Colleges and communities across the nation are preparing for the celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. The campus minister at Greensboro College, the Rev. A.C. Brock, recently outlined how Greensboro College and Bennett College - two United Methodist Colleges - would celebrate this event together. The celebration will not only honor the work of this international human rights leader but also will remind us of the role the Methodist Church has played in developing a ministry among people of all races.

On January 17, 1758, John Wesley preached at Wandsworth. In the audience were several Africans who, as Wesley reports, "appear to be much awakened." Wesley went on to write about this event, "Shall not his saving health be made known to all nations?"

Wesley historian Luke Tyerman says that these simple entries regarding the work among the Africans is but the acorn that preceded the oak of Methodist work and successes that were yet to come. "This wonderful work of God began in the house of Nathaniel Gilbert, a temporary sojourner in the town of Wandsworth."

Nathaniel Gilbert had inherited a large estate in Antigua [West Indies]. The land had been in possession of his family for several generations, going back to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. He was a college graduate, trained in the law and for some years speaker of the House of Assembly in Antigua.

He had a brother, Francis, who had squandered his wealth in England by engaging in fraudulent accounting practices and was reduced to being a beggar. During this time he became a member of one of Wesley's societies. He introduced his brother to the writings of John Wesley.

Nathaniel Gilbert traveled to England to meet Wesley, and stayed for two years (until 1759). He failed in his attempt to enlist John Fletcher and others to return to the West Indies as missionaries, so he became a missionary himself. He set up a meeting room and preached to his own slaves. A Methodist society was established. His brother Francis came to the islands and Methodism was started. When Nathaniel Gilbert died in 1774 he left a society of about 60 members. He was the first Methodist in the West Indies.