Methodism in America

Colonies versus homeland, and brother versus brother

For the past few weeks, Charlie Baber’s terrific Wesley Bros. webcomic (and the blog post Baber writes to accompany each week’s comic) has been tackling the 1784 “Christmas Conference” which represented the beginnings of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. It’s a fascinating story, both for its historical significance and its family drama. I should probably just tell you to go read it at Baber’s site, but I decided to take a stab at it myself.

First, we must set the scene. John Wesley, who is generally considered the father of Methodism (although he was by no means its only founder), and his brother Charles were lifelong members of the Church of England, which was an official, government-sanctioned, government-affiliated church. Other churches were permitted, but had to apply to the government for a license. Church officials had to take an oath swearing loyalty to the British king or queen as the head of the church.

The Wesleys always considered Methodism to be a reform movement within the Anglican church. They were occasionally accused of seeking to break away from the Church of England, but they were always quick to deny any such intent. Charles, as we will note, was even more sensitive to such allegations than John was.

The official Anglican hierarchy, however, gave little support to Methodism, which they seem to have regarded as fanatical. Much of the work of spreading the Methodist movement fell to…