christianity
Protestantism
Methodism is a movement within
Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide.
[www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity] The Methodist movement traces its origin to the
evangelical awakening in 18th century
Great Britain. Methodism followed from the work of
John Wesley, who was an Anglican clergyman. Although "Methodism" in Great Britain today is commonly taken as "Wesleyan Methodism", there were various Methodist denominations, until the final Deed of Union which, on 20th September 1932, brought together the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, to form the denomination formally known in today as the Methodist Church of Great Britain. Wesley sought to keep Methodism as a
revival movement within the
Church of England, and a significant number of Anglican clergy were known as
Methodists.
[www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/methodist_1.shtml/ BBC History] Other 18th century branches of Methodism include
Welsh Methodists, later the
Calvinistic Methodists, from the work of
Howell Harris,
[Richard Bennett, "Howell Harris and the Dawn of Revival", (1909, Eng. tr. 1962), ISBN 1 85049 035 X][Gwyn Davies, "A Light in the Land", (2002), Ch 5, ISBN 1 85049 181 X] and the
Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion through the work of
George Whitefield. The influence of Lady Huntingdon and Whitefield on the
Church of England was a factor in the establishing of the
Free Church of England in 1844. Through vigorous
missionary activity Methodism spread throughout the
British Empire, the
United States, and beyond.
Early Methodists were drawn from all levels of society, including aristocracy. But the Methodist preachers took the message to labourers and criminals who tended to be left outside of organised religion at that time. Wesley himself thought it wrong to preach outside a Church building until persuaded otherwise by Whitefield.
[John Wesley, Journal 31 March 1739]