A learner’s guide
- Christian family
- Evangelical revival and holiness tradition
- Historical setting
- Eighteenth-century revival within Anglicanism led by John and Charles Wesley
Historical origin
Where this tradition came from
Methodism began in the 1730s as a disciplined renewal movement within the Church of England. In America the Methodist Episcopal Church was organised in 1784, while John Wesley was still alive; in Britain the Methodists became a separate church after his death in 1791. Later holiness churches developed from Methodist teaching on sanctification.
Authority
How teaching is discerned
Scripture is primary and the rule of faith. Tradition, reason, and experience help Methodists interpret it; the four together are often called the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral”, a term coined in the 1960s, but they are not equal sources. The historic doctrinal standards are Wesley’s Standard Sermons, his Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, and the Articles of Religion.
Salvation
How God saves and transforms
Prevenient grace awakens every person and enables a real response to the gospel. Justifying grace pardons and restores; sanctifying grace renews believers in holy love. Classical Wesleyan teaching affirms that grace can be resisted and that believers must continue in faith.
The church
Leadership and belonging
Most Methodist churches are connectional: congregations and clergy belong to conferences under bishops or superintendents. Wesleyan and holiness bodies use related episcopal, conference, or congregational forms.
Sacraments and ordinances
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Baptism
Infants and adult converts are baptised as a sign of new birth, initiation, and God’s gracious covenant. Baptism calls for personal faith and lifelong discipleship.
Communion / Eucharist
The Lord’s Supper is a means of grace in which Christ is truly present to faith. Many Methodists practise an open table and emphasise Communion as remembrance, thanksgiving, fellowship, and nourishment for holiness.
Gathered life
What worship may feel like
Preaching, hymns, testimony, prayer, sacraments, and small-group accountability all have a place in Methodist spirituality. Services range from formal liturgy to revival and contemporary forms.
Distinctive emphases
- Prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace
- Assurance of faith
- Holy love and entire sanctification
- Connectional church life
- Works of mercy and social holiness
Read with care
Internal diversity and a common misconception
Where members differ
United Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal, Free Methodist, Wesleyan, Nazarene, and many other bodies differ in polity, liturgy, sanctification language, ordination, sexuality, and social teaching. Disagreement over sexuality led to the founding of the Global Methodist Church in 2022, and by most counts about a quarter of United Methodist congregations in the United States disaffiliated between 2019 and 2023.
Do not assume
Wesleyan teaching on Christian perfection does not mean sinless flawlessness or freedom from mistakes. It describes mature love of God and neighbour, sustained by grace and always open to further growth.
Go to the source
Read this tradition in its own words
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