Barratt's Chapel to host historic program on John Wesley March 16

Barratt's Chapel will host David Worthington, director of global relationships for John Wesley’s New Room in Bristol, England, at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 16, at 6362 Bay Road, Frederica.

Worthington’s presentation, titled “Methodism Comes to America: The Bristol Connection” will highlight the arrival of John Wesley, founder of Methodism, in Bristol in 1739. Wesley subsequently established the template for the Methodist movement that spread across England before coming to America.

Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke, who led the transformation of a loosely organized religious movement into a church, first met at Barratt’s Chapel Sunday, Nov. 14, 1784. An officially designated Heritage Landmark of the United Methodist Church, the chapel, as it appears from the outside today, looks very much the way it did when Coke and Asbury met there. The inside of the chapel has undergone several renovations. The present appearance dates from 1842. 

“It is important to reflect on how the work undertaken by John and Charles Wesley in those early years of the Methodist movement can continue to inform and inspire our discipleship ministries today as Methodism seeks to ‘reclaim, renew and revive’ in an ever-changing world. If you want to understand our Methodist DNA, what happened in Bristol runs all the way through it,” Worthington said.

The Museum of Methodism, adjacent to the chapel, will be available after the presentation.

For more information, go to barrattschapel.org.