Methodism's Rise in America

In the wake of the American Revolution the Anglican Church, with the king of England as its head, was generally shunned. Methodism began as a “religious society” nominally connected to the Anglican Church, and many expected that the movement would collapse in America. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, was a vocal opponent of the Revolution. At the outbreak of hostilities he recalled all but one of the Methodist clergy. This left a vacuum that was soon filled with American lay preachers. This “native” leadership overcame the perception that Methodists were linked to Anglicans.1EGWLM 918.1

In 1784 John Wesley directed in the formation of the American Methodist Episcopal Church. Francis Asbury became the bishop and central figure in the American church. His goal was to restore the “apostolic order of sacrifice and itinerancy” among clergy. Thus he organized various lay ministers into “circuit riders,” who traveled through an assigned territory preaching and establishing churches. Asbury insisted that a ministerial calling required the laying aside of worldly trappings of dress, deportment, and financial security. In fact, if a preacher chose to marry and/or settle down for any reason, he lost his membership in the Methodist Connection. Asbury said, “We must suffer with if we labor for the poor.”⁴

Francis Asbury, in the Arminian Magazine (London, 1784), p. 681, quoted in Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity, p. 85.

The circuit preacher's personal and popular spirituality, combined with true piety, inspired phenomenal church growth. By 1820 Methodists had surpassed Baptists as the largest denomination in America.1EGWLM 918.2

The rustic and untrained Methodist preachers had little concern for proper religious style or process. American church historian Winthrop S. Hudson has noted that Methodists were known as “shouting Methodists” because of their religious enthusiasm and demonstration.⁵

Winthrop S. Hudson, “Shouting Methodists,” Encounter, Winter 1968, pp. 73-84.

The frequent exclamations of “Glory, glory, glory,” “Hallelujah,” and “Amen” were integral to Methodist worship.1EGWLM 918.3

American revivalism received new energy around the turn of the nineteenth century with the emergence of the camp meeting movement. Beginning in Kentucky, the camp meeting phenomenon swept across America. Thousands gathered for spiritual renewal, and physical demonstrations of enthusiasm were a hallmark of the meetings. These demonstrations often included weeping, shouting, running, jumping, jerking, laughing, and even, in some cases, barking. The “excesses” of the camp meeting experience caused the more traditional churches to express stern disapproval.1EGWLM 919.1

Methodists, on the other hand, with their unrefined itinerates, found the camp meeting to be an ideal means of evangelism and renewal. Within a few years after the turn of the nineteenth century, camp meetings had become the special domain of Methodists. As time passed, they took on more and more of a Methodist style. By the 1830s some of the more dramatic “excesses” had been filtered out of Methodist camp meetings, but still camp meetings remained a place where participants could lose some of their inhibitions and devote a period of time to prayer and spiritual exercises. Camp meetings became an important fixture in the annual cycle of Methodist church life.1EGWLM 919.2

By the 1830s Charles Finney, the great revivalist of the Second Great Awakening, brought the camp meeting to town with his “protracted meetings.” He instituted his “new measures,” which included (1) praying for people in public by name, (2) allowing women to pray and testify in public to mixed audiences, (3) appointing a pew in the front of the church as the “anxious bench,” and (4) establishing the inquiry room, where the minister could meet people and talk with them. Finney's innovations opened the door for greater religious expression in local congregations. His practices were widely accepted across America and directly impacted Methodist experience.1EGWLM 919.3

Another pivotal figure in mid-nineteenth-century Methodism was Phoebe Palmer. Palmer's father was a personal convert of John Wesley's. About 1835 Phoebe Palmer, at her home in New York City, instituted the Tuesday evening meetings for the “promotion of holiness.” These meetings and others like them would have a profound effect on American religious experience in general and more particularly on Methodist experience.1EGWLM 919.4

Palmer taught that giving one's personal testimony in public was not only important but also vital for the development of Christian holiness. She believed that without personal testimony, religious life, irrespective of gender, would slide into apostasy.⁶

Melvin Easterday Dieter, The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century, pp. 22-28.

Thus testimonies with the accompanying emotional content became for many a natural and necessary part of religious practice. Palmer was somewhat sympathetic to the Millerite movement, though she rejected the setting of dates for the Second Coming.7

Richard Wheatley, The Life and Letters of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, pp. 511-515.

She was a friend of Charles Fitch's and corresponded with William Miller. In 1844 she wrote the powerful Advent hymn “Watch, Ye Saints.”1EGWLM 919.5