Do all the good you can, 

by all the means you can, 

in all the ways you can, 

in all the places you can, 

at all the times you can, 

to all the people you can,  

as long as ever you can. 

—John Wesley   

  The Red Door at Wesley Monumental Church 

Every artist eventually gets around to painting one red door during her career. I’m a bonified red door fanatic, so I make it a habit to paint more than one red door each and every year. 

This en plein air painting features the red door at Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church, located on the southwest trust lot of Calhoun Square in Savannah’s Historic District.  

This magnificent building is named for John Wesley and his brother Charles, who journeyed together across the Atlantic on The Simmonds from Kent, England and arrived in Savannah in 1736 on behalf of the Trustees of the Georgia Colony and upon the request of Savannah founder, James Oglethorpe.  

During the voyage across the ocean a storm ensued, snapping the mast and causing a panic among many of the passengers. This is when John Wesley came to admire the Moravian settlers who were with him on the ship and who remained calmed during the storm by their deep religious faith and spirituality.  

Wesley was the minister of the newly establish Savannah parish of the Church of England. His brother was generally at his side, focused mainly on writing hymns, while John managed the pulpit. 

However, their stay in Savannah did not go as well as the two brothers had hoped; it ended in disappointment, mired in a small scandal over a young lady named Sophia Hopkey. When John denied her communion, legal proceedings were brought against him, which ending his Savannah experience. 

Life in Savannah did not go as initially hoped for the Moravian settlers, either; John Wesley had to mediate religious conflicts they had with Lutherans (among others) in the new colony; tensions within the group’s communal lifestyle later led most Moravians to settle elsewhere, many in Pennsylvania. 

The Wesley brothers returned to England in 1737. A year later, John experienced a religious conversion, and thereafter devoted his life to evangelism. John Wesley is credited for bringing ‘Methodism’ out of the Church of England, although he remained an Anglican throughout his life. He died in 1791. 

America’s first Methodist Church was established in Savannah in 1807. 

The Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church was founded in 1875. Its construction, however, was often slowed by financial difficulties; a very common experience in the South after the Civil War. It took until 1878 until a small part on the first floor of the church could be utilized.  

Twelve years later, the sanctuary on the second floor was finally finished. The twin steeples, the stucco, the stained-glass windows, the fabulous Noack church organ, and other distinguishing features of the church would all come much later. And not until 1927 were the steps leading to the red door in place.