Methodist Church of Great Britain

The Methodist Church of Great Britain, or simply the Methodist Church,<!--Simply "Methodist Church", according to law--> is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council. Methodism traces its origins to the evangelical revival led by John Wesley in the 18th-century, and his teachings continue to play a significant role in shaping the church's doctrine and practice.

John Wesley, an Anglican priest, adopted unconventional and controversial practices, such as open-air preaching, to reach factory labourers and newly urbanised masses uprooted from their traditional village culture at the start of the Industrial Revolution. His preaching centred upon the universality of God's grace for all, the transforming effect of faith on character, and the possibility of perfection in love during this life. He organised the new converts locally and in a "Connexion" across Britain. Following Wesley's death in 1791, the Methodist revival became a separate church and ordained its own ministers; it was called a Nonconformist church because it did not conform to the rules of the established Church of England. In the 19th century, the Wesleyan Methodist Church experienced many revivals and secessions, with the largest of the offshoots being the Primitive Methodists. The main streams of Methodism were reunited in 1932, forming the Methodist Church as it is today.

Methodist circuits, containing several local churches, are grouped into 23 districts. The supreme governing body of the church is the annual Methodist Conference; it is headed by the president of Conference, a presbyteral minister, supported by a vice-president who may be a layperson or deacon. The denomination ordains women and openly LGBT ministers.

The Methodist Church is Wesleyan in its theology; it uses the historic creeds and bases its doctrinal standards on Wesley's Notes on the New Testament and his Forty-four Sermons. , active membership stood at approximately 137,000, Methodism is the fourth-largest Christian group in Britain. Around 202,000 people attend a Methodist church service each week, while 490,000 to 500,000 take part in some other form of Methodist activity, such as youth work and community events organised by local churches. John Wesley would later reclaim the term Methodist when referring to the methodical pursuit of scriptural holiness. being methodical and exceptionally detailed in their Bible study, opinions and disciplined lifestyle.

The first Methodist movement outside the Church of England was associated with Howell Harris (1714–1773), who launched the Welsh Methodist revival in the 1730s. This was to become the Calvinistic Methodist Church (today known as the Presbyterian Church of Wales).

thumb|left|alt=A bronze statue of John Wesley dressed in robes and preaching bands in the foreground, with a Georgian chapel in the background|[[Wesley's Chapel was established by John Wesley in 1778 to serve as his London base. Today it incorporates a museum of Methodism in its crypt.]]

The largest branch of Methodism in England was organised by John Wesley. In May 1738 he claimed to have experienced a profound discovery of God in his heart, a pivotal event that has come to be called his evangelical conversion. From 1739, Wesley took to open-air preaching, and converted people to his movement. He formed small classes in which his followers would receive religious guidance and intensive accountability in their personal lives. Wesley also appointed itinerant evangelists to travel and preach as he did and to care for these groups of people. It is a tribute to Wesley's powers of oratory and organisational skills that the term Methodism is today assumed to mean Wesleyan Methodism unless otherwise specified. Theologically, Wesley held to the Arminian belief that salvation is available to all people, in opposition to the Calvinist ideas of election and predestination that were accepted by the Calvinistic Methodists. During Wesley's lifetime, many members of England's established church feared that new doctrines promulgated by the Methodists, such as the necessity of a new birth for salvation, and of the constant and sustained action of the Holy Spirit upon the believer's soul, would produce ill effects upon weak minds. Theophilus Evans, an early critic of the movement, even wrote that it was "the natural Tendency of their Behaviour, in Voice and Gesture and horrid Expressions, to make People mad." In one of his prints, William Hogarth likewise attacked Methodists as enthusiasts full of "Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism". Other attacks against the Methodists were physically violent—Wesley was nearly murdered by a mob at Wednesbury in 1743. The Methodists responded vigorously to their critics and thrived despite the attacks against them.

thumb|alt=Engraving of Wesley standing on a plinth and preaching to a crowd.|John Wesley preaching outside a church (19th-century engraving). Early Methodists were forbidden from preaching in parish churches.

As Wesley and his assistants preached around the country they formed local societies, authorised and organised 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 continuance as a corporate body after his death of 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 Conference has remained the governing body of Methodism ever since. Wesley's actions precipitated the split between American Methodists and the Church of England (which holds that only bishops can ordain persons to ministry).

With regard to the position of Methodism within Christendom, "John Wesley once noted that what God had achieved in the development of Methodism was no mere human endeavor but the work of God. As such it would be preserved by God so long as history remained." Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, Wesley specifically taught that the propagation of the doctrine of entire sanctification was the reason that God raised up the Methodists in the world (see ).

British Methodism separated from the Church of England soon after the death of Wesley. There were early contentions over the powers of preachers and the Conference, and the timing of chapel services. At this point in time a majority of Methodist members were not attending Anglican church services. (These services often used Wesley's abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer. Their growth was rapid, from 58,000 in 1790 to 302,000 in 1830 and 518,000 in 1850. Those were the official members, but the national census of 1851 counted people with an informal connection to Methodism, and the total was 1,463,000. In the later 19th century a programme of church building by the established church, in competition with the Nonconformists, increased the number of church-attending Anglicans. This reduced the opportunities for the Nonconformists in general and the Methodists in particular to keep growing. Membership reached 602,000 in 1870 and peaked at 841,000 in 1910.

Early Methodism was particularly prominent in Devon and Cornwall, which were key centres of activity by the Bible Christian faction. The Bible Christians produced many preachers, and sent many missionaries to Australia. Methodism as a whole grew rapidly in the old mill towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire, where the preachers stressed that the working classes were equal to the upper classes in the eyes of God. In Wales, three elements separately welcomed Methodism: Welsh-speaking, English-speaking, and Calvinistic.

The independent Methodist movement did not appeal to England's landed gentry; they favoured the developing evangelical movement inside the Church of England. However, Methodism became popular among ambitious middle class families. For example, the Osborn family of Sheffield, whose steel company emerged in the mid-19th century in Sheffield's period of rapid industrialisation. Historian Clyde Binfield says their fervent Methodist faith strengthened their commitment to economic independence, spiritual certainty and civic responsibility. against itinerant preaching; but "they found it more difficult to absorb the class tensions of early industrial England". Some Methodists engaged with radical causes; others rose to leadership in mining and agricultural trade unions. Methodists took a stance in political and moral debates, including support for abolitionism. However, most adopted a stance of political quietism, avoiding involvement and heeding their leaders' injunctions to steer clear of political reformers. In explaining why Britain did not undergo a social revolution in the period 1790–1832, a time that appeared ripe for violent social upheaval, Halévy argued that Methodism forestalled revolution among the working class by redirecting its energies toward spiritual affairs rather than workplace concerns. Thompson argues that overall it had a politically regressive effect.

Leadership

thumb|right|upright=0.8|Jabez Bunting,

John Wesley was the longtime president of the Methodist Conference, but after his death, it was agreed that, in the future, so much authority would not be placed in the hands of one man. Instead, the Conference would elect a president to serve for one year, to sit in Wesley's chair. Wesley himself and the senior leadership were political conservatives. Although many trade union leaders were attracted to Methodism—the Tolpuddle Martyrs being an early example—the church itself did not actively support the unions. Historians Patrick K. O'Brien and Roland Quinault argue:

<blockquote>John Wesley's own Tory sympathies and autocratic instincts had been strong and genuine, and as far as possible he had instilled into his followers deference toward established social and religious authorities. He emphasised political quietism. His mission he saw as strictly spiritual, and his own inherently conservative political instincts and social values reinforced a pragmatic concern to give as little offense as possible to a suspicious wider society. These same motives influenced the ministerial oligarchy...."Methodism" said Jabez Bunting...hates democracy as it hates sin."</blockquote>

Jabez Bunting (1779–1858) was the most prominent leader of the Wesleyan Methodist movement after Wesley's death. He preached successful revivals until 1802, when he saw revivals leading to dissension and division. He then became dedicated to church order and discipline, and vehemently opposed revivalism. He was a popular preacher in numerous cities. He was four times chosen to be president of the Conference and held numerous senior positions as administrator and watched budgets very closely. Bunting and his allies centralised power by making the Conference the final arbiter of Methodism, and giving it the power to reassign preachers and select superintendents. He was zealous in the cause of foreign missions. In English politics he was conservative. He had little tolerance for liberal elements or for Sunday schools and temperance crusades, which led to expulsion of his opponents, whereupon a third of the members broke away in 1849. Numerous alliances with other groups failed and weakened his control.

William Bramwell (1759–1818) was a preacher who engendered controversy due to his intense revivalist preaching style, which spurred awakenings throughout the north of England—including the 1793–97 Yorkshire Revival—and his association with Alexander Kilham (1762–1798). Kilham was a revivalist who led the New Connexion secession from mainstream Wesleyan ministry.

thumb|upright=0.8|Hugh Price Hughes, editor and orator, encouraged Methodists to support the more moralistic [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party.]]

Hugh Price Hughes (1847–1902) was the first superintendent of the West London Methodist Mission, a key Methodist organisation. Recognised as one of the greatest orators of his era, he also founded and edited an influential newspaper, the Methodist Times in 1885. Hughes played a key role in leading Methodists into the Liberal Party coalition, away from the Conservative leanings of previous Methodist leaders.

John Scott Lidgett (1854–1953) achieved prominence both as a theologian and reformer by stressing the importance of the church's engagement with the whole of society and human culture. He promoted the Social Gospel and founded the Bermondsey Settlement to reach the poor of London, as well as the Wesley Guild, a social organisation aimed at young people which reached 150,000 members by 1900.

Women

Early Methodism experienced a radical and spiritual phase that allowed women authority in church leadership. In 1771, Mary Bosanquet (1739–1815) wrote to John Wesley to defend hers and Sarah Crosby's work preaching and leading classes at her orphanage, Cross Hall. Her argument was that women should be able to preach when they experienced an "extraordinary call". Wesley accepted Bosanquet's argument, and formally began to allow women to preach in Methodism in 1771. However the centrality of women's role sharply diminished after 1790 as the Methodist movement became more structured and more male dominated. She financed the building of 64 chapels in England and Wales, wrote often to George Whitefield and John Wesley, and funded mission work in colonial America. She is best remembered for her adversarial relationships with other Methodists who objected to a woman having power.

Youth and education

Methodists placed a high priority on close guidance of their youth, as seen in the activities of Sunday schools and the Band of Hope (whose members signed a pledge to "abstain from all intoxicating liquors").]]

Wesley himself opened schools at The Foundery in London, and Kingswood School. A Wesleyan report in 1832 said that for the church to prosper the system of Sunday schools should be augmented by day-schools with educated teachers. It was proposed in 1843 that 700 new day-schools be established within seven years. Though a steady increase was achieved, that ambitious target could not be reached, in part limited by the number of suitably qualified teachers. Most teachers came from one institution in Glasgow. The Wesleyan Education Report for 1844 called for a permanent Wesleyan teacher-training college. The result was the foundation of Westminster Training College at Horseferry Road, Westminster in 1851.

19th-century England lacked a state school system; the major supplier was the Church of England. The Wesleyan Education Committee, which existed from 1838 to 1902, has documented Methodism's involvement in the education of children. At first most effort was placed in creating Sunday schools. In 1837 there were 3,339 Sunday schools with 59,297 teachers and 341,443 pupils. In 1836 the Wesleyan Methodist Conference gave its blessing to the creation of 'Weekday schools'. In 1902 the Methodists operated 738 schools, so their children would not have to learn from Anglican teachers. The Methodists, along with other Nonconformists, bitterly opposed the Education Act 1902, which funded Church of England schools and funded Methodists schools too but placed them under local education authorities that were usually controlled by Anglicans. In the 20th century the number of Methodist Church-operated schools declined, as many became state-run schools, with only 28 still operating in 1996.

Colonial missions

Through vigorous missionary work, Methodism spread throughout the British Empire. It was especially successful in the new United States, thanks to the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. English emigrants brought Methodism to Canada and Australia. British and American missionaries reached out to India and some other imperial colonies. In general the conversion efforts were only modestly successful, but reports back to Britain did have an influence in shaping how Methodists understood the wider world.

Nonconformist conscience

Historians group Methodists together with other Protestant groups as "Nonconformists" or "Dissenters", standing in opposition to the established Church of England. In the 19th century the Dissenters who went to chapel comprised half the people who actually attended services on Sunday. The "Nonconformist conscience" was their moral sensibility which they tried to implement in British politics. The two categories of Dissenters, or Nonconformists, were in addition to the evangelicals or "Low Church" element in the Church of England. "Old Dissenters", dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, included Baptists, Congregationalists, Quakers, Unitarians, and Presbyterians outside Scotland. "New Dissenters" emerged in the 18th century and were mainly Methodists, especially the Wesleyan Methodists. They joined on new issues especially supporting temperance and opposing the Education Act 1902, with the former of special interest to Methodists. By 1914 the conscience was weakening and by the 1920s it was virtually dead politically.

Architecture

thumb|upright|The octagonal Methodist chapel in [[Heptonstall, is one of the oldest in England.]]

In the early days of Methodism chapels were sometimes built octagonal, largely to avoid conflict with the established Church of England. The first was in Norwich (1757); it was followed by Rotherham (1761), Whitby (1762), Yarm (1763), Heptonstall (1764) and nine others. John Wesley personally approved the design of the octagonal chapels, stating, "It is better for the voice and on many accounts more commodious than any other." He is also said to have added—"there are no corners for the devil to hide in".

Methodist Heritage records the Yarm chapel as the oldest in England in continual use as a place of Methodist worship. Its design and construction were overseen by Wesley, who preached at the chapel frequently and declared it as his "favourite". The building featured in the BBC television series Churches: How to Read Them. Presenter Richard Taylor named it as one of his ten favourite churches, saying: "If buildings have an aura, this one radiated friendship."

Primitive Methodism

The Wesleyan Methodists' rejection of revivals and camp meetings led to the founding in 1820 of the Primitive Methodist Connexion in England and Scotland, which emphasised those practices. It was a democratic, lay-oriented movement. Its social base was among the poorer members of society; they appreciated both its content (damnation, salvation, sinners and saints) and style (direct, spontaneous, and passionate). It offered an alternative to the more middle class Wesleyan Methodists and the upper class controlled Anglican established church, and in turn sometimes led adherents to Pentecostalism. The Primitive Methodists were poorly funded and had trouble building chapels or schools and supporting ministers. Growth was strong in the middle 19th century. Membership declined after 1900 because of growing secularism in society, a resurgence of Anglicanism among the working classes, competition from other Nonconformist denominations (including former Methodist minister William Booth's Salvation Army), and competition among different Methodist branches.

The leading theologian of the Primitive Methodists was Arthur Peake (1865–1929), professor of biblical criticism at the University of Manchester, 1904–29. He was active in numerous leadership roles and promoted Methodist Union that came about in 1932 after his death. He popularised modern biblical scholarship, including the new higher criticism. He approached the Bible not as the infallible word of God, but as the record of revelation written by fallible humans.

1900 to present

Reunification

The second half of the 19th 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. In 1908 the major three branches were the Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodists, and the United Methodists. Membership of the various Methodist branches peaked at 841,000 in 1910, then fell steadily to 425,000 in 1990. There were fewer famous preachers or outstanding leaders. The theological change that emphasised the conversion experience as being a one-time lifetime event rather than as a step on the road to perfection lessened the importance of class-meeting attendance and made revivals less meaningful. The growth mechanisms that had worked so well in the expansion phase in the early 19th century were largely discarded, including revivals and the personal appeal in class meetings, as well as the love feast, the Sunday night prayer meeting, and the open-air meeting. The failure to grow was signalled by the flagging experience of the Sunday schools, whose enrolments fell steadily.

thumb|The Methodist Hymn-Book (a 1st edition, pictured) was printed in 1933 to commemorate the union of the three major Methodist branches.

With the Methodist Union of 1932 the three main Methodist connexions in Britain—the Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and United Methodists—came together to form the present Methodist Church. Some offshoots of Methodism, such as the Independent Methodist Connexion, remain totally separate organisations.

Attempts to reverse the decline

After the union of 1932 many towns and villages were left with rival Methodist churches and circuits that were slow to amalgamate. Methodist historian Reginald Ward states that because unification was unevenly implemented until the 1950s, it distracted attention away from the urgent need to revive the fast-shrinking movement. The hoped-for financial gains proved to be illusory, and Methodist leaders spent the early post-war era vainly trying to achieve union with the Church of England. Multiple approaches were used to turn around the membership decline and flagging zeal in the post-war era, but none worked well. For example, Methodist group tours were organised, but they ended when it was clear they made little impact.

During the 20th century Methodists increasingly embraced Christian socialist ideas. Donald Soper (1903–1998) was perhaps the most widely recognised Methodist leader. An activist, he promoted pacifism and nuclear disarmament in cooperation with the Labour Party. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a moralistic Methodist; Soper denounced her policies as unchristian. However, in "the battle for Britain's soul" she was reelected over and over. Methodist historian Martin Wellings says of Soper:

<blockquote>His combination of modernist theology, high sacramentalism, and Socialist politics, expressed with insouciant wit and unapologetic élan, thrilled audiences, delighted admirers, and reduced opponents to apoplectic fury.</blockquote>

Scholars have suggested multiple possible reasons for the decline, but have not agreed on their relative importance. Wellings lays out the "classical model" of secularization, while noting that it has been challenged by some scholars.

<blockquote>The familiar starting-point, a classical model of secularization, argues that religious faith becomes less plausible and religious practice more difficult in advanced industrial and urbanized societies. The breakdown or disruption of traditional communities and norms of behavior; the spread of a scientific world-view diminishing the scope of the supernatural and the role of God; increasing material affluence promoting self-reliance and this-worldly optimism; and greater awareness and toleration of different creeds and ideas, encouraging religious pluralism and eviscerating commitment to a particular faith, all form components of the case for secularization. Applied to the British churches in general by Steve Bruce and to Methodism in particular by Robert Currie, this model traces decline back to the Victorian era and charts in the twentieth century a steady ebbing of the sea of faith.</blockquote>

Over the ten-year period from 2006 to 2016 membership decreased from 262,972 to 188,398. This represents a decline at a rate of 3.5 per cent year-on-year. There were 4,512 local churches in the denomination. Over the following three years to 2019 the rate of decline slowed slightly, as membership reduced to under 170,000, and church numbers to 4,110. Listening to the reading of Scripture and a sermon based upon the biblical text is virtually always included in Methodist worship. Similar to most historic Christian churches, the Methodist Church has official liturgies for services such as Holy Communion (the Lord's Supper), Baptism, Ordination, and Marriage. These and other patterns of worship are contained in the Methodist Worship Book, the most recent Methodist service book. It states in its preface that worship is "a gracious encounter between God and the Church. God speaks to us, especially through scripture read and proclaimed and through symbols and sacraments. We respond chiefly through hymns and prayers and acts of dedication." Methodism has typically allowed for freedom in how the liturgy is celebrated—the Worship Book serves as a guideline, but ministers, preachers and other worship leaders are not obligated to use it.