While Kalena and I were making our way to Wesley’s Chapel in London this summer, we came across this plaque marking the location of a place I had read about many times: the Foundery. The original building is gone, but about forty yards from this marker once stood what became John Wesley’s headquarters and one of the most important places in the early Methodist revival.

The story began with an old government cannon foundry that had been badly damaged by an explosion in 1716. By the time Wesley acquired the property in 1739, the building was largely abandoned. With the Methodist movement growing and Wesley needing a place for the societies to meet, the old industrial building was repaired and transformed into something entirely different.

For nearly forty years, from 1739 until 1778, the Foundery served as the center of Wesley’s work in London. Wesley preached there, Methodist societies gathered there, and classes and bands met for spiritual accountability. But what fascinates me is how much more happened inside those walls. The Foundery became a place for helping the poor, educating children, distributing medicine, lending money to those in need, and caring for people whom society often overlooked.

It was also home to the first Methodist Book Room. Wesley understood the power of the printed word. Sermons, tracts, books, and other publications could carry biblical truth far beyond the reach of a single preacher. As someone involved in Christian publishing today, that part of the Foundery story especially resonates with me. Nearly three centuries ago, Methodists were already using publishing as an intentional means of discipleship and spreading the gospel.

There is another deeply personal part of Wesley family history connected with this site. Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles, spent the final period of her life at the Foundery and died there on July 30, 1742. Her influence on her sons, and through them on the Methodist revival, is difficult to measure.

Eventually the Methodist movement outgrew the old building. Wesley built the New Chapel on City Road, today known as Wesley’s Chapel, which opened in 1778. The center of London Methodism moved there, bringing the Foundery era to an end.

Standing near the site this summer, I found myself thinking about what God did with an abandoned industrial building. It was not impressive when Wesley took possession of it. Yet it became a place where people worshiped, learned Scripture, cared for the poor, educated children, published Christian literature, and organized a movement that would eventually reach around the world.

That challenges me. We sometimes think we need ideal circumstances, impressive facilities, or greater resources before God can accomplish something significant through us. The Foundery reminds me that God has always been able to take what is available, when it is fully surrendered to Him, and use it far beyond what anyone could have imagined.

Nearly three hundred years later, the building is gone. The influence of what happened there is not.

That is Wesleyan theology in practice: the gospel preached, disciples formed, needs met, truth published, and ordinary resources placed completely in God’s hands.