the story of methodist beginnings in america 1760

7/31/2019 The Story of Methodist Beginnings in America 1760

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David Goodwin 1

The Story Of Methodist Beginnings in America 1760 1784

The establishing of Methodist Churches in America before 1760 looked as

though it would not be a possible outcome. The Church of England had no intention of

starting the Methodist movement. Their intent was to establish their Church of England

in the new world. The people however had no intention of bringing the authority of and

established government from England in to their new lives of liberty. The ideas that

were considered Methodist, served only to strengthen other churches along the East

coast. The ideas that held to the Anglican standards would be appealing to some

churches, providing a small window of opportunity to allow preaching to be

accomplished is some set venues of other established doctrines. Through the rocky

start however there seemed to be an early up rise of laity that wanted a church for

themselves that seemed to hold an air of church supremacy, with out the ties to the

Church of England or the Catholic Church. This idea was carried by laity and

strengthened by several preachers who took it upon themselves to obtain authority and

call from God and not man. Wesley had no intention or idea of any such start but after

receiving a letter of request for assistance reluctantly it seems sent missionaries who

found societies established and well on their way. During the first conference of

preachers in 1773 they decreed that laity except for what seemed to be the first

American lay preacher Robert Strawbridge would distribute no sacraments. Strawbridge

seemed to be a thorn in the side of the established preachers but his results made for

strong opinion amongst the people. There were those who took exception with what

was happening in the church. Some of them made it quite clear that Methodism had its

place and its place was not to separate people from the church but rather strengthen


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their resolve to the church proper.It seemed that the spirit in America was to separatefrom the established government of England. With this also came wanting liberty from

all aspects of English rule and life. According to Heitzenraters book, Wesley took

exception to this libertarian mentality as an irresponsible cry for freedom without merit.

This was a reversal of his original position on the matter and he wrote many articles in

which he stated that Americans had always enjoyed freedom and that with this mentality

the new country would not have an established leg to stand on. Wesleys vision of what

was happening with the new stance in America and how it was spilling into the people

called Methodist, seemed to be a worrisome thought, because where would the future

of English people and the church as whole stand. (Are we there again within the church

today and are we facing a similar mentality?) The possibility that Gods work could be

hindered by this underlying cry for freedom and separation was a big concern for the

future of the church. Although Wesley was probably trying to quench rebellion and

redirect thoughts to reformation his stance may have served to hinder Methodism rather

than strengthen the overall movement and as such all his missionaries except for

Asbury pulled back to England by 1777. The needs in America continued to grow and

as a final desperation set in for the people who needed ordained pastors to conduct

their spiritual sacramental needs, Wesley developed a plan to send Coke and some

volunteers (Whatcoat and Vasey) to America to ordain local pastors to accomplish the

needs and new orders drawn by Wesley for this new Methodist church start. The new

church would be separate from the Church of England with Wesley making some

changes to such things as the prayer book and orders of worship. So although the

church start that was originally planned by the Church of England by sending


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missionaries such as Wesley to the new world had not reached its potential goal, there

was a new church found in the response to the ministry of those sent to the new world.

the story of methodist beginnings in america 1760

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