Wesley Pilgrimage 2025

EVENT OVERVIEW

The 2025 Wesley Pilgrimage will take place July 7-17, 2025.

Registration is available now. The earlier you register, the more you can save! This trip sells out at 36 participants in order to help pilgrims get to know each other well during the experience.

Past participants have enjoyed getting to know ministry colleagues better and made new friends. Some have traveled with their spouse and deepened their spiritual connection during the pilgrimage.

Register Today!

You are invited on an eleven-day, ten-night spiritual pilgrimage, walking in the footsteps of John and Charles Wesley. This journey is an opportunity to:

• Learn, pray, worship, and explore places where the Wesley brothers encountered the living God
• Form spiritual friendships with fellow pilgrims and Wesley scholars
• Integrate Wesleyan theology, ministry, and missional leadership
• Rekindle your spiritual passion.

The Wesley Pilgrimage is open to all lay and clergy leaders. For eleven days, participants will explore Epworth, the Wesley’s birthplace; Oxford, where John and Charles studied and led the Holy Club; Bristol, where the class meeting was developed and Methodism became a movement; and London, where both Wesley brothers experienced assurance of salvation. As British Methodism grew, London became the center of a new missional movement. The primary location for this pilgrimage is Salisbury, England, home to a vital Methodist congregation once served by Francis Asbury.

We are asking all who are considering registering for the 2025 pilgrimage to read the Wesley Pilgrimage FAQ page first.

Spouses or significant others are welcome on the pilgrimage as paid registrants. There are up to six rooms that can accommodate two-person sleeping arrangements. The registration price remains the same for both partners sharing the room.

CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS (CEUS)

This pilgrimage qualifies for three continuing education units. A certificate and confirmation are made available at the end of the pilgrimage.

This pilgrimage qualifies for a credentialing credit toward a Certified Lay Ministry (CLM) specialization in The Methodist Story and the Ministry of Memory (MSMM).

PILGRIMAGE REGISTRATION

The online registration for U.S. Pilgrims and International Pilgrims is open now. All pilgrims pay the full event fee as explained below. A non-refundable deposit of $350 is due at the time of registration, with final amount owed determined by the time when full payment is made.

• Early Bird: $2499. Register and fully pay by January 31, 2025.
• Regular: $2799. Register and fully pay by March 31, 2025.
• Late: $3099. Register and fully pay by May 15, 2025.

Registration includes: ten nights lodging, most meals, coach travel to pilgrimage sites, all admission fees, and more. The pilgrimage fee does not include round-trip airfare to England or ground transportation from the airport to Salisbury.

A coach from Salisbury to Heathrow International Airport on the last day of the itinerary IS included. Those planning to use this elective coach service should not book a flight with a departure time before 3:00 p.m. on July 17, 2025.

All pilgrims must pay a non-refundable $350 deposit to secure their place for the pilgrimage. Registration is “first-come, first-served.” The maximum number of pilgrims is thirty-six; however, a waiting list will be available.

The scholarship rate is always the early bird rate, minus $700 of additional scholarship. Full payment for scholarship recipients must be made by May 15, 2025.

NOTE: Full payment of pilgrimage balance is due by May 15, 2025.

NOTE: If the pilgrimage has less than 20 registrants as of March 1, 2025 the event organizers reserve the right to cancel the trip and refund all registration costs.

Rev. Steven W. Manskar, D. Min., is an ordained elder of the Minnesota Conference of The United Methodist Church. He served congregations in Maryland, Minnesota, and Michigan. From 1999 until 2018, he worked in Nashville, Tennessee, at Discipleship Ministries as Director of Wesleyan Leadership. In 2003, Steve partnered with friends at Sarum College in Salisbury, England, to begin the annual Wesley Pilgrimage in England. Manskar is the author of several books, including Disciples Making Disciples: A Guide for Covenant Discipleship Groups and Class Leaders, Accountable Discipleship: Living in God's Household, and Lent & Easter with John & Charles Wesley: A Devotional Guide. Steve retired from full-time ministry in 2021. He continues to enjoy directing the annual Wesley Pilgrimage in England sponsored by Discipleship Ministries and the General Commission on Archives and History. Steve lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his wife, Gina.

Rev. Paul W. Chilcote, now in retirement, served most recently as Director of the Centre for Global Wesleyan Theology at Wesley House, Cambridge, where he remains a Fellow. A Methodist historian and theologian, he was involved in theological education on three continents, having taught at Wesley College, Bristol, and Wesley House Cambridge (England), St. Paul’s United Theological College (Kenya), the Methodist Theological School (Ohio), Duke Divinity School (North Carolina), Ashland Theological Seminary (Ohio), and having helped launch two new institutions – Africa University (Zimbabwe) and Asbury Theological Seminary (Florida). He is an award-winning author and editor of more than thirty books, including Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit, Recapturing the Wesleys’ Vision, A Faith That Sings, The Methodist Defense of Women in Ministry, Making Disciples in a World Parish, Early Methodist Spirituality, Active Faith, Living Hope, Singing the Faith, and Multiplying Love. He is a frequent speaker and workshop leader in applied Wesleyan studies, particularly in the areas of theology, spirituality, and Christian discipleship. He has been a Benedictine oblate of Mt. Angel Abbey for more than twenty-five years. He and his wife, Janet, a retired United Methodist pastor, have five daughters, Sandy, Rebekah, Anna, Mary, and Ruth, and seven grandchildren, Alyssa, Levi, and Theo Brooks, Collin, Oliver, and Elsie Glass, and Isabella Gitonga.

Rev. Dr. Scott Hughes Associate General Secretary (World Service) at Discipleship Ministries, Elder in the North Georgia Conference, M.Div. Asbury Theological Seminary, D. Min. Southern Methodist University. Co-Hosted the Small Groups in the Wesleyan Way podcast, creator of the Courageous Conversations project, and facilitator of several eLearning courses including: The Church’s Ministry with Dementia, How to Start Small Groups, and Courageous Conversations. Scott has also led several trainings around Intentional Discipleship Systems and how to use AI in ministry.

Scott currently lives in Mount Juliet, Tennessee with his family. Scott has been married for 25 years and has two boys, ages 21 and 19. Scott is also an enthusiast photographer, particularly in landscapes and high school sports.