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Methodism

Originating in mid-eighteenth-century England under the leadership of John Wesley, Methodism began as part of a wider evangelical revival within the Church of England. Wesley, an ordained Anglican minister, felt that the church had lost its sense of missionary zeal and was failing particularly to appeal to the poor in society. Heavily influenced by the pietism of the Moravians, he set out to reform and revive religious life.

ORIGIN

Ignoring the confines of ecclesiastical boundaries, Wesley journeyed extensively throughout Britain, preaching outdoors, forming local societies, and using lay preachers to spread his message of Christian perfection and justification by faith (that the individual, alienated from God by sin, is reconciled not by his merits or good works but through faith in Christ). He particularly emphasized the importance of personal salvation and conversion, and Methodism, with its emotional class meetings, spiritual discipline, and practical support, reached out to many of those neglected by the more established religions. The importance attached to thrift and temperance perhaps appealed particularly to women, while the early use of women preachers introduced a dimension of novelty into popular religious life. But although Wesley's zeal and organizational talents ensured rapid growth, both his methods and his criticism of established religious authorities led to clashes with more conventional clerics. The first annual conference took place in 1744, and with Wesley ordaining his own preachers from 1784, Methodism emerged as a distinct religious body, which broke with the Church of England after his death in 1791.

METHODISM IN IRELAND

Wesley considered Ireland to be an important mission field and visited the country on a total of twenty-one occasions, beginning in August 1747. Although Methodist preachers were often denounced as "black caps," "swaddlers" or "cavalry preachers," growth was rapid in these early years, with outdoor meetings at markets, fairs, and wakes generating intense religious emotion and excitement. Following the United Irish rebellion in 1798, a mission was established, engaging Irish-speaking preachers in an attempt to win over the Catholic peasantry. Demographic data, however, indicate that although early Methodism was strong in southern cities and market towns from the 1780s onwards, the province of Ulster was the most successful recruiting ground. Indeed, it has been suggested that Methodism was both a beneficiary of and a contributor to sectarian tensions in south Ulster during the last two decades of the eighteenth century, with its vehement anti-Catholicism helping to reinforce and revitalize northern Protestantism. Wesley's links with ascendancy figures in Ireland, and Methodist input into the so-called Second Reformation of the 1820s, also reflect the perceived link between social unrest and religious allegiance. The sect was particularly strong within traditional Anglican areas and in the "linen triangle" of south Ulster, and, by 1815, 68 percent of Irish Methodists lived north of a line drawn from Sligo to Dundalk.

Many divisions followed Wesley's death. In Ireland the Wesleyan Methodists became an autonomous Church, while the Primitive Methodists retained their Anglican links. These groups were united in 1878 following the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. Membership numbers reached their peak in 1844. Thereafter, with increased financial and administrative responsibilities, Methodism became progressively institutionalized, moving away from outside preaching and its more spontaneous activities.

Rather than its numerical strength, however, Methodism's most important contribution to Irish society was the stimulus that it gave to a much wider evangelicalism. Many Methodist characteristics, particularly itinerant preaching, and the establishment of voluntary religious societies were taken up by individuals, missionary organizations, and eventually the main churches themselves. The 1859 revival, known as the Great Awakening, provides the best evidence of the extent to which evangelicalism had infiltrated mainstream religions by the middle of the nineteenth century.

METHODISM IN THE EARLY TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Today's Methodist ministers undergo a period of probation: five years for university graduates, six for others, and spend a maximum of eight years on one circuit (group of local societies of churches). Early female preaching had been brought to an end in 1804, but in line with developments elsewhere, the first Methodist woman to be ordained entered the ministry in 1977. There are currently seventy-six circuits in Irish Methodism, administered by quarterly meetings of ministers and officials. Circuits are grouped into districts, which hold a synod twice yearly. The annual conference remains the governing body and is made up of both ministerial and lay representatives who have equal voting rights. Ministerial sessions deal with the admission, probation, discipline, appointment, expulsion, and retirement of ministers, as well as with appeals and ministerial and pastoral concerns. The representative session deals with matters of government and management. The president of the Methodist Church in Ireland is elected annually from among the Irish ministers.

Concerned to spread the gospel message, the Methodist church has long been involved with overseas missions and continues to send both lay and clerical missionaries to all parts of the world. In contrast to the situation in late-eighteenth-century Ireland, it also enjoys harmonious relationships with other religious denominations, and participates in joint prayer and study groups with the Catholic Church.

SEE ALSO Evangelicalism and Revivals; Religion: Since 1690; Second Reformation from 1822 to 1869; Temperance Movements

Bibliography

Cole, Richard Lee. A History of Methodism in Ireland, 1860–1960. 1960.

Cooney, Dudley. The Methodist in Ireland: A Short History. 2001.

Crookshank, Charles Henry. History of Methodism in Ireland. 3 vols. 1885–1888.

Hempton, David. Methodism and Politics in British Society, 1750–1850. 1984.

Hempton, David, and Myrtle Hill. Evangelical Protestantism in Ulster Society, 1740–1890. 1992.

Myrtle Hill