The Wesleyan Methodist Church (also named the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion) was the majority

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

movement in England following its split from the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

after the death of

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

and the appearance of parallel Methodist movements. The word ''

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

'' in the title differentiated it from the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists (who were a majority of the Methodists in Wales) and from the Primitive Methodist movement, which separated from the Wesleyans in 1807. The Wesleyan Methodist Church followed the Wesleys in holding to an Arminian theology, in contrast to the Calvinism held by

George Whitefield George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an Anglican cleric and evangelist who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College at th ...

, by Selina Hastings (founder of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion), and by Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland (preacher), Daniel Rowland, the pioneers of Welsh Methodist revival, Welsh Methodism. Its Conference was also the legal successor to John Wesley as holder of the property of the original Methodist societies.Davies, R. E. (1985) ''Methodism'', 2nd ed. Peterborough: Epworth Press. ; p. 109.

History

Although it was not his intention to establish a new Christian denomination, John Wesley's John Wesley#Ordination of ministers, clandestine ordinations in 1784 made separation from the established church, established Church of England virtually inevitable. Later in the same year, Wesley pronounced the first official Methodist Conference of 100 members, who were to govern the society of the Methodist movement after his death. John Wesley died in 1791. The estrangement between the Church of England and the Wesleyan Methodists was entrenched by the decision of the Methodist 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 Steward (Methodism), 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 Church of England, accelerating the trend for Methodism to become entirely separate from the established church. For half a century after Wesley's death, 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 the United Kingdom, Primitive Methodism in Staffordshire, 1811, and the Bible Christian Church in south-west England, 1815). The original movement became known as the "Wesleyan Methodist Connexion" to distinguish itself from these groups. The 1891 conference endorsed the use of the term ''Church'' rather than ''Connexionalism, Connexion'', although it retained a Connexional polity.

In 1898, Robert Perks, MP for Louth (Lincolnshire) (UK Parliament constituency), Louth, proposed the creation of the Wesleyan Methodist Twentieth Century Fund (also known as the 'One Million Guinea Fund') which aimed to raise one million Guinea (coin), guineas (£1.1s. or £1.05) from one million Methodists to build a Central London church to build a world centre of Wesleyan Methodism and to expand the mission of the Wesleyan Church at home and overseas. On 8 November, 1898, the fund was officially launched at Wesley's Chapel in City Road (London), City Road, London. The fund had raised £1,073,682 by the time it closed in 1909, part of which was used to purchase the former Royal Aquarium site for the construction of the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster and to support construction and extension of other Wesleyan Methodist churches and Sunday schools around the UK and overseas.

Unification

The name "Wesleyan Methodist Church" remained in use until the Methodist Union of 1932, when the church re-united with the Primitive Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church (Great Britain), United Methodist Church to form the current Methodist Church of Great Britain.

Schools and education

John Wesley was convinced of the importance of education and, following the advice of his friend Dr. Philip Doddridge, opened schools at The Foundery in London, and at Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and Kingswood School, Kingswood. Following the upsurge in interest in education which accompanied the Reform Act 1832, extension of franchise in 1832, the Methodist Conference commissioned William Atherton (minister), William Atherton, Richard Treffry and Samuel Jackson to report on Methodist schools, coming to the conclusion that if the Church were to prosper the system of Sunday schools (3,339 in number at that time, with 59,277 teachers and 341,442 pupils) should be augmented by day-schools with teachers educated to high school level. The Rev. John Scott proposed in 1843 that 700 new Methodist 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, mostly coming from the institution founded in Glasgow by David Stow. The outcome of the Wesleyan Education Report for 1844 was that planning began for permanent Wesleyan teacher-training college, resulting in the foundation of Westminster Training College in Horseferry Road, City of Westminster, Westminster in 1851, with the Rev. Scott as its first principal.F. C. Pritchard, ''The Story of Westminster College 1851–1951'' London: The Epworth Press, 1951

Gallery

File:Godshill Methodist Church, High Street, Godshill (May 2016) (2).JPG, A typical smaller Methodist chapel in Godshill, Isle of Wight. Built in 1838 as a Wesleyan chapel; now Grade II-listed. File:Hinde Street Methodist Church - geograph.org.uk - 1203729.jpg, Hinde Street Methodist Church in London, home of the West London Methodist Mission, West London Mission. Built 1807-10 and rebuilt in the 1880s; now Grade II-listed. File:AylesburyMethodistChurch.jpg, Aylesbury Methodist Church. Built in 1893 as a Wesleyan church. File:Tomb of John Wesley (29944306907).jpg, Tomb of John Wesley at the Wesley's Chapel, City Road Wesleyan Methodist chapel

Notes

References