John Wesley's Covenant Service

Covenant services were an important part of early Methodist life, beginning with the first covenant service August 11, 1755. Wesley wrote in his Journal,

I explained once more the nature of such an engagement and the manner of doing it acceptably to God...After I had recited the tenor of the covenant proposal... all the people stood up, in testimony of assent, to the number of about eighteen hundred persons. Such a night I scarce ever saw before. Surely the fruit of it shall remain for ever.

Wesley held covenant services on a variety of occasions, but towards the end of his life tended to celebrate these around New Year's Day. In Wesley's time days were spent instructing those who would participate. The service included reading long exhortations to live lives completely dedicated to God and always concluded with Holy Communion. Since Wesley's death, the service has been greatly revised, but few changes have been made to the covenant prayer.
Source: The New Handbook of the Christian Year, by Hoyt L. Hickman et al., 1992 by Abingdon Press.