Methodists follow John Wesley, who preached outdoors to ordinary people and gathered them into small groups.
Anglican & Methodist1738 / 1784grew out of Church of England (Anglican)
John Wesley's experience at Aldersgate Street on 24 May 1738 is a major Methodist landmark. An Anglican priest, he organised societies and small groups intended to renew Christian life. The Methodist Episcopal Church formed in the United States in 1784, during Wesley's lifetime; he died in 1791. British Methodism's separation from the Church of England developed over time. Methodist churches now form an international family.
Methodists follow John Wesley, an Anglican priest who preached in fields and streets to people the churches were not reaching, and gathered them into small groups that met every week. He never meant to leave the Church of England.
The name began as a joke. At Oxford from about 1729, John and Charles Wesley and their friends kept a demanding rule of study, prayer, fasting and visiting prisoners, and other students called them the Holy Club and Methodists, for the method in it 4,12,11. On the outward voyage to Georgia, Wesley was struck by the calm of some Moravians in a storm. His later London experience followed that difficult mission 25. On 24 May 1738, at a meeting in Aldersgate Street in London, while someone read Luther's preface to Romans, he wrote that he felt his heart strangely warmed, and that he did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation 1,12.
From 1739 he preached in the open air, first at Bristol, and kept it up for fifty years and something like a quarter of a million miles on horseback 12,11. Converts were put into societies, and societies into classes of about a dozen people who met weekly to give account of their lives; ordinary members led them, including women 11,7,4. Wesley wanted renewal inside his own church, but the American colonies had no bishops after the revolution, so in 1784 he ordained preachers for America himself, and that December a conference in Baltimore formed the Methodist Episcopal Church with Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury at its head 4,14,22. British Methodists became a separate church after Wesley's death in 1791 7,11. In America the circuit riders went wherever people settled, and Methodism became the largest Protestant body in the country; the United Methodist Church itself was formed by a merger in 1968 4,17.
Slavery had divided American Methodism long before that merger. Wesley called it the vilest that ever saw the sun, published Thoughts upon Slavery in 1774, and wrote his last letter six days before he died urging William Wilberforce to keep going against it 12,2. American Methodism did not hold that line. Its early rule against slaveholding was suspended under pressure, and in 1844 the church divided when the General Conference asked a bishop who had become a slaveholder to stop exercising his office; the southern conferences left and formed their own church the next year 16,17. Race divided Methodists in the North too: Richard Allen and others walked out of St George's in Philadelphia after being pulled from their knees at prayer, and founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1816 19,11.
Methodists teach that God's grace reaches out to everyone, that nobody is beyond it, that a person can know they have been forgiven, and that grace can really make someone holy in this life. Faith is meant to show in how you treat people.
Against the view that Christ died only for the chosen, Methodists hold that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all, and that grace goes before a person, drawing them before they seek it 5,11,23. Wesley preached assurance from his own experience: the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and a believer may know it 2,1,3. He also taught Christian perfection, which he explained as love filling the heart so that it governs everything, not as freedom from mistakes, and he wrote a whole book to stop people misunderstanding him 20,2,11.
The doctrinal standards are the Articles of Religion, Wesley's shortened version of the Anglican Thirty-nine, together with his Standard Sermons and his Notes on the New Testament 6,2,3. Methodists usually describe their reasoning as Scripture first, with tradition, reason and experience helping to read it 5,11. Wesley's General Rules asked members to do no harm, to do good of every possible sort, and to attend upon the ordinances of God, and that plain moral shape has stayed with Methodism, in schools, hospitals, temperance movements and trade unions 5,4,7.
Worship and practice
Methodists sing. Charles Wesley wrote thousands of hymns, and Methodists learned their theology from them as much as from sermons. Worship is warm and fairly plain, with preaching, Communion, and small groups where people talk honestly about their lives.
Charles Wesley wrote something like six thousand five hundred hymns, among them Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, and a Methodist hymn book has served as a compact statement of what the movement believes 13,11. John Wesley urged constant communion, and preached a sermon telling Methodists to receive it as often as they could 2. The class meeting, held weekly, was the engine of the movement, and the love feast, the watch night on New Year's Eve and the covenant service came with it 11,7. Preaching was largely by lay people on a circuit, so one minister might serve many congregations, an arrangement Methodists still use 4,7.
Scripture and Bible translations
Wesley gave Methodists an annotated Bible. His Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, published in 1755, printed the King James text with his own small corrections and a comment on nearly every verse, and it remains one of the church's doctrinal standards.
The Notes were written for plain readers rather than scholars, and Wesley said he wrote them for people who understand only their mother tongue but who reverence and love the word of God 3,6. Because they are a standard of doctrine, Methodist teaching is tied to a way of reading Scripture rather than to a confession of many articles 6,5. Today the United Methodist Church commonly reads the Common English Bible and the New Revised Standard Version, and other Methodist bodies use the New International Version and others 5,11. Read here: the King James Version that Wesley annotated, the Berean Standard Bible, and the Free Bible Version in plain modern English. The versions guide sets out what Methodist churches read today.
In church
The United Methodist Church says plainly that it has no official translation; its publishing house prefers the CEB and the NRSV for curriculum because those are what most of its pastors and teachers use.
At home
Household and congregational choices vary across Methodist and Wesleyan churches. Curriculum use does not establish a universal preference among members.
These passages illustrate themes discussed in this profile; they are not a survey of members' favorite verses. Each is quoted from the King James (Authorized) Version and links to its chapter. You can explore the text for study or personal reflection; memorization is optional.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sanctify you wholly. The verse behind Christian perfection, Wesley's teaching that grace can fill a heart with love in this life.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the gospel to the poor. Wesley took this as a description of where the church belongs, and Methodism grew among miners, weavers and the poor.
People
John Wesley1703 to 1791 Anglican priest, open-air preacher and organiser, who rode a quarter of a million miles and left behind a movement he never intended to make into a church.12
Charles Wesley1707 to 1788 John's brother, who wrote thousands of hymns and taught Methodists their faith in verses they could sing from memory.13
Thomas Coke1747 to 1814 Ordained by Wesley for America in 1784, he became the movement's first missionary bishop and died at sea on his way to Ceylon.22
Francis Asbury1745 to 1816 Rode nearly three hundred thousand miles across America over forty-five years, ordained hundreds of preachers, and never owned a home.14
Mary Bosanquet Fletcher1739 to 1815 Ran a home for orphans and preached for fifty years; her letter to Wesley in 1771 persuaded him that a woman with an extraordinary call might preach.21
Phoebe Palmer1807 to 1874 Led a weekly meeting in New York for thirty years, wrote on holiness, and shaped the holiness movement that grew out of Methodism.15
Georgia Harkness1891 to 1974 The first woman to teach theology at an American seminary, who argued for the full ordination of women, granted by her church in 1956.24
Today
There are about eighty million Methodists worldwide. The World Methodist Council links eighty churches in a hundred and thirty-eight countries. In the United States, Methodism is in the middle of a painful division.
The council describes itself as eighty Methodist, Wesleyan and united churches representing more than eighty million members in a hundred and thirty-eight countries 8. Methodism grew fastest in the twentieth century outside the West, and there are now large Methodist churches in Nigeria, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Korea and Brazil 10,11. The United Methodist Church argued for fifty years over the place of gay and lesbian members and clergy; from 2019 congregations were allowed to leave with their property, about a quarter of American congregations did so, many joining the Global Methodist Church formed in 2022, and in 2024 the General Conference removed the rules those congregations had wanted kept 17,18,9. The disagreement is not settled, and Methodists on both sides describe themselves as holding to Wesley 9,17.
Words to know
justification
How a person is made right with God. Luther's teaching that this happens by faith alone, as a gift, was the heart of the Reformation.
sacrament
A sacred act Christians believe carries God's grace, such as baptism and communion. Traditions count and understand them differently.
bishop
The leader of the Christians of a city or region, who ordains priests and teaches the faith. Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and some Lutheran and Methodist churches keep bishops.
creed
A short statement of belief said together in worship. The Nicene Creed is shared by nearly every Christian tradition.
confession
In the Reformation churches, a written statement of what a church believes, such as the Augsburg Confession. In Catholic and Orthodox use, also the sacrament of telling one's sins to a priest.
liturgy
The set form of a service: its prayers, readings and actions in their usual order. The Orthodox call their main service the Divine Liturgy.
canon
The list of books a community counts as Scripture. Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox canons overlap almost entirely and differ at the edges.
Reformation
The movement that began with Martin Luther in 1517 to reform the Western Church, and that produced the Protestant churches.
Questions people ask
Why are they called Methodists?
It began as a nickname at Oxford in about 1729, aimed at John and Charles Wesley and their friends for the method they kept in prayer, study, fasting and visiting prisoners. The Wesleys accepted the name 4,12,11.
Did John Wesley want to start a new church?
No. He was an Anglican priest to the end and told Methodists to attend their parish church. The break came from practical necessity, above all the lack of bishops in America after the revolution, which led him to ordain preachers himself in 1784, and from the movement's own growth. British Methodists became a separate church only after his death in 1791 4,12,7.
What is Christian perfection?
Wesley's name for the work of grace by which love for God and neighbour comes to fill and govern a person's heart in this life. He was careful to say it does not mean freedom from ignorance, mistakes or temptation, and he wrote A Plain Account of Christian Perfection because he was so often misunderstood 20,2,11.
What was the class meeting?
A weekly gathering of about a dozen members of a Methodist society who gave account of how their lives were going and helped each other. Ordinary members led them, women included, and they were where most Methodists actually learned the faith. Many Methodist churches have been trying to recover the practice 11,7,4.
What is happening in the United Methodist Church?
A long disagreement over gay and lesbian members and clergy came to a head. From 2019 congregations could leave and keep their buildings, and about a quarter of American congregations did, many joining the Global Methodist Church formed in 2022. In 2024 the General Conference removed the restrictions that had been in the church's rules 17,18,9. Both sides claim the Wesleyan inheritance, and the matter is not settled.
Sources
Numbered references link the account above to its sources. These include the tradition's own documents and outside reference works. The review status below distinguishes source checking from completed member and scholarly review.
BibleVerse. “Methodist: where they came from, what they hold, and the Bible they read.” bibleverse.site, version 2026-09-09, https://bibleverse.site/denominations/methodist/
Awaiting review by a member of the tradition. First published 2026-09-07; last changed 2026-09-09. Years before the common era are written BC, and later years plainly, as the site's Christian pages do.
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