Editing Charles Wesley (section)

===Ministry===
In 1738 the Wesley brothers, both dejected following their unsuccessful mission, had [[religious experiences]]: Charles experienced an [[evangelical]] conversion (or "renewal of faith"<ref name="Nutter">{{cite book |editor1-last=Nutter |editor1-first=Charles Summer |title=An Illustrated and Annotated Edition of the Hymnal of the Methodist Episcopal Church |date=1900 |publisher=[[Methodist Episcopal Church]] |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/hymnstudiesillus0000unse |access-date=30 April 2024 |pages=49–50}}</ref>) on 21 May and John had a similar experience in [[Aldersgate Street]] just three days later. A City of London [[blue plaque]] at 13 [[Little Britain, London|Little Britain]], near the church of [[St Botolph, Aldersgate]], off [[St. Martin's Le Grand]], marks the site of the former house of John Bray, reputed to be the scene of Wesley's evangelical conversion. It reads, "Adjoining this site stood the house of John Bray. Scene of Charles Wesley's evangelical conversion, May 21st 1738".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://openplaques.org/plaques/5300 |title=Plaque № 5300 |publisher=openplaques.org |access-date=4 March 2013}}</ref> Wesley commemorated the first anniversary of his religious experience by composing an 18-stanza poem, with its seventh verse, beginning "[[O for a thousand tongues to sing]]", now serving as the opening of a shorter hymn.<ref name="Nutter"/>

Wesley felt renewed strength to spread [[the gospel]] to ordinary people and it was around then that he began to write the poetic hymns for which he would become known. In January 1739, he was appointed as [[curate]] to serve at [[St Mary's Church, Islington]], but was forced to resign when the [[churchwarden]]s objected to his evangelical preaching.<ref name="mywesleyanmethodists"/> Later that same year, finding that they were unwelcome inside parish churches, the Wesley brothers took to preaching to crowds in open fields. They were influenced by [[George Whitefield]], whose [[open-air preaching]] was already reaching great numbers of Bristol colliers.<ref name=bbc/> Charles Wesley wrote to Whitefield regularly and is mentioned in many of Whitefield's journal entries. [[George Whitefield|Whitefield]] drew from many of Wesley's hymns and even had one written to him by Wesley.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hendry |first=Micah |date=2023-07-19 |title=Christians You Should Know: Charles Wesley |url=https://enjoyingthejourney.org/christians-you-should-know-charles-wesley/ |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=Enjoying the Journey |language=en-US}}</ref> From 1740, Charles and John were the joint leaders of the [[Evangelical Revival in Britain|Methodist Revival]] and [[evangelism|evangelised]] throughout Britain and Ireland.<ref name=Cheetham2003>{{cite book |last1=Cheetham |first1=J. Keith |title=On the trail of John Wesley |date=2003 |publisher=Luath Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=9781842820230}}</ref>{{rp|91–92}} They were opposed by many Anglican clergy, especially when their appointed [[Methodist local preacher|lay preachers]] began to preach in parishes without seeking permission. In [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], Wesley established its first Methodist society. He faced mob violence in [[Wednesbury]] and [[Sheffield]] in 1743 and at [[Devizes]] in 1747.<ref name="mywesleyanmethodists"/><ref name="Vickers2008"/>

Following a period of illness, after 1756 Wesley made no more journeys to distant parts of the country, mainly just moving between Bristol and London.<ref name="Rack45_46">{{Cite book | last=Rack | first=Henry D. | editor1-last=Newport | editor1-first=Kenneth G.C. |editor2-last=Campbell | editor2-first=Ted A. | title=Charles Wesley: Life, Literature and Legacy | publisher=Epworth | location=Peterborough | year=2007  | isbn=9780716206071 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWAmAQAAIAAJ}}</ref>{{rp|45–46}} Increasingly in his later years, Wesley became the mouthpiece of the so-called "[[Church of England|Church]] Methodists"—he was strongly opposed to a separation of Methodism from its Anglican roots.<ref name="Rack45_46" />{{rp|344–345}} In the 1780s, he was especially dismayed by his brother's [[ordination]] of Methodist ministers to serve in America (''see {{slink|John Wesley|Ordination of ministers}}''), which he criticised in a published poem.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tomkins |first1=Stephen |title=John Wesley: A Biography |date=2003 |publisher=Lion |location=Oxford |isbn=0-7459-5078-7 |page=186}}</ref>