# Methodism The Protestant denominational tradition originating in the 18th-century revival movement led by John and Charles Wesley within the Church of England — distinguished theologically by Arminian soteriology (rejecting predestination in favor of God's prevenient grace and human free response), the doctrine of Christian perfection or "entire sanctification" (the possibility of being made perfect in love in this life), an emphasis on personal religious experience alongside disciplined religious practice, and a structurally connectional ecclesiology with itinerant ministry. Methodism became one of the largest Protestant families through aggressive 18th–19th-century missionary expansion, particularly in the United States where it was the largest American Protestant denomination through much of the 19th century. With roughly 80 million adherents globally, Methodism today is institutionally divided across the mainline United Methodist Church (politically progressive), the 2022 conservative breakaway Global Methodist Church, the historically Black AME / AME Zion / CME denominations, the Wesleyan / Free Methodist / Nazarene Holiness movement traditions, and numerous Methodist bodies globally. Its US right-wing political footprint is moderate but distinctive — most visible in the 2022 Global Methodist Church split that produced the largest 21st-century US Protestant denominational rupture to date. ## Founding and origins Methodism began as a religious-revival movement within the 18th-century Church of England, led by John Wesley (1703–1791), an Anglican priest, and his brother Charles Wesley (1707–1788), the prolific hymn writer. The Wesleys' Holy Club at Oxford (1729–) — a disciplined religious-formation group — gave the movement its name; "Methodists" was originally a derisive label for the group's methodical religious practices. John Wesley's **Aldersgate experience** (May 24, 1738) — at a Moravian meeting in London, hearing Luther's preface to Romans read aloud, Wesley experienced what he described as his heart "strangely warmed" with assurance of salvation. This conversion experience became foundational for Methodist emphasis on personal experiential religion alongside Anglican sacramental and liturgical inheritance. The Wesleys and George Whitefield (1714–1770, a Calvinist Methodist who became a major itinerant evangelist) led open-air preaching throughout England in the 1730s–1740s. Methodist societies, classes, and bands developed an extensive small-group infrastructure for religious formation alongside the parish life of the Church of England. John Wesley insisted throughout his life that Methodism was a renewal movement within Anglicanism, not a separate denomination — though the practical realities of revival, lay preaching, and Methodist expansion gradually produced denominational separation, especially after Wesley's death in 1791. **Methodism in the American colonies and early Republic.** Methodism arrived in the American colonies in the 1760s. Wesley appointed Francis Asbury (1745–1816) and Thomas Coke (1747–1814) to lead American Methodist work; the 1784 Christmas Conference in Baltimore formally organized the Methodist Episcopal Church as autonomous American denomination. The American Methodist circuit-rider system — itinerant preachers covering large geographic circuits — drove dramatic 19th-century growth. By 1820 the Methodist Episcopal Church was the largest Protestant denomination in the United States; it remained the largest through much of the 19th century. **19th-century divisions.** The slavery question divided Methodism in 1844, producing the Methodist Episcopal Church South (alongside the original Methodist Episcopal Church). Northern and Southern Methodism reunited in 1939, forming the Methodist Church; the 1968 merger with the Evangelical United Brethren Church produced the United Methodist Church. The Black Methodist denominations emerged in the 19th century in response to racial discrimination within white Methodist institutions: **African Methodist Episcopal Church** (AME, founded 1816 by Richard Allen in Philadelphia), **African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church** (AMEZ, founded 1821), **Christian Methodist Episcopal Church** (CME, founded 1870 from the Methodist Episcopal Church South after the [[American Civil War]]). **The Holiness Movement.** 19th-century revivals within Methodism emphasized "entire sanctification" — the Wesleyan doctrine that Christians could be made perfect in love in this life. The Holiness Movement produced new denominations including the **Church of the Nazarene** (1908), the **Free Methodist Church** (1860), the **Wesleyan Church** (1968 merger of Wesleyan Methodist and Pilgrim Holiness), the **Christian and Missionary Alliance**, and many others. Some Holiness traditions further developed into early Pentecostalism in the early 20th century. **The 21st-century United Methodist split.** Internal disputes over same-sex marriage and ordination of openly LGBTQ persons reached crisis in the United Methodist Church through the 2010s and 2020s. The 2019 Special General Conference's "Traditional Plan" attempting to enforce traditional teaching collapsed in implementation. The 2022 General Conference formally provided exit pathways for traditionalist congregations; over 7,500 US United Methodist congregations have left UMC for the **Global Methodist Church** (formed May 2022). The split is the largest 21st-century US Protestant denominational rupture. ## Core beliefs and distinctives **Wesleyan theological distinctives.** Within the broader Protestant framework, Methodism distinctively holds: - **Arminian soteriology** — Christ's atonement is potentially universal in scope; salvation is by faith but requires human cooperative response under God's prevenient grace; rejects Reformed predestination - **Prevenient grace** — God's grace working in every person prior to and enabling their response to the gospel; resolves the question of how Arminian human freedom is consistent with Reformed sovereignty-of-grace concerns - **Christian perfection / entire sanctification** — the doctrine that Christians can, by God's grace, be made perfect in love in this life; sometimes called the "second blessing" or "second work of grace." Distinctive Methodist contribution to Protestant theology; foundational for the broader Holiness Movement and (with significant modifications) early Pentecostalism. - **Wesleyan quadrilateral** — Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience as theological sources, with scripture as primary; articulated by Albert Outler in the 20th century as systematic summary of John Wesley's methodology - **Connectional ecclesiology** — Methodist churches are connected in a denominational structure governing ministry appointments, doctrinal standards, and ecclesial discipline; this is structurally different from the congregational autonomy of Baptists, the presbyterian polity of Reformed, or the diocesan polity of Anglicans - **Itinerant ministry** — historically (and still in some Methodist bodies), pastors are appointed to congregations by denominational authority rather than called by congregations; pastors typically rotate through multiple appointments over a career - **Episcopal polity** — most Methodist bodies are governed by bishops; Free Methodist, Wesleyan, and some Holiness bodies have modified episcopal or presbyterial polity - **Sacramental theology** — two sacraments (Baptism and the Lord's Supper); paedobaptism (infant baptism) practiced; the Eucharist understood as means of grace with real spiritual presence (broadly Anglican Reformed-eucharistic position) - **Hymnody as theology** — Charles Wesley's hymns (some 6,500+ compositions) constitute a substantial component of Methodist theological-devotional formation; "Lex orandi, lex credendi" in distinctive Methodist key **Social holiness.** John Wesley's tradition holds that personal piety and social engagement are inseparable. Wesley himself opposed slavery, advocated prison reform and education for the poor, and integrated social-justice engagement with personal religious formation. The Methodist tradition has produced both a Social Gospel mainline-Methodist heritage and (in the 20th century) the Holiness tradition's emphasis on personal sanctification. ## Major internal divisions The Methodist family is institutionally complex. Major US Methodist bodies: - **United Methodist Church (UMC)** — ~6.0 million members in the US (rapidly declining due to the GMC split); ~12 million globally including African and Filipino UMC populations; mainline-Protestant in orientation, politically progressive-leaning - **Global Methodist Church (GMC)** — formed May 2022 as conservative breakaway from UMC over sexuality and biblical-authority disputes; ~7,000+ congregations have joined; in formation as denomination; theologically traditional, politically conservative - **African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)** — ~2.5 million members; the largest historically-Black Methodist body; politically progressive - **African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ)** — ~1.4 million members; second-largest Black Methodist body - **Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME)** — ~650K members; third-largest Black Methodist body - **Church of the Nazarene** — ~625K US members, ~2.6 million globally; Holiness Movement Methodist body - **Wesleyan Church** — ~135K US members; Holiness Movement - **Free Methodist Church** — ~70K US members; Holiness Movement - **Salvation Army** — operating both as denomination and as social-service organization; ~1.5 million members globally, Methodist-Holiness theological heritage - **Smaller Methodist bodies** — Primitive Methodist, Bible Methodist, Allegheny Wesleyan, and others **Theological tendencies within Methodism:** - **Liberal-mainline Methodist** — UMC mainstream, AME mainstream - **Conservative-evangelical Methodist** — GMC, conservative wing of remaining UMC, evangelical-Wesleyan - **Holiness Methodist** — Nazarene, Wesleyan, Free Methodist, Salvation Army traditions - **Pentecostal-Methodist crossover** — many Pentecostal denominations have substantial Wesleyan-Holiness roots; the Church of God (Cleveland, TN), the Church of God of Prophecy, and others are Methodist-Holiness-Pentecostal hybrids ## Demographic footprint **Global:** ~80 million Methodists. Major Methodist populations: the United States (~13 million across all Methodist bodies — the global center of historic Methodism), African UMC and AME populations (substantial growth in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Côte d'Ivoire, the Congo, and many other African countries), Korean Methodist Church (~1.5 million), the United Kingdom (declining but historically central), Brazil, the Philippines, the Caribbean. **United States:** ~4% of US adults across all Methodist bodies — roughly 13 million Methodists. UMC has been losing ~150K members annually; the GMC split has accelerated UMC decline. The Black Methodist denominations (AME, AMEZ, CME) maintain stable membership patterns. Holiness Methodist denominations (Nazarene, Wesleyan, Free Methodist) have small but stable membership. ## Right-wing politics tributaries Methodism's US right-wing political footprint is moderate. Major channels: **Global Methodist Church and the conservative-mainline rupture.** The 2022 formation of the Global Methodist Church marked the largest 21st-century US Protestant denominational realignment — over 7,500 traditionalist UMC congregations leaving the parent denomination. GMC represents conservative-evangelical Methodism's recovery of an institutional voice independent of the progressive UMC mainline. The GMC is too new to have settled political-cultural identity but is positioned to become a significant US religious-conservative voice through its institutional infrastructure (Asbury Theological Seminary affiliations, Spring Arbor and other Wesleyan-Methodist institutions). **Asbury Theological Seminary and Wesleyan evangelical infrastructure.** Asbury Theological Seminary (Wilmore, Kentucky) is the major institutional center of conservative-evangelical Methodist intellectual life. The broader Wesleyan-evangelical theological tradition (Thomas Oden, Ben Witherington III, Steve Seamands, and many others) produces substantial theological and pastoral leadership for the broader US evangelical world. **Asbury Revival (February 2023).** The "Asbury Revival" at Asbury University in February 2023 — a sustained spontaneous-revival event that drew tens of thousands of visitors over two weeks — became a major touchpoint in contemporary US evangelical religious-political discourse. Methodist-Holiness theological-experiential infrastructure shaped the event. **Holiness denominations as conservative-evangelical voices.** Church of the Nazarene, Wesleyan Church, Free Methodist Church — politically conservative Holiness Methodist denominations — constitute substantial but quiet conservative-evangelical voices in US religious-political life. Less politically organized as bloc than SBC or megachurch evangelicalism but with substantial institutional presence. **Mike Pence's Methodist-evangelical formation.** [[Mike Pence]] (vice president 2017–2021) was raised Catholic and converted to evangelical Christianity in college, identifying as "a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order." His specific evangelical identity has been variously described as Methodist-tradition-evangelical (he attended Grace Evangelical Church and is broadly evangelical without strict denominational identification). The Pence example illustrates the broader pattern of evangelical political-religious identity that draws on Methodist-Wesleyan theological resources without strict denominational commitment. **Black Methodist political voice — left-progressive.** The AME, AMEZ, and CME traditions have been institutional homes of progressive Black political organizing parallel to the Black Baptist churches' role. The historic civil rights movement integrated Black Methodist and Black Baptist institutional infrastructure substantially. **United Methodist post-split trajectory.** The post-2022 UMC continues to engage progressive religious-political organizing through reduced but still substantial membership. The UMC's institutional infrastructure (Methodist hospitals, Methodist universities including Boston University, SMU, Duke, Emory; the various Methodist publishing houses and social-service agencies) constitutes a substantial progressive Protestant institutional presence even as denominational membership declines. **Wesleyan-Methodist resources for evangelical-political thought.** John Wesley's political-theological writings, Wesleyan emphasis on social holiness, and the broader Methodist tradition supply ongoing intellectual resources for evangelical-political thought that draws on Methodist traditions across denominational lines. ## Connections - [[Christianity]] — parent religious tradition - [[Protestantism]] — broader denominational umbrella - [[Anglicanism]] — the religious tradition from which Methodism emerged as renewal movement; John Wesley remained Anglican throughout his life ## See also - [[Protestantism]] — the umbrella tradition - [[Reformed Christianity]] · [[Lutheranism]] · [[Anglicanism]] · [[Baptist Christianity]] · [[Pentecostalism]] · [[Anabaptism]] — sibling Protestant traditions - [[Pentecostalism]] — emerged in part from the Methodist-Holiness tradition; early 20th-century Pentecostal denominations have substantial Wesleyan-Holiness theological roots