Meet John Wesley

As readers of this blog may have figured out (from this post), I am Roman Catholic. I was not born to it, however. Baptized and raised United Methodist (half my family remains in the church), I was after that (in order) atheist, agnostic, Presbyterian, too lazy to go to church, agnostic (again), Buddhist, and finally, Catholic. Mrs. Werbenmanjensen, who is Catholic like she is an oxygen breather (she can't imagine life without either), awakened me to the joy of the Original Christian Church, and while I sometimes question the judgment of the Church's leaders--to the point where I sometimes consider the Society of Friends next--I am usually happy the Church let me in.

But I always delight when during Mass we sing what I consider "Methodist" hymns because they were among the 6,500 written by Charles Wesley, brother of Methodism founder John Wesley. One thing I enjoyed most about going to our little Methodist church growing up was the singing, and even though I don't sing well (although some people ask that I sing solo--so low you can't hear it) I liked that almost everybody in the tiny congregation actually sang. (Most Catholic congregations in my experience are, at best, unenthusiastic singers.) So suffice it to say that when I learned from A Traveler's History of London the Wesleys' base of operations in London--the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Square of Methodism, if you will--had been preserved, I knew I had to pay my respects.



I suppose I should have learned about the history of the church in Sunday school, but I was probably too busy undressing the girls in my class with my eyes.

Like the original Christians and Judaism, the Wesleys did not want to break away from the Church of England, but wanted to re-energize it from within, believing it moribund and undemanding of its parishioners.

Wikipedia's entry on John Wesley notes that Methodism "was the first widely successful evangelical movement in the United Kingdom." The focus was on the formation of small groups of believers (indeed, Charles founded a prayer group at Oxford later joined by John that was referred to derisively as the "holy club" or "the Methodists," the second because of their methodical habits) and traveling preachers who spoke in open fields (because early in their evangelism the parish churches were closed to them). Wikipedia notes:

These open-air services were very successful; and (Wesley) never again hesitated to preach in any place where an assembly could be got together, more than once using his father's tombstone at Epworth as a pulpit. He continued for fifty years — entering churches when he was invited, and taking his stand in the fields, in halls, cottages, and chapels, when the churches would not receive him.

The split with the Church of England came after the American Revolution, Wikipedia says.

the Church of England cut off its American members and refused to ordain ministers for them. Wesley sent Thomas Coke to be superintendent of the Methodist people in America, but since Coke was not a bishop, this role put him at odds with the Anglican Church's principle of Episcopalian church governance. Coke and other early American Methodist leaders subsequently formed the Methodist Episcopal Church. Wesley, however, never ceased to be or to act as a priest of the Church of England and died an Anglican. He chartered the first Methodist Church on February 28, 1784.

When he died, the movement had 135,000 members and 541 ministers who called themselves Methodists.



Today, it is the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States, with 8.6 million members. There are 11 million members worldwide.