Standing before this pulpit in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford is standing at one of the significant places in Wesleyan history.

From this pulpit, John Wesley preached to the University of Oxford. Here he delivered Salvation by Faith in 1738, The Almost Christian in 1741, and, on August 24, 1744, his famous sermon Scriptural Christianity.

That final sermon was not a comfortable message. Wesley challenged the spiritual condition of the university and called his hearers back to genuine Scriptural Christianity. He apparently understood that his words might close the door to future invitations. Afterward he wrote, “I preached, I suppose, the last time at St. Mary’s. Be it so; I have fully delivered my own soul.”

And he was right. He was never invited to preach the University sermon there again.

Nearly three centuries later, the pulpit still stands.

There is something powerful about standing where Wesley once stood and remembering that the Wesleyan revival was built by men and women willing to proclaim biblical truth, even when that truth was unpopular.

A heritage worth remembering. A message worth preserving.