Wesley Foundation
Christianity • Protestantism A Wesley Foundation is a United Methodist campus ministry sponsored in full or in part (depending on the congregation) by the United Methodist Church on a non-church owned and operated campus.Wesley Foundations claim ancestry in the founding "Holy Club" of the Methodist movement, a group of students at Oxford University guided by Wesley in "methodical" (hence "Methodist") study, prayer, and self-discipline.Today a Wesley Foundation is the presence of the United Methodist Church on or near, and in service to, a state-run, non-church affiliated college or university (Church-related schools have Chaplains that may guide similar groups).Wesley refers to John Wesley the founder of the Methodist Church and first campus minister at Oxford University, while Foundation was selected to mean an "open movement," an ecumenical movement available to all college students.Ordained ministers serve in similar manner to their usual appointment to a church or charge.