Methodism
Methodism, Methodist Movement or Wesleyan is the name usually given to a large and diverse group of Christian denominations of the of Protestantism. Historically, Methodism originated during an evangelical revival in Britain in the 18th century century and through the vigorous missionary activity that was unfurled, it spread rapidly throughout the domains of the British Empire, the United States, and beyond. Originally, laborers, poor farmers, and slaves were especially targeted. His theology is clearly Arminian with an emphasis on the fact that salvation is for everyone who accepts Christ as Savior. Its liturgy is very simple and is classified, according to the Anglican tradition, as typical of the low Church. It is estimated that around 80 million people are Methodists in the world.
Almost all Methodist denominations in the world are part of an international advisory body called the World Methodist Council, which is headquartered in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, United States of America.
The Wesleyan Revival
The so-called Methodist movement has its origins in England, when a group of Christians led by John Wesley, his younger brother Charles Wesley and George Whitefield were looking for ways to renew the Church of England in the XVIII, through a study focused on the Bible, a methodical approach to the Scriptures and the relationship and impact of these with the daily life of the believer.
The term «Methodist» emerged as a university nickname used initially with pejorative overtones to designate the small group of Oxford students who met between 1729 and 1735 for purposes of personal growth and edification in Christian life. They met weekly, fasted regularly, and abstained from almost all forms of entertainment and luxury. They also frequently visited the poor, the sick, and prisoners.
John Wesley made it clear that his motives were focused on building up and maturing in the Christian faith; and in no way was he inclined to seek the founding of a new Christian denomination, something that, against his wishes, was happening. In this regard Wesley stated:
I would like the name 'methodist' never to be mentioned again, but to be lost in eternal oblivion.
The early Methodists reacted against what they perceived as apathy in the Church of England, began preaching in the open air and establishing Methodist societies everywhere. They stood out for their enthusiastic sermons and were often accused of fanaticism. In those days, members of the established church feared that the new and powerful doctrines proposed by the Methodists, such as the need for a New Birth, salvation by grace, Justification by Faith, and the constant and sustained action of the Holy Spirit on the soul of believers to Perfect and Sanctify their lives, would produce detrimental effects on naive minds. Theophilus Evans, one of the early critics of the movement, even wrote that it was "a natural tendency of his behavior to drive people mad, by horrible voice, gesture, and expression." In one of his writings, William Hogarth also attacks the Methodists, calling them "enthusiasts"; full of "credulity, superstition and fanaticism". But the Methodists withstood the numerous attacks on their movement. (see John Wesley and George Whitefield for a much fuller discussion of early Methodism).
John Wesley was influenced by the Moravian Brethren and the Dutch theologian Jacobo Arminio, while Whitefield adopted views closer to Calvinism. Because of this, Whitefield's followers broke away becoming Calvinistic Methodists. However, most Methodist denominations have followed Wesley in regard to his Arminian theology.
Historical Notes on Methodism in All Countries
Europe
United Kingdom
British Methodism does not have bishops (in the rest of the world most Methodists do), however a report entitled: What Kind of Bishops?: Models of Episcopacy and British Methodism, was presented to the 2005 Conference and accepted for study and resolution. That report ponders whether it is time to change the tradition, and if so, what forms of episcopate might be acceptable. However, British Methodism has always been characterized as a strongly centralized organization.
The Methodist Connection, which holds an Annual Conference (note that the church has preserved from the 18th century the concept of "Connection" for many purposes), is divided and organized into Districts headed by a President (a position that can also be held by a woman). Methodist districts often correspond, in geographical terms, to dioceses of the Church of England. Districts are further subdivided into circuits, which are governed by a quarterly circuit meeting and administered by a superintendent minister. The other ministers are appointed to serve rather individual churches (although in some large city churches, known as 'Central Halls', they are appointed to also serve true circuits of smaller churches around them - the Westminster Central Hall, for example, in front of Westminster Abbey, in central London, is the best known). Many circuits have more churches than ministers, and for this reason, most services are still led by local preachers or by retired ministers, known as supernumerary ministers, a name they receive because they are not counted within the official number of circuit ministers.. The superintendent and the other ministers are assisted in the conduct and administration of the circuit by the so-called "Circuit Administrators", and all of them together: superintendent, ministers and administrators form what British Methodists know as & #34;Circuit Driving Team".
Schisms within the original Methodist Church, and independent revivals, led to the formation of numerous independent denominations that nonetheless continued to recognize themselves as Methodists. The largest of these were: The Primitive Methodists (Primitive Methodist - 1811), which arise from the revival of Mow Cop (north of Staffordshire), the Bible Christian Church (1815) and the Methodist Church United (United Methodist Church - without any relation to the American denomination of the same name) born from the union of three smaller denominations. The original church became known, for a long time, as the Wesleyan Methodist Church to distinguish it from these bodies. However, gradually, the three largest currents of British Methodism came together until concluding, in 1932, with the formation of the current Methodist Church of Great Britain (The Methodist Church of Great Britain).
In the 1960s, the British Methodist Church made ecumenical overtures to the Church of England, aiming for reconciliation of both churches, however formally These attempts failed, when they were rejected by the General Synod of the Church of England in 1972. However, talks and cooperation continued to lead, in 2003, to the signing of a covenant between the two churches. In the 1970s, the British Methodist Church joined the "Local Ecumenical Projects" (Local Ecumenical Projects or Partnerships) with both the Church of England and the United Reformed Church (Presbyterian and Congregationalist), which have allowed, until today, the possibility of sharing churches, schools and even ministers, in some cases.
Traditionally, British Methodism has proven particularly popular in Wales and Cornwall, both regions notable, to many, for their nonconformity and distrust of the Church of England.
The Methodist Council also helps support a significant number of schools, including public schools in "East Anglia", Culford School and The Leys School. This, according to Methodists, would help to promote an education of strong Christian character everywhere.
America
North America
Canada
The father of Methodism in Canada was William Black, who began preaching in the settlements along the Petitcodiac River in New Brunswick in 1781. A few years later, circuit Methodist Episcopalians from New York state began arriving to Canada, west of Niagara Falls and the north shore of Lake Erie in 1786, and to the Kingston region on the northeast shore of Lake Ontario, in the 1790s. By the time the region was part of British North America and became part of Upper Canada after the Constitution Act of 1791. Upper and Lower Canada were both part of the New York Methodist Episcopal Conference until 1810, when they were transferred to the newly formed Genesee Conference. The Major Reverend George Neal began preaching at the Niagara in October 1786, and was ordained in 1810 by Bishop Philip Asbury of the Lyons (New York) Methodist Conference. He was Canada's first saddlebag preacher, traveling from Lake Ontario to Detroit for 50 years preaching the gospel.
The spread of Methodism in both parts of Canada was seriously disrupted by the War of 1812, but it quickly gained ground lost after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1815. In 1817 British Methodists came to Canada from the Maritimes, but in 1820 they had agreed, with the Methodist Episcopalians, to limit their work to Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) while the others were limited to Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). In 1828 the Methodists of Upper Canada were allowed by the United States General Conference to form an independent Canadian Conference and, in 1833, the Canadian Conference merged with the British Methodists to form the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. The Methodist Church of Canada was an 1884 union of pioneer groups.
United States
The «First Great Awakening»[1] was a religious movement experienced in the North American colonies of the British Empire during the 1730s and 1740s. The English Methodist preacher George Whitefield (of Calvinist leanings) played a leading role in such an event, traveling the length and breadth of the colonies and preaching in a dramatic and exciting style, accepting as an audience all who would listen.
The new style of sermons and the way people began to practice their faith breathed new life into Christianity in the American colonies, many people became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, leaving aside the passive objective hearing of the intellectual discourse of the preacher. People began to study the Bible in their homes and without institutional tutelage, effectively decentralizing the way in which believers interpreted the Scriptures, thus resembling the situation to what happened centuries before in Europe during the Protestant Reformation, although this time those who Those who were reading and interpreting the Bible were not scholarly theologians, but simple people, often with little academic training.
In the midst of this diverse and vital environment, the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America was organized at the Christmas Conference of 1784, in Baltimore. Its first bishops were Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, democratically elected by the assembly. A good part of the voters were the already legendary "circuit riders" (Circuit Riders), most of them lay preachers, who traveled by horseback to evangelize and plant churches to the most remote communities of the "crossroads" North American (border area) without Methodist presence. One of the most famous "circuit riders" It was Robert Strawbridge who lived in the vicinity of Carroll County, Maryland from shortly after arriving in the Colonies, around 1760.
The "Second Great Awakening"[2] (beginning in 1820) was a wave of nationwide revivals. In New England the renewed interest in religion inspired a wave of social activism among the 'Yankees,' and Methodism grew rapidly, establishing several educational establishments along the way (notable among them is Boston University). In the "Ardentísimo district" (Burned-over district) of western New York the spirit of revival burned brightly and American and world Methodism observed the first public appearance of the "Holiness Movement" (which we will refer to a little later). In the West, especially around Cane Ridge, Kentucky, and in Tennessee, the revival especially strengthened Methodists and Baptists.
Discussions regarding slavery put the Methodist Episcopal Church in trouble during the first half of the 19th century, with Northern Methodist leaders fearful of a schism with the South, and unwilling to make a clear decision. The "Wesleyan Methodists" (later known as The Wesleyan Church) and Free Methodist Churches were formed by determined abolitionists. Free Methodists, for example, were particularly active in the Underground Railroad, which helped free runaway slaves. from the south. Finally, in a much larger schism, at Louisville (1845), the churches of the slave states left the Methodist Episcopal Church and formed the Methodist Episcopal Church South [3].
The Northern and Southern branches met later in 1939, when slavery was no longer a topic of debate. The so-called Protestant Methodist Church also participated in this merger. However, some theologically conservative and strongly segregationist (racist) Southern Methodists opposed the merger, and formed the Southern Methodist Church in 1940.
The "Third Great Awakening"[4] (1858-1908) produced an enormous growth in Methodist membership, and a proliferation of Methodist institutions (eg, Morningside College). Methodists were also often involved with the "Missionary Awakening" (Missionary Awakening) and the Social Gospel Movement. The revival, which developed in many cities beginning in 1858, was interrupted in the North by the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861-1865), but in the South, the Civil War stimulated revivals, especially in the military. of General Robert E. Lee.
Between 1914 and 1917 many Methodist pastors campaigned strongly for world peace, responding to their demands, President Woodrow Wilson (of Presbyterian confession), promised "a war to end all wars". In the 1930s, many Methodists supported the isolationist policy of the United States, thus, in 1936, Methodist Bishop James Baker, at the San Francisco Conference (California), held a vote among ministers showing that 56% opposed to the war. However, the Methodist Federation [5] had no problem calling for a boycott against Japan, which had invaded China, interrupting missionary activity in that nation. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Illinois, sixty-two African Methodist Episcopal churches voted to support the Roosevelt administration's policy against any plans to send US troops overseas to fight. When the war came in 1941, the vast majority of Methodists strongly supported the national war effort, however there were also some conscientious objectors.
The present United Methodist Church was organized in 1968 as a result of a convergence between the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church. The old church was itself the result of earlier mergers with various groups of German Methodist heritage. The combined church had approximately 9 million members by the end of the 1990s.
While the United Methodist Church in the United States at the beginning of the XXI century presents a relative decline in its membership, its Partnerships with Methodist churches and ministries in developing countries have enabled it to rapidly increase its membership from a global standpoint.
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American Methodist churches have generally organized according to the "connectional" model, very similar to the British, but not identical. Ministers (pastors) are assigned to each local church by the bishops, thus clearly distinguishing themselves from the Presbyterian model of government. Methodist denominations also tend to give significant representation to the "lay" (not ministers) in their regional and national meetings (conferences) in which church affairs are decided not infrequently by vote, thus differing greatly from a government of a clearly episcopal type. This "connectional" to organize itself also differentiates Methodists from the congregational model, typical of Baptist Churches and other churches where the government is exercised by each local congregation.
In addition to the United Methodist Church, in the United States of America there are many other denominations that descend from and identify with John Wesley's Methodist movement (more than 40). Some, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Free Methodist Church, and the Wesleyan Church, are explicitly Methodist. Others do not call themselves Methodists, but acknowledge their relationship (in varying degrees) to specifically Methodist doctrine. The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth, a former Methodist, and almost all of its doctrine is conspicuously Methodist. Other related denominations are: The Church of the Nazarene (Church of the Nazarene), some charismatic or Pentecostal churches such as those linked to Holiness Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God of the United States that also have roots or doctrines of Wesleyan thought.
In the same way, and as we pointed out earlier, the well-known Holiness Movement initially arose among Methodists who felt a gradual increase in apathy in their churches, which, according to them, were losing the "Wesleyan zeal" 3. 4;. An important antecedent of this revival were the writings of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, from New York, director of the influential newspaper "Guide to Holiness". Thus, in the mid-19th century, it was Methodists who organized the first of many "Country Holiness Services" (holiness camp meetings) in Vineland, New Jersey (1867), the founding of Asbury College (1890), and many other similar institutions in the United States well into the century XX.
Since its origins in England, Methodism emphasized social service and education, numerous originally Methodist establishments of higher learning were founded in the United States by Methodist individuals and institutions, and as of 2006 some twenty universities can be counted and "colleges" which still retain the terms "Methodist" or "Wesleyan" in their names.
In the same way, until well into the XXI century, the United Methodist Church continues to allow the coexistence of a wide range of of theological and political opinions, for example, former Republican President George W. Bush is an active member of this church, and Vice President Dick Cheney also attends it (although he is not a member), similarly, prominent Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and John Edwards also They are active members of this denomination.
South America
Brazil
Methodist pastor Junius Estaham Newman started the Methodist work in the city of Santa Bárbara do Oeste in the state of Sao Paulo. Newman financed his trip to Brazil with his modest savings.He began preaching to the colonists in 1869. On August 17, 1871 he organized the Santa Barbara Circuit. Currently the Methodist Church has eight ecclesiastical regions (financially autonomous), and two missionary regions (without financial autonomy). Each region has a male or female bishop.[citation needed]
Columbia
The first attempts to develop the Methodist Church in Colombia began in 1996, initiative of Rev. Manuel Grajales, retired priest of the United Methodist Church. In the Cali seminary, some students were interested in this Methodist movement and from there the current Colombian Methodist Church arose. The Colombian Methodist Church consecrated its first bishop in 2006. In 2009 the Colombian Methodist Church is made up of 28 churches located in different parts of the country and began the construction of a health center, located in a small indigenous community off the coast of the country.
Venezuelan
The first church established in Caracas was the El Mesias congregation founded in 1878 by a Methodist preacher and businessman. However, said congregation after 20 years ceased and the parishioners became part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church El Redentor. Today, Methodism in Venezuela is a relatively new denomination. There are two currents such as the Free Methodist Church which began in Maturín, on the other hand the United Methodist Church with a presence in Barquisimeto, Cabudare and finally, the Wesleyan Church - of a Methodist tendency - is attended by Haitian immigrants living in Catia, Caracas.
Oceania
Australia
Various branches of Methodism in Australia merged in the 20 years that followed from 1881, with all groups except lay Methodists uniting to form the Australasian Methodist Church in 1902.
In 1945, the Rev. Dr. Kingsley Ridgway volunteered himself as a Melbourne-based "field representative" for a possible Australian branch of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America, after meeting an American serviceman who was member of that denomination.
Other countries
Approximately 80 million people worldwide belong to some Methodist denomination, but in the United States of America, probably the nation with the largest historical presence of Methodists, their numbers have entered a slow but steady decline. According to prominent authors such as Kenneth Cracknell, this is due to the fact that a growing number of people are joining more and more theologically conservative churches.
Germany: There are small Methodist churches in many countries of Europe, but the strongest one is in Germany, Methodist Evangelical Church (Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche). However, their links are narrower with American methodologicalism than with the British church.
Bermuda (British territory of overseas): The Bermuda Methodist Synod separated from the Maritime Conference United Church of Canadafor not agreeing with the ordination of "active" homosexuals.
South Korea: Probably the most vigorous evangelical revival at the end of the centuryXX. started in South Korea. Certainly the most favored churches when growth has been the Calvinists (or reformed) and Pentecostals (such as the Yoido Full Gospel Church) but Methodism has also prospered a lot, and because of its historical influence, it remains very important in several Korean denominations (almost 3% of the Korean population is declared Methodist)[6].
Fiyi: A high proportion of the Polynesian population of Fiyi is a Methodist. Fiyi has the highest percentage (compared to the total population) of Methodists in the world (36.2%), see Demography of Fiyi.
Mozambique: The United Methodist Igreja is one of the largest Christian denominations in this country, closely linked to the United American Methodist Church.
Italy: In 1975, the Italian Methodist Evangelical Church joined the Valdense Evangelical Church in Italy. The union did not affect the Valdense Evangelical Church of the Rio de la Plata.
Mexico: In 1874 the Mexican Methodist Institute was founded, today Instituto Mexicano Madero, one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, the Mexican Methodist Church has a great presence in this country.
New Zealand:- Southeast Asia: British, American and Australian Missionaries founded Methodist churches in many Asian countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations (Commonwealth of Nations). These churches are now independent and many of them are stronger than the old "mother" churches. In addition to churches, these missionaries often also founded schools to serve local communities. A good example of such schools is the Methodist School of Children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the Anglo-China School, the Methodist Schools of Girls and Fairfield Methodist Schools in Singapore.
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