Wesleyanism - Variants: Methodist and Holiness Movements

Variants: Methodist and Holiness Movements

The Wesleyan movement began as a reform within the Church of England, and in many places, it remains as such. In some places, especially in America, the movement separated itself from its "mother church" and became known as the Methodist Episcopal Church. Many divisions occurred within the Methodist Episcopal Church in the nineteenth century, mostly over first the slavery question and later the inclusion of African-Americans. Some of these schisms healed in the early twentieth century, and many of the splinter Methodist groups came together to form The Methodist Church by 1939. In 1968, the Methodist Church joined with the Pietist Evangelical United Brethren Church to form The United Methodist Church, the largest Methodist church in America. Other groups include the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the Congregational Methodist Church, the Evangelical Church of North America, the Evangelical Congregational Church, the Evangelical Methodist Church, the Free Methodist Church of North America, and the Southern Methodist Church.

In the nineteenth century a dissension arose over the nature of sanctification. Those who saw sanctification as a never completed progressive task, remained within the Methodist churches; others, however, believed in instantaneous sanctification that could be perfected. Those who followed this line of thought began the various holiness churches, including the Church of God (Holiness), the Church of God (Anderson), the Churches of Christ in Christian Union, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church, which later merged with the Pilgrim Holiness Church to form the Wesleyan Church, which are present today. In the nineteenth century, there were many other holiness groups; many of these groups became the foundation for the Pentecostal movement. Other holiness groups that rejected the Pentecostal movement merged to form the Church of the Nazarene.

The Salvation Army is another group which traces its roots to early Methodism. The Salvation Army's founders Catherine and William Booth left after having tried to reform the Methodist church especially in the areas of evangelism and social action.