The Wesley Club, six determined thirteen-year-old kids, had first met each other in their Xenia, Ohio church confirmation class. In 1958, confirmation classes were not unusual. Across the United States, thousands of boys and girls were taking part in church lessons, memorizing Scripture, learning prayers, and preparing to stand before their congregations. For many, it was simply something expected at a certain age. For Jesse, Sally, Dale, Montana, Will, and Florence it became something more.
Nearly two hundred years earlier, John Wesley had faced a simple question: how could ordinary people live out their faith in ordinary life? Wesley was an Anglican minister in England during the 1700s. He preached in churches, fields, villages, and coal-mining towns, often to people who felt forgotten. As more people listened, small groups began meeting for prayer, Bible study, and encouragement. Wesley wanted their faith to be more than words spoken on Sunday.
To help them, he offered simple guidance—three simple rules. The first rule was to do no harm. That meant avoiding words and actions that injured others, whether through cruelty, dishonesty, selfishness, or neglect.
The second rule was to do all the good you can. Wesley believed faith should move people toward action—feeding the hungry, helping the poor, comforting the lonely, visiting the sick, and showing kindness whenever possible.
The third rule was to stay close to God by following his laws. Wesley taught that prayer, worship, Scripture, and Christian fellowship helped keep a person’s heart turned in the right direction.
The rules were simple enough for a child to understand, but strong enough to guide an entire life. That is why the Wesley Club chose these rules as their own. The six members did not know where those promises would lead. They only knew they wanted to do no harm, do all the good they could, and stay close to God—especially, when trouble found them.
