Kelly advised the Church on the importance of retaining young people who were lost each year to Methodism after leaving Sunday school while Blackburn formed a group to work with young people for devotional purposes, evangelism, prayer and overseas missions.

On 30 July 1896 the Wesleyan Methodist Conference gave a go-ahead for the Wesley Guild to operate in the United Kingdom.

In Southern Africa and Sri Lanka the Wesley Guild remains an entity of the Methodist Youth Department.

Since inception there has been no age limits for the Wesley Guilds leaving the organisation with three grades of members that include young people who are already attached to the Church, with others not yet ripe for such identification, and "older people but young at heart" “I desire by the grace of God to live and lead a Christian life and take an active role in promoting the aims and objectives of the Wesley Guild, I shall GO, Unite, Inspire, Love and Develop."

A Royal Blue Cross points in four directions and represent the basic Christian principles of faith, love, hope and peace, with the Motto "One Heart, One Way" and the WG acronym at the centre.