Editing Methodism (section)

==Origins==
{{For|a detailed history of Methodism in Britain|Methodist Church of Great Britain#History}}
{{Further|History of Methodism in the United States|John Wesley#Persecutions and lay preaching}}
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The Methodist revival began in England with a group of men, including [[John Wesley]] (1703–1791) and his younger brother [[Charles Wesley|Charles]] (1707–1788), as a movement within the Church of England in the 18th century.<ref name="UMCofWB">{{cite web|url=http://www.umcwfb.org/_ABOUTUS/about_us_ourstory.htm |title=What We Believe – Founder of the United Methodist Church |publisher=United Methodist Church of Whitefish Bay |access-date=1 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325213036/http://www.umcwfb.org/_aboutus/about_us_ourstory.htm |archive-date=25 March 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Methodism-John Wesley">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aLzLqGPrPUC&q=books+on+methodism |title=An Introduction to World Methodism |date=5 May 2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521818490 |access-date=31 December 2007}}</ref> The Wesley brothers founded the "[[Holy Club]]" at the [[University of Oxford]], where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at [[Lincoln College, Oxford|Lincoln College]].<ref name="John Wesley, Fellow, Lincoln College">{{cite web|url = http://www.linc.ox.ac.uk/index.php?page=famous+alumni%3Ajohn+wesley+%281703+-+1791%29|title = Lincoln College, Oxford, Famous Alumni, John Wesley (1703–1791)|publisher = Lincoln College, Oxford University|access-date = 24 May 2011|archive-date = 22 June 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110622170413/http://www.linc.ox.ac.uk/index.php?page=Famous+Alumni%3AJohn+Wesley+%281703+-+1791%29|url-status = dead}}</ref> The club met weekly and they systematically set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving [[Eucharist|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.<ref name="Fairchild">{{cite web|url=http://christianity.about.com/od/methodistdenomination/a/methodishistory.htm|title=Methodist Church History: A Brief History of the Methodist Denomination|last=Fairchild|first=Mary|work=About.com:Christianity|access-date=26 April 2013|archive-date=13 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513190404/http://christianity.about.com/od/methodistdenomination/a/methodishistory.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Fairchild" /><ref name="holy_club">{{cite web|title=The Holy Club|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/history/the-holy-club|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=20 October 2016}}</ref>

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 [[Minister (Christianity)|ministers]] to the colonists and missionaries to the Native Americans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sip.armstrong.edu/Methodism/wesley.html |title=John Wesley and Savannah |last1=Ross |first1=Kathy W. |last2=Stacey |first2=Rosemary |access-date=1 January 2017 |archive-date=19 January 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000119090526/http://www.sip.armstrong.edu/Methodism/wesley.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Unsuccessful in their work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith. They looked for help from [[Peter Boehler]] and other members of the [[Moravian Church]]. At a Moravian [[church service|service]] in [[Aldersgate]] on 24 May 1738, John experienced what has come to be called his [[evangelical]] conversion, when he felt his "heart strangely warmed".<ref>[https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/john-wesleys-heart-strangely-warmed-11630227.html John Wesley's Heart Strangely Warmed], [http://www.christianity.com/ www.christianity.com].</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Genesis of Methodism |last=Dreyer |first=Frederick A. |page=27 |isbn=0-934223-56-4 |year=1999 |publisher=Lehigh University Press}}</ref> Charles had reported a similar experience a few days previously. Considering this a pivotal moment, Daniel L. Burnett writes: "The significance of [John] 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."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burnett |first1=Daniel L. |title=In the Shadow of Aldersgate: An Introduction to the Heritage and Faith of the Wesleyan Tradition |date=2006 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |isbn=978-1-59752-573-2 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZdLAwAAQBAJ&q=The+significance+of+Wesley%E2%80%99s+Aldersgate+Experience+is+monumental.+It+is+the+pivotal+point+in+his+life+and+the+Methodist+movement.+Without+it+the+names+of+Wesley+and+Methodism+would+likely+be+nothing+more+than+obscure+footnotes+in+the+pages+of+church+history&pg=PA36}}</ref>

The Wesley brothers immediately began to preach salvation by faith to individuals and groups, in houses, in religious [[voluntary association|societies]], and in the few churches which had not closed their doors to evangelical preachers.<ref name="Hylson-Smith">{{cite book|last1=Hylson-Smith|first1=Kenneth|title=Evangelicals in the Church of England 1734–1984|publisher=Bloomsbury|pages=17–21|date=1992}}</ref> John Wesley came under the influence of the Dutch theologian [[Jacobus Arminius]] (1560–1609). Arminius had rejected the [[Calvinist]] teaching that God had [[predestination|predestined]] an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally. Conversely, [[George Whitefield]] (1714–1770), [[Howell Harris]] (1714–1773),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Richard |title=Howell Harris and the Dawn of Revival |date=1962 |publisher=[[Evangelical Press of Wales]] |isbn=1-85049-035-X |language=English |orig-year=1909}}</ref> and [[Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon]] (1707–1791)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schlenther |first1=Boyd Stanley |title=Queen of the Methodists: The Countess of Huntingdon and the Eighteenth-Century Crisis of Faith and Society |date=1997 |publisher=Durham Academic Press |isbn=978-1900838085 |location=Bishop Auckland}}</ref> were notable for being [[Presbyterian Church of Wales#History|Calvinistic Methodists]].

[[File:George Whitefield (head).jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|right|George Whitefield]]
Returning from his mission in Georgia, George Whitefield joined the Wesley brothers in what was rapidly becoming a national crusade.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> 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 preacher|itinerant]] ministry, in which he was dedicated to [[open-air preaching]]{{snd}}reaching crowds of thousands.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> 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.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> 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.<ref name="BBC"/>

Faced with growing evangelistic and [[Pastoral care|pastoral]] responsibilities, Wesley and Whitefield appointed [[Laity|lay]] preachers and leaders.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> 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.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> These societies were divided into groups called ''[[Cell group|classes]]''{{snd}}intimate meetings where individuals were encouraged to confess their sins to one another and to build up each other. They also took part in [[love feast]]s which allowed for the sharing of [[testimony]], a key feature of early Methodism.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stutzman|first1=Paul Fike|title=Recovering the Love Feast: Broadening Our Eucharistic Celebrations|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1498273176|page=159|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7zjsCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA159|access-date=4 January 2017|language=en|date=January 2011}}</ref> Growth in numbers and increasing hostility impressed upon the revival converts a deep sense of their corporate identity.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> Three teachings that Methodists saw as the foundation of Christian faith were:
# People are all, by nature, "[[total depravity|dead in sin]]".
# They are [[sola fide|justified by faith alone]].
# Faith produces inward and [[outward holiness]].<ref>Wesley, John. [http://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/The-Wesleys-and-Their-Times/Short-History-of-Methodism ''The Works of the Reverend John Wesley, A. M.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401181504/https://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/The-Wesleys-and-Their-Times/Short-History-of-Methodism|date=1 April 2019}}. "A Short History of Methodism", II.1. 1831. Retrieved on 21 October 2016.</ref>

Wesley's organisational skills soon established him as the primary leader of the movement. Whitefield was a Calvinist, whereas Wesley was an outspoken opponent of the doctrine of [[predestination in Calvinism|predestination]].<ref name="CT">{{cite magazine |date= |title=John Wesley: Methodical Pietist |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/john-wesley.html |access-date=4 January 2017 |magazine=Christianity Today}}</ref> Wesley argued (against Calvinist doctrine) that Christians could enjoy a [[second blessing]]{{snd}}entire sanctification ([[Christian perfection]]) in this life: loving God and their neighbours, meekness and lowliness of heart and abstaining from all appearance of evil.<ref name="Stokes1998"/><ref>{{cite web|title=The Wesley Center Online: A Plain Account of Christian Perfection|url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/a-plain-account-of-christian-perfection/|website=wesley.nnu.edu|publisher=Northwest Nazarene University|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> These differences put strains on the alliance between Whitefield and Wesley,<ref name="CT" /> with Wesley becoming hostile toward Whitefield in what had been previously close relations. Whitefield consistently begged Wesley not to let theological differences sever their friendship, and, in time, their friendship was restored, though this was seen by many of Whitefield's followers to be a doctrinal compromise.<ref name="Dallimore. George Whitefield">Dallimore. ''George Whitefield''.</ref>

Many [[clergy]] in the established church feared that new doctrines promulgated by the Methodists, such as the necessity of a [[Born again#Methodism|new birth]] for salvation{{snd}}the first work of grace, of [[justification by faith]] and of the constant and sustained action of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] upon the believer's soul, would produce ill effects upon weak minds.<ref name="Glen">Glen, Robert (1989). "Methodism, Religious Dissent and Revolution in the English Satiric Prints, 1780–1815", ''Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, 1750–1850: Proceedings'' 19: 173–188.</ref> [[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]]".<ref name="Glen" /> Other attacks against the Methodists were physically violent{{snd}}Wesley was nearly murdered by a mob at [[Wednesbury]] in 1743.<ref>Goodwin, Charles H. (2015). "Vile or Reviled? The Causes of the anti-Methodist Riots at Wednesbury between May, 1743 and April, 1744 in the Light of New England Revivalism". ''Methodist History'' 35(1): 14–28.</ref> The Methodists responded vigorously to their critics and thrived despite the attacks against them.<ref>On anti-Methodist literary attacks see Brett C. McInelly, "Writing the Revival: The Intersections of Methodism and Literature in the Long 18th Century". ''Literature Compass'' 12.1 (2015): 12–21; McInelly, ''Textual Warfare and the Making of Methodism'' (Oxford University Press, 2014).</ref>

[[File:The First Methodist chapel called "The Foundry" - Capel Cyntaf y Methodistiaid Wesleyaidd a Adnabyddid Wrth "Y Foundry".jpeg|thumb|The first Methodist chapel, "[[The Foundery]]", London ]]
Initially, the Methodists merely sought reform within the Church of England ([[Anglicanism]]), but the movement gradually [[English Dissenters|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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prichard |first1=Robert |title=History of The Episcopal Church |edition=Third Revised |author-link=Robert Prichard}}</ref>

As Methodist societies multiplied, and elements of an [[Ecclesiastical polity|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 [[sacrament]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Christmas Gift: A New Church |publisher=The United Methodist Church of Indiana |date=2019 |url=http://archive.inumc.org/thechristmasgiftanewchurch |access-date=11 December 2019 |archive-date=11 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211194206/http://archive.inumc.org/thechristmasgiftanewchurch |url-status=dead }}</ref> Wesley's actions precipitated the split between American Methodists and the Church of England (which held that only bishops could ordain people to ministry).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mullin|first1=Robert Bruce|title=A Short World History of Christianity|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0664236649|page=170|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2nWP0_6gkiYC&pg=PA170|language=en|year=2006}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://peopleneedjesus.net/2016/08/25/the-birth-pangs-of-united-methodism-as-a-unique-global-orthodox-denomination/|first=William J.|last=Abraham|title=The Birth Pangs of United Methodism as a Unique, Global, Orthodox Denomination|date=25 August 2016|language=en|access-date=30 April 2017|author-link=William J. Abraham}}</ref> 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.<ref name="DaviesGeorge2017">{{cite book|last1=Davies|first1=Rupert E.|last2=George|first2=A. Raymond|last3=Rupp|first3=Gordon|title=A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume Three|date=2017|publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers|language=en|isbn=978-1532630507|page=225}}</ref><ref name="Gibson"/> In light of this, Methodists traditionally promote the motto "Holiness unto the Lord".<ref name="Garrison1908"/>

The influence of Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon on the Church of England was a factor in the founding of the [[Free Church of England]] in 1844. At the time of Wesley's death, there were over 500 Methodist preachers in British colonies and the United States.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> 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.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vL8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT1040 |title=The Oxford Companion to British History |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0191044816 |editor1-last=Cannon |editor1-first=John |page=1040 |language=en-uk |editor2-last=Crowcroft |editor2-first=Robert}}</ref>

Early Methodism experienced a radical and spiritual phase that allowed [[Women in Christianity|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 [[Testimony|testify]] their faith. However, the centrality of women's role sharply diminished after 1790 as Methodist churches became more structured and more male-dominated.<ref>Broyles, Kathryn A. (2008), "Mothering, Catechesis, and Ecclesial Leadership: The Women of Early Methodism and Their Call to Witness to the Gospel of Christ". ''Methodist History'' 46(3): 141–156.</ref>

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".<ref>{{cite web|title=A historical perspective on Methodist involvement in school education after Wesley|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/education-ahistoricalperspective-270312.pdf|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=6 June 2015}}</ref><ref>Pritchard, Frank Cyril (1949) ''Methodist Secondary Education: A History of the Contribution of Methodism to Secondary Education in the United Kingdom.'' Epworth.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kidd |first1=Thomas S. |title=George Whitefield: America's Spiritual Founding Father |date=2014 |isbn=978-0300181623 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |page=260 |language=en-us}}</ref> Revival services and camp meetings were used "for spreading the Methodist message", with [[Francis Asbury]] stating that they were "our harvest seasons".<ref name="Black2003"/> [[Henry Boehm]] reported that at a camp meeting in [[Dover, Delaware|Dover]] in 1805, 1100 persons received the [[Born again#Methodism|New Birth]] and 600 believers were [[Christian perfection#Wesleyan teaching|entirely sanctified]].<ref name="Black2003"/> Around the time of [[John Swanel Inskip]]'s leadership of the [[Christian Holiness Partnership|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.<ref name="Black2003">{{cite book |last1=Black |first1=Brian |title=The Holiness Heritage |date=2003 |publisher=Allegheny Publications |pages=31, 45}}</ref>