Methodism
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christian tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant early leaders in the movement. They were named Methodists for "the methodical way in which they carried out their Christian faith". Methodism originated as a revival movement within Anglicanism with roots in the Church of England in the 18th century and became a separate denomination after Wesley's death. The movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States and beyond because of vigorous missionary work, and today has about 80 million adherents worldwide. Most Methodist denominations are members of the World Methodist Council.
Wesleyan theology, which is upheld by the Methodist denominations, focuses on sanctification and the transforming effect of faith on the character of a Christian, exemplified by living a victorious life over sin. Unique to Wesleyan Methodism is its definition of sin: a "voluntary transgression of a known law of God." Distinguishing doctrines include the new birth, assurance, imparted righteousness, and obedience to God manifested in performing works of piety. John Wesley held that entire sanctification was "the grand depositum", or foundational doctrine, of the Methodist faith, and its propagation was the reason God brought Methodists into existence. Scripture is considered the primary authority, but Methodists also look to Christian tradition, including the historic creeds. Most Methodists teach that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for all of humanity and that salvation is achievable for all. This is the Arminian doctrine, as opposed to the Calvinist position that God has predestined the salvation of a select group of people. However, Whitefield and several other early leaders of the movement were considered Calvinistic Methodists and held to the Calvinist position.
The movement has a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high church to low church in liturgical usage, in addition to tent revivals and camp meetings held at certain times of the year. Denominations that descend from the British Methodist tradition are generally less ritualistic, while worship in American Methodism varies depending on the Methodist denomination and congregation. Methodist worship distinctiveness includes the observance of the quarterly lovefeast, the watchnight service on New Year's Eve, as well as altar calls in which people are invited to experience the new birth and entire sanctification. Its emphasis on growing in grace after the new birth led to the creation of class meetings for encouragement in the Christian life. Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition, and Charles Wesley was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of Methodism.
In addition to evangelism, Methodism is known for its charity, as well as support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through works of mercy that "flow from the love of God and neighbor" evidenced in the entirely sanctified believer. These ideals, the Social Gospel, are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, and schools to follow Christ's command to spread the gospel and serve all people. Methodists are historically known for their adherence to the doctrine of nonconformity to the world, reflected by their traditional standards of a commitment to sobriety, prohibition of gambling, regular attendance at class meetings, and weekly observance of the Friday fast.
Early Methodists were drawn from all levels of society, including the aristocracy, but the Methodist preachers took the message to social outcasts such as criminals. In Britain, the Methodist Church had a major effect in the early decades of the developing working class. In the United States, it became the religion of many slaves, who later formed black churches in the Methodist tradition.
Origins
The Methodist revival began in England with a group of men, including John Wesley and his younger brother Charles Wesley, as a movement within the Church of England in the 18th century. The Wesley brothers founded the "Holy Club" at the University of Oxford, where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at Lincoln College. The club met weekly and they systematically set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving Communion every week, fasting regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury, and frequently visiting the sick and the poor and prisoners. The fellowship were branded as "Methodist" by their fellow students because of the way they used "rule" and "method" in their religious affairs.In 1735, at the invitation of the founder of the Georgia Colony, General James Oglethorpe, both John and Charles Wesley set out for America to be ministers to the colonists and missionaries to the Native Americans. Unsuccessful in their work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith.
They sought help from Peter Boehler and other members of the Moravian Church. At a Moravian service in Aldersgate on 24 May 1738, John Wesley experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion, when he felt his "heart strangely warmed". He records in his journal: "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 Wesley had reported a similar experience a few days previously. Considering this a pivotal moment, Daniel L. Burnett writes: "The significance of Wesley's Aldersgate Experience is monumental... Without it, the names of Wesley and Methodism would likely be nothing more than obscure footnotes in the pages of church history." The following year, John Wesley left the Moravians and founded the Methodist Societies of England. The yearly anniversary of his experience is celebrated by Methodists on Aldersgate Day. Wesley's Chapel, in nearby City Road, remains a major focal point of the worldwide Methodist charismatic movement.
The Wesley brothers immediately began to preach salvation by faith to individuals and groups, in houses, in religious societies, and in the few churches which had not closed their doors to evangelical preachers. John Wesley came under the influence of the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius. Arminius had rejected the Calvinist teaching that God had predestined an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally. Conversely, George Whitefield, Howell Harris, and Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon were notable for being Calvinistic Methodists.
Returning from his mission in Georgia, George Whitefield joined the Wesley brothers in what was rapidly becoming a national crusade. Whitefield, who had been a fellow student of the Wesleys and prominent member of the Holy Club at Oxford, became well known for his unorthodox, itinerant ministry, in which he was dedicated to open-air preachingreaching crowds of thousands. A key step in the development of John Wesley's ministry was, like Whitefield, to preach in fields, collieries, and churchyards to those who did not regularly attend parish church services. Accordingly, many Methodist converts were those disconnected from the Church of England; Wesley remained a cleric of the Established Church and insisted that Methodists attend their local parish church as well as Methodist meetings because only an ordained minister could perform the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.
Faced with growing evangelistic and pastoral responsibilities, Wesley and Whitefield appointed lay preachers and leaders. Methodist preachers focused particularly on evangelising people who had been "neglected" by the established Church of England. Wesley and his assistant preachers organized the new converts into Methodist societies. These societies were divided into groups called classesintimate meetings where individuals were encouraged to confess their sins to one another and to build up each other. They also took part in love feasts which allowed for the sharing of testimony, a key feature of early Methodism. Growth in numbers and increasing hostility impressed upon the revival converts a deep sense of their corporate identity. Three teachings that Methodists saw as the foundation of Christian faith were:
- People are all, by nature, "dead in sin".
- They are justified by faith alone.
- Faith produces inward and outward holiness.
Many clergy in the established church feared that new doctrines promulgated by the Methodists, such as the necessity of a new birth for salvationthe first work of grace, of justification by faith and of the constant and sustained action of the Holy Spirit upon the believer's soul, would produce ill effects upon weak minds. Theophilus Evans, an early critic of the movement, even wrote that it was "the natural Tendency of their Behaviour, in Voice and Gesture and horrid Expressions, to make People mad". In one of his prints, William Hogarth likewise attacked Methodists as "enthusiasts" full of "Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism". Other attacks against the Methodists were physically violentWesley was nearly murdered by a mob at Wednesbury in 1743. The Methodists responded vigorously to their critics and thrived despite the attacks against them.
Initially, the Methodists merely sought reform within the Church of England, but the movement gradually departed from that Church. George Whitefield's preference for extemporaneous prayer rather than the fixed forms of prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, in addition to his insistence on the necessity of the new birth, set him at odds with Anglican clergy.
As Methodist societies multiplied, and elements of an ecclesiastical system were, one after another, adopted, the breach between John Wesley and the Church of England gradually widened. In 1784, Wesley responded to the shortage of priests in the American colonies due to the American Revolutionary War by ordaining preachers for America with the power to administer the sacraments. Wesley's actions precipitated the split between American Methodists and the Church of England.
With regard to the position of Methodism within Christendom, "John Wesley once noted that what God had achieved in the development of Methodism was no mere human endeavor but the work of God. As such it would be preserved by God so long as history remained." Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, Wesley specifically taught that the propagation of the doctrine of entire sanctification was the reason that God raised up the Methodists in the world. In light of this, Methodists traditionally promote the motto "Holiness unto the Lord".
John William Fletcher became one of the key teachers of Methodist theology when he immigrated to England and became an Anglican minister. He was also instrumental in leading the charismatic movement. He was Wesley's choice of successor to the Methodist movement, but died before Wesley. At the time of Wesley's death, there were over 500 Methodist preachers in British colonies and the new United States. Total membership of the Methodist societies in Britain was recorded as 56,000 in 1791, rising to 360,000 in 1836 and 1,463,000 by the national census of 1851.
Early Methodism experienced a radical and spiritual phase that allowed women authority in church leadership. The role of the woman preacher emerged from the sense that the home should be a place of community care and should foster personal growth. Methodist women formed a community that cared for the vulnerable, extending the role of mothering beyond physical care. Women were encouraged to testify their faith. However, the centrality of women's role sharply diminished after 1790 as Methodist churches became more structured and more male-dominated.
The Wesleyan Education Committee, which existed from 1838 to 1902, has documented the Methodist Church's involvement in the education of children. At first, most effort was placed in creating Sunday Schools. Still, in 1836 the British Methodist Conference gave its blessing to the creation of "Weekday schools".
Methodism spread throughout the British Empire and, mostly through Whitefield's preaching during what historians call the First Great Awakening, in colonial America. However, after Whitefield's death in 1770, American Methodism entered a more lasting Wesleyan and Arminian development phase. Revival services and camp meetings were used "for spreading the Methodist message", with Francis Asbury stating that they were "our harvest seasons". Henry Boehm reported that at a camp meeting in Dover in 1805, 1100 persons received the New Birth and 600 believers were entirely sanctified. Around the time of John Swanel Inskip's leadership of the National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Christian Holiness in the mid to latter 1800s, 80 percent of the membership of the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South professed being entirely sanctified.