I see that there are many great benefits to Wesley’s highly structured spiritual formation. It is important for those that have come to Christ to be a part of a community of believers who intentionally meet to grow in Christ. The Wesley structure provides for that community, and in that there a few other spiritual benefits. One of them is accountability. From a few different sources, including seedbed.com (https://seedbed.com/modeling-john-wesleys-small-groups/) and from Wesley’s Plain Account of the People Called Methodist, the question of “How is it with your soul?” was prominent in the meetings. This often was referencing a person’s life as far as prayer, scripture reading, and sin.
The classes provided consistency, since they would meet weekly together. One last benefit I noticed is that it provided financial resources. Again, from Wesley’s Plain Account it seems that the collection was to help the poor be unburdened from debt. All of these benefits brought transformation in believers lives so they could be sanctified.
There are some dangers I can see in this structure in modern church. First, I think that some people coming to church could see it as exclusive. John Wesley brilliantly addresses this in the Plain Account, stating it can’t be, when people didn’t have it before. Second, in today’s culture, people would not react well to leaders of classes going individually to their home and collecting money. Finally, there was a habit of putting people out of classes if they did not deal with their persistent sin. This potential would lead to a decline of church attendance, being we don’t deal with sin that way in the modern church.
As far as implementation goes, I am currently working on implementing what we call LifeGroups (small groups) in our church. This would be a form of classes, as I see it. Often the question is asked “How is it with your soul?” although in different ways. Bands don’t seem to be popular in churches today. However, I was a part of a men’s prayer movement in which confession was a large part. I am planning on starting a local movement in my community.