What's Special about Methodists?

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF METHODISM

'Methodists' was originally a nickname applied to a revival movement in 18th century Britain, based within the Church of England and led by, among others, the brothers John [1703-1791] and Charles [1707-1788] Wesley. They were born, two of the many children of a Rector of Epworth in Lincolnshire, Samuel Wesley, and his remarkable wife Susanna.
The rectory at Epworth

The Methodist Church is part of the whole Church of Christ. It claims no superiority or inferiority to any other part of the Church.  All those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and accept the obligations to serve him in the life of the Church and the world are welcome as full members of the Methodist Church.
Oxford and America

Both Wesley brothers studied at the University of Oxford and John went on to become a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. In the early 1730s a small group of students met regularly for Bible study and prayer, received Communion frequently and undertook works of charity. Their group attracted some considerable ridicule and attracted a number of nicknames, including the ‘Holy Club’, the ‘Bible Moths’ and, the name which stuck, ‘Methodists’. Among their number was George Whitefield who would become the greatest preacher of the time. They were mostly ordained clergy of the Church of England and though the group did not last long it set a pattern for the 'Evangelical Revival'.

In 1735 the Wesleys responded to an invitation to serve as chaplains to American colonies; this was unsuccessful, and both had returned to Britain by 1738. Neither was to return to America again, but some 50 years later their followers (such as Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke) did, and so Methodism spread in the 'New World'.
Evangelical Conversion

John and Charles Wesley joined in a 'Religious Society' in London, and in May 1738 both underwent a profound spiritual experience. John famously described this in his Journal for 24th May 1738

"In the evening I went unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther and preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter to nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine and saved me from the law of sin and death."
Charles experienced his own ‘evangelical conversion’ a few days earlier. He was to become the great hymn-writer of the Methodist Church, while John was its organising genius who turned a spontaneous movement into a structured body which became the origin of today's world-wide Methodist Church.

The Open Air

Perhaps just as important as those evangelical conversions was the commitment to preaching in the open air, often to people excluded from the churches. This 'field preaching' became a key feature of the Revival, and Wesley recorded addressing gatherings of many thousands. 
Societies and classes

John Wesley travelled the country, an extraordinary achievement in those days, to visit, encourage and admonish the ‘societies’ that were being established across the country. These societies were further subdivided into various classes which met every week. Through the societies, members supported one another spiritually and pastorally, and working people and women often found a status otherwise denied to them. Wesley encouraged the Methodists to carry on attending their local parish church as well as Methodist meetings.


John Wesley mobbed by his supporters

'Social righteousness'

For the Wesleys, 'works' as well as faith were essential to the whole of Christian living, and caring for the poor, for prisoners, for widows and orphans mattered a great deal. Methodists were not only interested in welfare, they were concerned to remedy social injustice, and John Wesley's last known letter urged the abolition of 'that execrable villainy'; black slavery. The Wesleys were an influence in prison reform and, inspired by Susanna Wesley, they earned a reputation as pioneers in education. John Wesley wrote, edited or abridged some 400 publications.

Hymns

Among Charles' hymns, still sung today, are numbered some of the finest ever written; and through them the Methodists received and expressed their Christian experience and learned their beliefs. His poetic genius drew upon his classical and literary education and an awareness of popular culture, as well as his musical talents. After his marriage in 1749, Charles remained mostly in London and Bristol.

Doctrine

The assurance of the free grace of God was the experience of the early Methodists, which the Wesleys set in the Christian tradition of 'Arminianism', emphasising within human freewill the need for holy living as an outcome of faith leading towards 'Christian perfection'. The Calvinists (such as Whitefield) by contrast stressed the absolute sovereignty of God and believed in predestination.

Separation

Although Wesley declared, "I live and die a member of the Church of England", the strength and impact of the movement, especially after John Wesley's clandestine ordinations in 1784, made a separate Methodist body virtually inevitable.

In the 19th century Methodism in Britain flowed in several channels, including Primitive Methodism which began with 'camp meetings' in 1807 and was organised into a separate body in 1811. The Methodists grew to be a large, respectable and influential section of society; characterised by the 'nonconformist conscience' and also the 'temperance movement' and many members with poor origins became prosperous. The missionary movement also spread the Methodist message around the world.

In 1932 the three main Methodist groups in Britain came together to form the present Methodist Church.

The Methodist Conference and Connexion

As the Methodist societies grew at a fast rate, some way of keeping in touch and organising them was needed. John Wesley had held what became an annual conference of Methodist preachers. In 1784 he made provision for the continuance as a corporate body after his death of the 'Yearly Conference of the People called Methodists'. He nominated 100 people and declared them to be its members and laid down the method by which their successors were to be appointed.

After his death the leadership passed to the Methodist Conference, and instead of one person exercising leadership for a length of time, the President of the Conference became for the year of office the representative of the Conference and leading minister of the church. During the nineteenth century there were many factions in the church. Gradually most of these were re-united, the last union being in 1932.

The Methodist Church has a Connexional structure rather than a congregational one. This is where the whole church acts and decides together. It is where the local church is never independent of the rest of the Connexion. Everyone who becomes a member through confirmation is a member of the Methodist Church as a whole, not just their local church.
 

 

 

PRIMITIVE AND WESLEYAN METHODISTS

How the Primitives began The Issues that Divided
The Primitive Methodists were a major off-shoot of the principal stream of Methodism – the Wesleyan Methodists – in 19th century Britain. One of our churches, Cloud, is the oldest ex-Primitive Methodist Church in the country that is still a regular worshipping community today.

In the early decades of the 19th century a growing number of Wesleyans believed that their Connexion was moving far away from the movement that John Wesley had brought to birth in the 18th century. Eventually a Methodist preacher called Hugh Bourne became the catalyst for a breakaway, to form the Primitive Methodists. 

Hugh Bourne was born not too far away from us – at Fordhays near Stoke on Trent – in 1772. A carpenter and lay-preacher Bourne was well known as a zealous preacher but the leadership of the Methodists did not always agree with his radical ideas. When Bourne refused to accept the leadership's ban on camp meetings in 1808, he was expelled from the movement. He and his 200 or so followers became known as Primitive Methodists, the term adopted from a statement that had been made by John Wesley in 1790: "I still remain a primitive Methodist."

Bourne’s first Primitive Methodist Chapel was built in Tunstall in 1811. By 1842 there were 1200 chapels, 500 travelling evangelists and a membership of nearly 80,000. 
  		The sorts of issues which divided the Primitives & the Wesleyans were these:

> The Primitives focused attention on the role of lay people; the Wesleyans developed a high doctrine of the Pastoral Office to justify leadership being in the hands of the ministers. 

> The Primitives stressed simplicity in their chapels & their worship; the Wesleyans were open to cultural enrichment from the Anglican tradition & more ornate buildings. 

> The Primitives concentrated their mission on the rural poor; the Wesleyans on the more affluent & influential urban classes. 

> The Primitives stressed the political implications of their Christian discipleship; the Wesleyans were nervous of direct political engagement. 


By the end of the 19th century these two streams of Methodism realised they had more in common than they might have supposed. So conversations began which led to their being the two principal partners in the union to form the present-day Methodist Church in 1932.