Francis Asbury

Francis (Frankie) Asbury

Humble Man

Self Taught

Held the Gospel before Self Philosophy

A revival that took religion to the people

The Edward’s awakening happened in a fair sized town,

The Whitefield revival drew 10’s of thousands

Methodist Circuit Riders

From 1771 to 1817 Bishop Asbury traveled over 250,000 miles reached over 10,000 households and preached over 17,000 sermons, ALL WHILE TRAVELING ON HORSEBACK.

Bishop Asbury believed that it was his calling to bring the good new of God’s saving grace to anyone who would hear.

A Call to Holiness

Around the age of 12 Francis began to feel the call of God on his life he was soon after distracted by his peers. At the age of 13 a Methodist circuit rider came through Birmingham name Alexander Mather. When young Asbury heard Mather explain how a person could have freedom from sin his heart was moved to understand the necessity of Holiness,

The Freedom in the Preaching

In the day of young Asbury the preaching was dry and when introduced to the preaching of the Methodist circuit riders he found that they had a level of freedom that drew him even closer to God and would become the basis for his preaching in the future.

The Beginning of a Preacher

At the age of 15 he began reading scripture passages at his mother’s society meetings. The same Alexander Mather noticed young Asbury and appointed him as a lay minister and youth leader. Asbury then began to preach throughout the area as the opportunity arose eventually preach 3-5 times a a week for the sake of precious souls. All the while pursuing his calling.

At the age of 22 the Methodist Conference in England gave him a probationary license to preach. One year later he was given his own circuit at a licensed Methodist Preacher. He did not consider himself a great preacher and even wondered how anyone sat through them, but the Lord covers his weakness with his power.

Called to America

In 1771 Lutheran Missionaries returned to England from America pleading for Leadership to come to America of the churches that sprang up following the Whitefield Revival would DIE!

During the Bristol Conference in 1771 John Wesley called for volunteers to go to America to help the American Brethren. So answering the the call to their hearts Richard Wright and Francis Asbury set sail on September 4th, 1771.

Francis Asbury summed up his mission as follows “ Whither to am I going? To the New World. What to do? To gain honor? No, if I know my own heart. To get money? No: I am going to live to God and to bring others to do so. Francis Asbury preached every day on the deck of the ship for the 54 days of his journey despite suffering from severe sea sickness along the way.

On October 27, 1771 the shipped docked in Philadelphia and the two men went to Saint George’s church the city’s Methodist headquarters.

Francis Asbury said “ The people looked on us with pleasure, hardly knowing how to show their love sufficiently, bidding us welcome with fervent affection and receiving us as angels of God. O that we may walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called! When I cam near the American shore my very heart melted within me to think from whence I came, and where I am going, and what I was going about.

For about a month Asbury enjoyed the local preaching stops but where was the evangelistic thrust to the countryside and the marginalized.

He had quickly realized that the local leadership had not made any plans to reach any further than New York or Philadelphia. Leaving him no outlet for his calling or zeal to reach the lost and marginalized in rural America.

There was much distrust of anyone from England up until the end of the revolutionary war, at which point he said “I am determined not to leave them”. By 1780 he was declared a citizen of Delaware. In 1775 he recieved a letter from his friend with whom he traveled to America with saying that all English Methodist Missionaries should return to England. Francis’ response was firm: I can by no means agree to leave such a field for gathering souls to Christ, as we have in America. It would be an eternal dishonor to the Methodists, that we shall leave 3000 souls, who desire to commit themselves to our care; neither is the part of a good of hisshepherd to leave his flock in a time of danger: therefore, I am determined, by the Grace of God, not to leave them, let the consequence be what it may.

Due to the leaving of everyone of his companions he was left alone and ended up in the home of Thomas White for a year and a half where he lived in solitude. This time served him well as a time in the desert similar to that of John the Baptist or Paul ‘s stay in Arabia. Asbury himself realized that being silenced no matter how hard was much needed in preparation for what was to come.

The Methodist Episcopal Church was Formed.

A Bishop Appointed