The Encyclopedia of World Religions

292 S Methodism

Methodism was particularly successful in the United States. Because its ministers traveled, they could meet the needs of settlers pushing the fron tiers west. But Methodism paid for its success with division. African Americans found themselves second-class members of the white-dominated churches. They formed the African Methodist Epis copal Church (1816) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1820), which still flourish today. During the Civil War, the Methodists split into Northern and Southern churches. During the 19th century other Methodist churches were orga nized as well. The Holiness movements empha sized ecstatic religious experiences; they caused some people to leave Methodism altogether ( see P ENTECOSTALISM ). During the 20th century fragmented Method ist groups reunited in both Britain and the United States. In Britain the largest Methodist body is the Methodist Church, formed in 1932; in the United States it is the United Methodist Church, formed in 1968. Methodist MISSIONARIES have also met with considerable success overseas. Methodism respects the traditional teachings of Christianity, but unlike some other churches it does not insist on doctrinal unity. It prefers instead to emphasize that God’s spirit has the power to change lives and to encourage Christians to cul tivate a personal relationship with God. Thus, Methodism has a profound personal dimension. At the same time, Methodists have actively embraced social concerns. Methodist WORSHIP sometimes takes the form of a LITURGY ; sometimes it is freer. Services gener ally include the PREACHING of a sermon, readings from the B IBLE , PRAYERS , and singing. Hymn-singing has been a particularly important part of Method ist worship life. John Wesley promoted the use of hymns. His brother Charles wrote some of the best loved hymns in the English language, for example, the well-known C HRISTMAS carol, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” Methodist churches have different institu tional structures in different parts of the world. The Methodist churches in the United States are episcopal; that is, they are governed by bishops.

Z IONISM with messianism. And shortly before RABBI Moses Menachem Schneersohn, the leader of the Lubavitch Hasidic community, died in New York in 1994, many of his followers expected that he was the messiah. Further reading: Wim Beuken, Seán Freyne, and Anton Weiler, ed., Messianism through History (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1993); Richard S. Hess and M. Daniel Carroll R., ed., Israel’s Messiah in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2003); Jerry Rabow, Fifty Jewish Messiahs: The Untold Life Stories of Fifty Jewish Messiahs since Jesus and How They Changed the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Worlds (New York: Gefen Pub. House, 2002). Methodism A variety of C HRISTIANITY begun by John W ESLEY (1703–91). Wesley was a priest in the Church of England ( see A NGLICANISM ). In 1738 he experienced a “strange warming” of his heart. It led him to undertake a distinctive form of minis try. Instead of preaching in a particular parish, he traveled and preached throughout the country. His preaching emphasized the power of G OD ’s GRACE to save sinners, a personal relationship with God, and the possibility of developing Christian perfec tion. Wesley preached especially to the poor. He also authorized laypersons to preach. Wesley formed his followers into a society within the Church of England, but that relationship to the church did not last. One reason it did not was the North American experience. Methodists had brought Wesley’s form of Christianity to the British colonies of North America. Francis Asbury, a blacksmith by trade, was the most successful early preacher. After the Revolution American Methodists did not want to remain in the Church of England. In 1784 they organized an independent church. That same year Wesley established a Gen eral Conference in England to govern his society when he died. In 1795, four years after Wesley’s death, the Methodists in Britain also broke with the Church of England.