United Methodism
What is the United Methodist portion of the body of Christ? Good question! Here is a brief history of how our denomination came into existence.
*John Wesley was one of eighteen (yes, eighteen!) children born to Samuel and Susanna Wesley. At the time of John’s birth, Samuel was serving as an Anglican clergyman in Epworth, England (north of London).
*John was born in the year 1703 and lived until 1791. His life spanned most of the 18th Century, a century of significant cultural transition, both in England and around the world.
*In 1709, when John was 6-years-old, there was a fire in the Epworth rectory (where the Wesleys lived). John was saved from the flames at the last minute. He spent the rest of his life believing that God had “plucked” him from the fire for a special purpose.
*John and his younger brother Charles attended Oxford University.
*While at Oxford, Charles organized a small group of Christian believers and asked John to serve as their leader. The members of this small group were very methodical and disciplined in their study of Scripture, their prayer, and their ministry to hurting souls. In fact, under the leadership of the Wesley brothers, these believers were so spiritually methodical that their fellow students laughingly referred to them as the “methodists.” Needless to say, the label stuck, first to the movement, and later to the denomination.
*Despite his ordination as an Anglican priest and his active and disciplined spiritual life, John remained dissatisfied and restless. His communication and interaction with a group of Christians known as the Moravians helped him to identify what he was missing: A personal assurance of God’s love and a deeply-rooted joy in the life of discipleship.
*On May 24th, 1738, John went reluctantly to a Bible study on Aldersgate Street in London. While there, as he listened to the commentary on the book of Romans, John felt his own heart “strangely warmed.” He knew in that moment that he did indeed trust Christ and Christ alone for his salvation. This was not necessarily John’s conversion experience. But is was an experience that awakened him to the urgency of a “warmed heart” in the life of faith. Wesley now understood with greater clarity that faith in Jesus Christ is both a matter of the intellect and a matter of the heart.
*Tirelessly, the Wesley brothers organized groups of Christian believers in which people could nurture and encourage one another in their devotion to Jesus Christ. In town after town, members of the “Methodist” society would gather for preaching services. In turn, each “society” was divided into “classes” of about twelve members. These classes were more intimate gatherings of “Methodists”. The classes would meet weekly for the purpose of methodical self-examination, Bible study, and prayer.
*John Wesley never intended for his Methodist movement to become a new denomination. He simply wanted to initiate renewal in the Anglican Church (the Church of England). The Anglican Church, in many ways, had become lethargic in its worship, its discipline, and its ministry to the poor. The hierarchy of the Anglican Church, however, was neither impressed nor inspired by John’s enthusiasm and vision.
*John came to the conclusion that, if the Anglican Church would not be transformed from within, then perhaps it could be transformed from without. He began to hold preaching services in open fields, where many who had never set foot inside and Anglican church building would gather to hear his articulation of the Gospel. John also began to train Methodist “lay preachers” who would fervently proclaim Jesus Christ wherever people were to be found. Many of these Methodist lay preachers came to America in the colonization process. Methodism began to take root in the new country.
*In the 1780s, John Wesley reluctantly gave permission to the American Methodists to ordain clergy in their new country (so that the Lord’s Supper could be celebrated). On December 24th, 1784, at Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore, Maryland, the first American Methodist Pastors were ordained. This ordinatiion marked a breaking of the denominational relationship with the Church of England. A new denomination had emerged: The Methodist Episcopal Church.
*By the time of John Wesley’s death in 1791, Methodism had 300 preachers, 72,000 members, and 500,000 adherents. John Wesley himself had ridden over 250,000 miles on horseback and preached over 40,000 sermons!
If you would like to read more about the history of United Methodism, please contact Rev. Park or visit the church library.