, leaving them to be erased by the elements, they were instead engraved on a brass plaque, which can still be seen today in the entrance to the Church.  By late summer 1886, the building had been completed, resplendent with bell tower at a cost of £2250 (a more modest affair than The Temple) and was opened for worship on 29th September 1886.  In 1907 the Free Methodists became United Methodists.  In 1933 the United, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Churches became one Methodist Church, but it was many years before this became a reality in the Town Centre.

 

For many years a bomb had been ticking away at Victoria Road Methodist Church (as it had become know).  Serious defects had become apparent and the costs of remedying them were far beyond the resources of the Church.  In early 1972 the sorrowful but correct decision to close and amalgamate with Aldergate was taken and the building, which could seat 600 on the ground floor and around the oval balcony, waited for its future to be determined.  The magnificent Victorian edifice of the Church was preserved and at first accommodated squash courts before finally flats.  The schoolroom was demolished and a fitness centre now occupies its site.

 

With the wheel having come full circle, extensive alterations took place at the Central Methodist Church as it is now known, which were completed in 1978.  A mezzanine floor was installed with the worship area on the first floor and a modern multi-purpose room beneath.

 

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY

He was a pastor, a preacher, a missionary - and doubted he would ever make it to heaven. Today we sing about "blessed assurance," but one of the most influential Christian leaders in all history gave his life to Jesus after being a full time Christian worker for many years. Do you know that you are saved?

In 1703, at the city of Epworth, England, a woman named Susanna Wesley gave birth to her fifteenth child, and they named him John. His father, Samuel, served as pastor of the local church. Samuel kept committed to the high churchly traditions of his day, with all of their pomp and circumstance. But John’s grandparents were Christians committed to less formal ways of worship and church life, with a greater emphasis on God’s working in the life of the individual.

Of course John’s father and grandparents had an important influence upon his life, but it the influence of his mother Susanna made the most important impression upon John in his early life. Susanna was well known for her godliness and reliance upon the Lord. Of course, with all those children, it is a wonder that she ever found time for prayer and communion with God. As some say, she simply stood in her kitchen, lifted her apron up over her face, and used that time to pray. That kind of passion for the Lord impressed upon John’s young mind, leaving a precious legacy. Susanna served as the schoolteacher for the Wesley children for many years, systematically educated them in fine fashion.

When John was five and half years old, enemies of his father’s bold preaching and politics set the family home on fire. The house, built of dry wood, with a thatch roof, burned fiercely. Everybody rushed out of the house, but little John lay fast asleep in the attic. The staircase was engulfed in flames, so he could not escape down through the house. Showing remarkable presence of mind, John dragged a chest up to the window, and standing upon it, he showed himself to the crowd below. His father started to give his soul to God, but John Wesley escaped through the attic window. Because of this amazing brush with death, John Wesley lived the rest of his life with a feeling that God had saved him for a specific reason, and that John should work hard to fulfil God’s call on his life. He called himself a brand plucked from the fire as in Zechariah 3:2.

John went to away school, and started training for the ministry. In 1726, he went up to Oxford University. At the University, John’s brother Charles started something called "the Holy Club." These young men dedicated themselves to the gospel, and living a holy life before God. These young men met together to pray, and be accountable to one another. They wanted to grow spiritually, and they set about the task the best way they knew how.

When finished with college, John and Charles decided to become missionaries to the young colony of Georgia in America. They went to minister to the Indian natives of the land, as well as the English colonists who had settled there. Unfortunately, the whole project turned out to be a huge disaster. When John left America and his missionary work there, he felt extremely discouraged. He wrote in his journal, "I went to America to convert the Indians; but oh, who shall convert me?" Despite all his education, and all of his service for God, John Wesley wasn’t really at peace with God in his own heart.

On his way over to America, John sailed with a group of about 30 Christians known as Moravian Brethren. As they sailed, they unexpectedly ran into a severe storm. Wesley wrote in his journal that of his terror of the storm, and great fear of death. He simply wasn’t sure about the state of his soul. But when he looked at these Moravian Christians, he noticed that they gently sang psalms, and have peace, even during the most terrifying periods of the storm. The great bravery and confidence of the Moravians convinced Wesley they had something that he didn’t; they really knew they were saved and secure before God, while John Wesley simply hoped he was saved.

During this trip over to America, Wesley spoke with some of these Moravian Christians. They asked him, "Do you know yourself that you are a child of God? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?" Nobody had ever asked John Wesley this before. Since he did all the right religious things, everybody simply assumed he was a Christian. Wesley didn’t answer anything, so the Moravian continued: "Do you know Jesus Christ?" John hesitated painfully, then answered, "I know He is the Savior of the world." "True," replied the Moravian, "but do you know that He has saved you?" Wesley, still confused, could only say "I hope He has died to save me."

It wasn’t enough to satisfy the heart of John Wesley, and he knew it. He returned to London still searching. He resumed his religious duties, all the while searching for real faith in God and an assurance of his salvation. On May 24, 1738, without really wanting to, he attended a meeting of a religious society on Aldersgate Street. Someone read from Martin Luther’s Preface to his Commentary on the Book of Romans. At about a quarter to nine, while listening to the reader, John Wesley said that he "felt his heart strangely warmed," and he felt that he really did trust Christ, and that he was actually saved from the law of sin and death. His heart instantly burned with evangelistic zeal, and Wesley said "it pleased God to kindle a fire which I trust shall never be extinguished." That began new life for John Wesley.

Wesley had every outward appearance of being a marvellous Christian, yet his heart wasn’t converted - and he knew it. He belonged to the "Holy Club" in college. He trained to be a pastor. He was a missionary. But he wasn’t really saved. In the same way, you may be doing all the right things, but in your heart of hearts, you know that you don’t have peace with God. You know that Jesus died for the sins of the world, but you really aren’t convinced that He died for your sins. If that’s your case today, I hope God will convince your heart to take a final step of faith, to receive salvation personally, and to initiate a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Don’t be one of those people who know all about Jesus and His promise of salvation, but never really receive for themselves.

After his conversion experience, John embarked upon his life’s work. In his own words, he set out "to reform the nation, particularly the church, and to spread Scriptural holiness over the land." Imitating George Whitefield, another great evangelist of the day, Wesley began open-air preaching. He found it to be an extremely effective way of reaching the masses, and thousands of people dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ through Wesley’s open-air preaching ministry. But it must be admitted that Wesley was at first reluctant to preach under the open sky. He said that at one time, he thought it a sin to save a soul except within the walls of a church!

After Wesley evangelised an area, he established a society to nurture Christian discipleship. In these meetings, Christians met in small groups to study the Bible together, to pray and worship together, and to be accountable to one another. John Wesley never wanted to start his own church or denomination. He encouraged everybody in the groups he organized to support their local church and attend there every Sunday. But eventually, the new wine of Wesley’s work proved too strong for the old wineskins of the Church of England. After Wesley’s death, a Wesleyan Methodist Church started from the groups John had founded.

So John Wesley spent his years travelling from city to city, preaching the gospel and nourishing these groups of Christians that he had revitalized in the faith. He travelled more than 250,000 thousand miles in his ministry, most of it on horseback. He gave himself tirelessly to the cause of winning people to Christ and building up God’s people into true maturity.

Perhaps you have wondered why they were called "Methodists." It is because Wesley was an orderly man, and his groups were rather regimented - they had a distinct method, and they tried to follow it precisely.  At Wesley’s home in London, there is something really impressive - a simple wooden bench, where a man could kneel and place a book for study. On that very bench that John Wesley spent time with the Lord every day when he stayed in London. This was the real secret to Wesley’s great power and effectiveness - he strove to never lose the intimacy he first enjoyed with God that May evening when he felt his heart strangely warmed.