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SPECIAL SERVICE TO MARK 'WESLEY DAY' - St Stephen's Tala - 28 May



Special Service to mark ‘Wesley Day’, Sunday 28th May
The Anglican Church of Paphos will be holding a special service at St Stephen’s, Tala at 11 am on Sunday 28th May when it will be exploring and commemorating the life of the Wesley brothers and of course singing some of the famous Wesley hymns.  All are welcome to come along and join with us for refreshments after the service.


For more information on forthcoming events, service times, location maps and directions please visit our website at www.paphosanglicanchurch.org

John Wesley (1703-1791) - a short history.
Wesley was an ordained priest in the Church of England and theologian who founded Methodism.

On the evening of 24th May 1738 he experienced an evangelical conversion and felt ‘his heart strangely warmed’.  He became an itinerant minister who preached in the open air to all who would listen, travelling far and wide throughout Britain on his horse.  Wesley had no intention that his style of worship would compete with the Established Church but inevitably it grew outside the parish churches as he said ‘the world is my parish’.  Wesley died claiming he was a ‘loyal member of the Church of England’, but within seven years of his death, Methodism was established on four continents outside of Europeand finally it separated from the Church of England. 

John’s younger brother Charles, also an ordained priest in the Church of England, wrote over 6,000 hymns many of which are firm favourites today, including the famous ‘Love divine all loves excelling’ sung at many weddings.  He used well-known and easily sung tunes which was another reason for the Wesley brothers being seen as separate from the Church of England since their joy in music and singing was seen as ‘enthusiastic’ and was rejected for not being sufficiently ‘formal’.

Over the past few years the Church of England and Methodists have been working closer together and the various Anglican parishes on the island of Cyprus will be marking ‘Wesley Day’ (24th May).