Aldersgate Sunday
In the Methodist Church calendar, Aldersgate Sunday is the Sunday nearest to 24th May (traditionally known as ‘Wesley Day’) or the Sunday before it.
It commemorates a life-changing moment in the Christian journey of John Wesley, the most prominent of the founders of Methodism. In May 1738, John unwillingly attended worship at a Moravian ‘Religious Society’ meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. It was during this service that he felt his “heart strangely warmed”, as he experienced God’s love in a most personal and life-giving way. Until then he had known God in his mind, but not in his heart. Now he understood the value of a personal experience of God that would bring assurance of salvation to the believer.
