Methodist Church of Great Britain - History

History

Methodism arose as a revival movement in the 18th century, largely within the Church of England.

The main Methodist movement outside the Church of England was associated with Howell Harris in Wales. This was to become The Calvinistic Methodist Church. Another branch of the Methodist revival was under the ministry of Rev. George Whitfield, resulting in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. A later development of Whitfield's ministry was the Free Church of England, a result of Whitfield's influence upon the Church of England.

The largest branch of Methodism in England was organised by a Church of England clergyman, John Wesley. It is a tribute to his charisma and powers of oratory that "Methodism" is commonly assumed to be Wesleyan Methodism unless otherwise stated. The main subject of this article is the current form of Wesleyan Methodism. As Wesley and his colleagues preached around the country they formed local societies, that were given national organisation through Wesley's leadership and conferences of preachers. Wesley insisted that Methodists regularly attend their local parish church as well as Methodist meetings. In 1784 Wesley made provision for the governance of Methodism after his death through the 'Yearly Conference of the People called Methodists'. He nominated 100 people and declared them to be its members and laid down the method by which their successors were to be appointed. The Annual Conference has remained the governing body of Methodism ever since, with various modifications implemented to increase the number of preachers present, to include lay members (1878) and later women (1911).

Although Wesley declared, "I live and die a member of the Church of England", the impact of the movement, especially after Wesley's clandestine ordinations in 1784, made separation from the Church of England virtually inevitable. The estrangement between the Church of England and the Wesleyan Methodists was entrenched by the decision of the Annual Conference of 1795 to permit the administration of the Lord's Supper in any chapel where both a majority of the trustees and a majority of the stewards and leaders allowed it. This permission was extended to the administration of baptism, burial and timing of chapel services, bringing Methodist chapels into competition with the local parish church. Consequently, known Methodists were often excluded from the full life of the Church of England accelerating the trend for Methodism to become entirely separate from the Established Church.

For half a century after John Wesley's death in 1791, the Methodist movement was characterised by a series of divisions, normally on matters of church government (e.g. Methodist New Connexion) and separate revivals (e.g. Primitive Methodism in Staffordshire, 1811, and the Bible Christian Movement in south-west England, 1815). The second half of the nineteenth century saw many of the small schisms reunited to become the United Methodist Free Churches and a further union in 1907 with the Methodist New Connexion and Bible Christian Church brought the United Methodist Church into being. Finally the Methodist Union of 1932 the three main Methodist groups in Britain, the Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists and United Methodist Church came together to form the present Methodist Church. Some off-shoots of Methodism, such as the Salvation Army, remain totally separate organisations.