wfn.org | At the roots of Methodism: First conference pondered Anglican

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July 8, 1998        Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{403}

NOTE:  This is a regular feature on Methodist history by John Singleton
prepared especially for distribution by United Methodist News Service. A
feature photograph and a head-and-shoulders photo of Singleton are
available.

By John Singleton*

The recent decision of the Methodist Conference in Britain to open
formal "conversations" on unity with the Anglican Church was made during
the very week that, 244 years ago, John Wesley summoned his first
conference at the Foundry in London.

On that occasion, 10 people were present -- six ministers and four lay
preachers -- and the question of Methodism's relationship with the
Anglican Church had a pervasive influence on their agenda. They were
moving away from each other then, but today they are moving closer.

The conference became an annual gathering over which Wesley himself
presided, admitted and excluded preachers, appointed them to their
spheres of work and generally directed the whole economy of the growing
Methodist movement.

The minutes of the proceedings, given in Wesley's favorite form of
question and answer, indicate that doctrine, discipline and practice
were clearly defined. So it was that for an ever-increasing number, the
fiat of the annual conference settled their work, the bounds of their
habitation and the concerns of the churches they served.

And that, even without Wesley's own autocratic hand, is still the basic
role of the conference as a governing body of autonomous Methodist and
United Methodist churches around the world. Today's conferences also
continue to reflect the commitment of the early movement to philanthropy
and social reform.

The earliest financial arrangements of Methodism were said to be not for
the enrichment of its services or even for ministerial maintenance, but
to provide "humble buildings for worship and to succor the poor and
needy."

The image of Wesley at the age of 82 trudging five days from morning
until evening through the streets of London -- often ankle-deep in
melting snow - collecting money with which to clothe the poor, is a
powerful one. Almost every Methodist society operated a benevolent fund
to assist all comers within its means. Wesley systematized such help and
anticipated reforms that later became part of national poor relief
systems.

In their spirit of reforming zeal and moral enthusiasm, the early
Methodists were said to have despaired of no one, whatever their
predicament. Some of Wesley's compatriots were truly amazing people who
constantly made themselves vulnerable in the cause of the Gospel.

Take, for example, Silas Todd (1711-1778), the former sailor whom Wesley
appointed master
of the Foundry charity school. He became known as the "prisoner's
friend" and a powerful advocate for prison reform. Amid the horrors of
London's Newgate prison he stood alongside condemned prisoners until the
last, and he labored tirelessly for the reform of blundering legal
administration and inhumane laws. Many early Methodists made themselves
unpopular by opposing cruel leisure activities such as bear-baiting and
cockfighting, thereby posing a threat to the profits of the promoters of
such "sports."

Another contemporary of John Wesley was John Nelson (1707-1774), a
stonemason from Birstall, Yorkshire. His calling by Wesley, which
resulted in a strong friendship between the scholar and the artisan, is
graphically described in Nelson's own journal on the occasion of
Wesley's first sermon in Moorfields, London:

"As soon as he got upon the stand, he stroked back his hair, and turned
his face towards where I stood, and I thought fixed his eyes upon me.
His countenance struck such an awful dread upon me before I heard him
speak, that it made my heart beat like the pendulum of a clock; and,
when he did speak, I thought his whole discourse was aimed at me. When
he had done, I said, 'This
man can tell the secrets of my heart: he hath not left me there; for he
hath showed the remedy, even the blood of Jesus.' "

Few Methodist itinerant preachers were so brutally persecuted as Nelson,
who is associated with the rise of Methodism in centers such as Leeds,
Manchester, Sheffield and York. Like St Paul, he often worked at his
trade while serving as a preacher.

Many opponents thought that by destroying Nelson and Wesley they could
extinguish Methodism itself, but both were remarkably tactful with the
mob and opposition, often turning them in their favor. Once, when Nelson
was preaching in Grimsby, the parish clergyman hired a drummer to drown
out his voice. Nelson preached on until the drummer, pausing to rest a
moment, was "cut to the heart" by his words. Whereupon he threw his drum
away and stood
listening with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Our Anglican friends no longer try to drown us out these days. In fact,
several of their bishops spoke at the British Methodist Conference in
favor of the new moves towards unity between the two churches. Their
presence also reminds us that Wesley remained an Anglican priest until
his death and originally had no wish to form a separate church.

Methodist conferences can be inspiring and sometimes tedious, but it is
worth remembering where they came from and the way in which the early
Methodist leaders were fervently motivated by God for evangelism and
social witness. I have mentioned a few of their names here; I hope to
tell the stories of more of them later.

# # # 

*Singleton is news editor of the weekly Methodist Recorder newspaper in
Britain. He can be contacted on e-mail at:
editorial@methodistrecorder.co.uk