The Story Behind Our Name

Aldersgate is a tiny neighborhood in London, England, named after one of the city's northern gates in the Middle Ages. Its name first appears in the year 1000 as Ealdredesgate. Like all London neighborhoods, today it elects an "Alderman" to represent its interests in city councils.

So why is our Durham, North Carolina church named Aldersgate?

On May 24, 1738, Anglican priest John Wesley visited a Moravian church on Aldersgate Street in London. There, he experienced the pivotal moment which birthed the entire Methodist movement. He wrote in his journal:

"In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. I began to pray with all my might for those who had in a more especial manner despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there what I now first felt in my heart.'"

Wesley's experience of grace in a Moravian assembly on Aldersgate Street would one day change the face of global Christianity. 80 million people in 138 countries claimed membership in Wesleyan and Methodist traditions in 2018. The Moravian reading Romans aloud to John Wesley could hardly have known how many people would one day hear the echoes of his voice.

So, in thanksgiving for that place, Methodists honor the name Aldersgate. In the United States alone, nearly 100 churches today bear this name, including ours. And this is our prayer: just as the little church on Aldersgate Street warmed John Wesley's heart, may we here at Aldersgate UMC offer warm welcome to all who cross our paths or step within our doors.