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- DictionaryMethodist/ˈmɛθədɪst/
noun
- 1. a member of a Christian Protestant denomination originating in the 18th-century evangelistic movement of Charles and John Wesley and George Whitefield: "it is next to impossible to swerve a determined Methodist from his inspired path"
adjective
- 1. relating to Methodists or Methodism: "a Methodist chapel"
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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. [1] George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant early leaders in the movement.
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- Origins
Methodism, 18th-century movement founded by John Wesley that sought to reform the Church of England from within. The movement, however, became separate from its parent body and developed into an autonomous church. The World Methodist Council (WMC), an association of churches in the Methodist tradition, comprises more than 40.5 million Methodists in...
John Wesley was born in 1703, educated in London and Oxford, and ordained a deacon in the Church of England in 1725. In 1726 he was elected a fellow of Lincoln College at Oxford, and in the following year he left Oxford temporarily to act as curate to his father, the rector of Epworth. Wesley was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1728 and returned to Oxford in 1729. Back in Oxford, he joined his brother Charles and a group of earnest students who were dedicated to frequent attendance at Holy Communion, serious study of the Bible, and regular visitations to the filthy Oxford prisons. The members of this group, which Wesley came to lead, were known as Methodists because of their “methodical” devotion and study.
In 1735, at the invitation of the founder of the colony of Georgia, James Edward Oglethorpe, both John and Charles Wesley set out for the colony to be pastors to the colonists and missionaries (it was hoped) to the Native Americans. Unsuccessful in their pastoral work and having done no missionary work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith. They looked for help to Peter Böhler and other members of the Church of the Brethren, who were staying in England before joining Moravian settlements in the American colonies. John Wesley noted in his Journal that at a Moravian service on May 24, 1738, he “felt” his “heart strangely warmed”; he continued, “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.
Some months later, George Whitefield, also an Anglican clergyman who had undergone a “conversion experience,” invited his friend John Wesley to come to the city of Bristol to preach to the colliers of Kingswood Chase, who lived and worked in the most debased conditions. Wesley accepted the invitation and found himself, much against his will, preaching in the open air. This enterprise was the beginning of the Methodist Revival. Whitefield and Wesley at first worked together but later separated over Whitefield’s belief in double predestination (the belief that God has determined from eternity whom he will save and whom he will damn). Wesley regarded this as an erroneous doctrine and insisted that the love of God was universal.
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Under the leadership of Whitefield and then of Wesley, the movement grew rapidly among those who felt neglected by the Church of England. Wesley differed from contemporary Anglicans not in doctrine but in emphasis: he claimed to have reinstated the biblical doctrines that human beings may be assured of their salvation and that the power of the Holy Spirit enables them to attain perfect love for God and their fellows in this life. Wesley’s helpers included only a few ordained clergymen and his brother Charles, who wrote more than 6,000 hymns to express the message of the revival. In spite of Wesley’s wish that the Methodist Society would never leave the Church of England, relations with Anglicans were often strained.
Sep 9, 2024 · Methodism is a Protestant denomination that originated from the Church of England in the 18th century. Learn about its founder John Wesley, its key doctrines, its musical tradition, its growth and its social holiness.
Methodist definition: 1. a member of a Christian group that follows the teachings of John Wesley: 2. relating to or…. Learn more.
1. : a person devoted to or laying great stress on method. 2. capitalized : a member of one of the denominations deriving from the Wesleyan revival in the Church of England, having Arminian doctrine and in the U.S. modified episcopal polity, and stressing personal and social morality. methodist adjective often capitalized. methodistic.
What is Methodism? Methodism is a movement that implies the spiritual renewal of the Church that arose in the face of corruption and the decomposition of the society of the time, it was a team effort to visit and preach in Methodist societies.
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Methodism definition: 1. the beliefs and activities of a Christian group that follows the teachings of John Wesley 2. the…. Learn more.
