The History of the Methodist Church
Methodism is practiced by about 75 million followers worldwide, and was founded in the early 18th century by the Anglican theologian John Wesley. While a student at Oxford, Wesley and his brother Charles founded a church club that systematically set out how to live a properly religious life as they understood it. The other students mockingly called them "Methodists" because of their methodical approach to holy living, and the name was taken up by Wesley as a badge of honor.
The spread of Methodism
Wesley did not actually intend to create a new church, but through he and his brother's evangelical missions to people's homes, and other places outside the church, the movement spread.
John Whitefield
Another important leader in the early Methodist movement was George Whitefield, a follower of John Calvin, the influential French theologian. Whitefield tirelessly spread his Methodist teachings throughout England, the British Empire and, eventually, America.
Methodism in America
Over the next 150 years, the Methodist Church in America splintered off into three main branches: the Methodist Protestant Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1939, these branches agreed to reunite under the single banner of the Methodist Church. With the merging of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968, the United Methodist Church grew into the second largest Protestant church in the United States, after the Southern Baptist Church.
Today's Methodist Church has approximately eight million members in the U.S. and Canada. In early American history, the church was an early opponent of slavery and ordered its members to free their slaves as early as 1784. The church was also a strong supporter of Prohibition and continues to use grape juice during Communion instead of wine. The United Methodist Board of Church and Society is the agency of the church's causes today, which include opposition to abortion, gambling and capital punishment.