The Wesley Foundation of the City of Philadelphia was incorporated in 1874 with a mission to be the Methodist campus ministry to the University campuses in the city of Philadelphia. The Methodist bishop appointed an ordained minister to serve as the Wesley Foundation director.

Eventually, the Wesley Foundation office was located in the Christian Association Building at the University of Pennsylvania, known as the CA.

The Asbury Methodist Church served the residential neighborhood from its location at the corner of 33rd and Chestnut Streets.

Eventually (the late 1950s) the pastoral appointment to the Asbury Church was combined with the Wesley Foundation appointment, (i.e. one pastor served in both capacities). There were offices at the church as well as in the CA Building at Penn. The combined ministry evolved into a ministry that was mainly focused on the University of Pennsylvania and the residential neighborhood in which the church was located. There was some contact and overlap with the Drexel University community.

In the late 1960s, the overlap with Drexel was recognized. The Drexel Protestant Advisory Board was formed. An office was provided a Drexel as well as at Penn. The understanding was that the ministry at Penn was for the Methodist students and the ministry at Drexel was to be ecumenical. Both campus ministries were linked with the Asbury Church. All three responsibilities came under one Episcopal appointment. At this time the residential neighborhood was beginning to decline as the universities and surrounding institutions began to grow and build.

In the early 1970s United Ministries in Higher Education (UMHE) in Pennsylvania was formed. A number of denominational judicatories agreed that the best way to do campus ministry in the Commonwealth of PA would be to use an ecumenical model. Funding came from judicatories to UMHE to campus ministries at state and state-related schools 

In 1974 the Eastern PA Conference of the United Methodist Church decided to participate. A deal was made that campus ministry at Drexel would be an appointment by the Eastern PA United Methodist bishop to serve as pastor to the Asbury Church, United Methodist campus minister at Penn and ecumenical minister at Drexel. The Drexel Protestant Advisory Board evolved into the Drexel Asbury Board. Although the pastor was accountable to the Wesley Foundation Board, the Administrative Board of the Asbury Church and the Drexel Asbury Board, the UMHE link was with Drexel Asbury. At this time the residential neighborhood was in serious decline. The Asbury Church was a small native congregation that was enlivened by a small group of university students.

In June of 1990 the Asbury Church was discontinued as a congregation. In compliance with an historic agreement, all assets of the church including the property were transferred to the Wesley Foundation of Philadelphia. The property was later sold to the University of Pennsylvania, and the proceeds now endow the ongoing ministry.

In July 1990, Rev. Sharon Vandegrift was appointed by the bishop to serve as the United Methodist campus minister at Penn and the ecumenical campus minister at Drexel. She was to be accountable to the Wesley Foundation Board and Drexel Asbury Board.

In 1991 a new organization was formed: The Asbury Protestant Ministries of the Wesley Foundation. For this to happen, both the Wesley Foundation Board and the Drexel Asbury Board voted to dissolve their present structure. Finances were combined. The new organization would serve as the ecumenical campus ministry at Drexel related to UMHE in PA. With recognition that the CA at Penn was a UMHE ministry and that United Methodists were in covenant with UMHE, it was decided that it was no longer appropriate to have a separate United Methodist presence at the CA.

As of 1991 the position of Director of the Asbury Protestant Ministries of the Wesley Foundation was considered a special appointment within the United Methodist structure. Therefore it no longer needs to be filled by a United Methodist clergy person.

In 1997 the former Asbury United Methodist Church, at that point already sold to the University of Pennsylvania and undergoing renovations for secular use, burned down due to an electrical fire.

Since the property was sold, Asbury has held office/program space in different places on campus, beginning on the 2nd floor of the Creese Student Center, then in 2000 moving to a space renovated by the Wesley Foundation in the basement of MacAlister Hall. In the fall of 2009, the Board of Directors officially approved changing the name of the ministry at Drexel from “Asbury Protestant Ministry” to “Asbury Ministry.” And in the summer of 2010, Asbury moved – along with other religious life staff – to the new Intercultural Center (formerly the Newman Center) at the northwest corner of 33rd & Chestnut Streets.