The younger brother of John Wesley and a formative leader in the Methodist movement. Charles Wesley (1707-1788) attended Christ College, Oxford, England, and was a founding member of the Holy Club. He was a missionary to Georgia, was deeply affected by the Moravian beliefs, and had a transforming religious experience in 1738, just a few days before his brother John. He was active through the remainder of his life preaching and overseeing the growing Methodist work in England. His great contribution to the Wesleyan movement and to the entire Christian church was his hymns. He was a prolific writer of hymn poems and embodied much of the theology of Methodism in these poems.
Source: A Dictionary for United Methodists, Alan K. Waltz, Copyright 1991, Abingdon Press. Used by Permission.
