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Fingers in Pagan history

Rings in Christian history

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Origins of the wedding ring

Wesley’s Law.

The result of the relaxation of church standards in such areas as dress, ornaments and amusements is usually a loss of sense of identity and mission of the church. The reason is that members identify more with the secular values of society than with the religious values of their founding fathers. It appears that to the degree that churches become prosperous and permissive in lifestyle, to the same degree they experience decline in spirituality and membership.

In his classic book Why Conservative Churches Are Growing, Dean Kelly calls this cycle "Wesley’s Law:" "John Wesley, the founder of the [Methodist] movement, has summed up this process in what might be called Wesley’s Law. ‘Whenever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion. Therefore, I do not see how it is possible, in the nature of things, for any revival of religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches. . . . Is there no way to prevent this–this continual decay of pure religion?’

Wesley understood with amazing clarity what causes the growth or decline of a church. The fulfillment of his "prophetic" insight can be seen in the history of many churches, including his own Methodist Church. In fact, The United Methodist Church is one of the six major Protestant churches which in recent years have experienced a consistent significant decline in membership, church school enrollment, and number of overseas missionaries.

To reverse the trend, Kelly proposed three steps which can be summarized as follows: First, a church must clarify her goals, central convictions, and standards of lifestyle. Second, a church must decide how to enforce her standards. Third, a church must communicate effectively "its beliefs, its standards, to members (internal) and to others (external).