A picture of John Wesley
'One or two others in the audience were leaning towards the temperance movement in spirit, albeit aided by real ale from a microbrewery just five miles away.'

Andrew Chapman reflects on the similarities between early Methodism and the climate change movement

"In the evening many of the villagers flocked together, so that her great hall was well filled. I would fain hope some of them received the seed in good ground and will bring forth fruit with patience."

So wrote John Wesley in his journal in 1782, still riding from village to village, town to town with his message of salvation after 40-odd years on the road.

Listening to a talk on climate change in an ancient beamed barn that is now Ramsden Memorial Hall, deep in the Cotswolds, I was struck by the similarities between the grassroots environmental movement and the early years of Methodism.

Recently someone suggested to me what's needed to wake people up to climate change and the root-and-branch alterations to daily life it will inevitably demand is a new religion. Perhaps we already have it (and the green-minded Bishop of London would say it's Christianity).

The talk was by Tom Dyson, an environmentally savvy internet entrepreneur speaking on behalf of the Wychwood Network, a new group focusing on sustainability in Oxfordshire. George Monbiot, Mark Lynas and John Wesley himself are all associated with the Oxford area - perhaps revolutions can begin in comfort after all.

Rationing

Dyson summarised the issues effectively, tackled some of the common problems people raise ("What about China?", "My son lives in Sydney...", "What can individuals do?") and quietly advocated a system of personal carbon rationing. Given that many of the audience had guiltily arrived by car, he made it all seem perfectly reasonable.

The audience gathered villagers of all ages and a loyal group of followers from further afield. Most were already receptive, or indeed converted to the message.

In the Q&A afterwards, various theological niceties, as it were, were discussed. An expert on oil peak explained that Canada's tar sands might avert one problem but distract from the bigger issue.

One woman expressed how challenging she finds the faith, and how she had succumbed to taking a plane after a long 'fast' (the Bishop of London's word). "I long for the day when we’re told we can't fly, so I can just stay in my garden at home," she said with feeling. The local politician commented on the difficulty of getting mass behavioural change to take off.

There was a heretic from the climate change denial camp too, of course, who was baffled by how a fraction of a percent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can really have such an effect. When he described his own lifestyle - home-grown vegetables, prodigious recycling efforts - it seemed that he already found The Way for himself, and was therefore suspicious of imported justifications for it.

One or two others in the audience were leaning towards the temperance movement in spirit, albeit aided by real ale from a microbrewery just five miles away.

Warmed

As a lifelong agnostic and fence-sitter, I found myself "strangely warmed" to be on the side of the believers for once. Though I've stopped flying, I drive, I consume and I waste like the rest of us, but quaint English meetings such as this have kindled a small but persistent flame of enthusiasm for working to change things - and enjoy it.

All round the country, likeable lay preachers such as Dyson are forming local carbon rationing action groups - he is also launching www.thecarbonaccount.com.

Meanwhile there are charismatic preachers such as George Monbiot filling larger halls and writing books. Let's leave the messianic tones of Al Gore aside for now.

The authority underpinning their apologetics is a set of 928 scientific papers. And we'll be measured not just by our willingness to show faith, but by our deeds.

In his journal of 1784, Wesley wrote: "the country is all on fire, and the flame is still spreading from village to village". Perhaps not the best metaphor when we're trying to save fuel, but the willingness of disparate groups everywhere to embrace behavioural change before politicians eventually realise they have to demand it of us is a sign of hope.

• More about Christian Aid's work to combat climate change