Methodism #6

Methodism traces to the ministry of John Wesley, an 18th-century Church of England priest, and today comprises a global family of churches — including the United Methodist Church and numerous Wesleyan-Holiness bodies — claiming roughly 80 million adherents worldwide.

Origins and History

Wesley, together with his brother Charles and a small group at Oxford, founded a disciplined society nicknamed “Methodists” in the 1720s for their methodical approach to prayer, Bible study, and charitable work, initially intending renewal within the Church of England rather than a separate denomination. Wesley’s field preaching to the poor and the industrial working class, combined with his teaching that grace was available to all who would receive it (in contrast to Calvinist limited election), fueled a mass revival across Britain and its American colonies through the mid-to-late 18th century; the movement formally separated from the Church of England after American independence made it impractical to remain under Anglican bishops, organizing as the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784.

Beliefs and Practices

Methodist theology is Arminian rather than Calvinist, teaching that Christ’s grace is offered to all people and can be resisted, and it places strong emphasis on sanctification — the ongoing, grace-enabled process of growing in holiness after conversion (Philippians 2:12-13; Hebrews 12:14) — a distinctive that also produced the broader Holiness movement and, later, Pentecostalism. Methodist churches ordain both men and women, are typically governed through a connectional system of conferences and bishops rather than strict congregational independence, and historically combine warm, hymn-centered worship, shaped heavily by Charles Wesley’s hymns, with a strong institutional commitment to social service and reform.