The Christian denomination which originated with the
evangelistic/revival ministry of John (1703-91) and Charles (1707-88) Wesley in 18th century England.  The Wesleys were members of what was derisively labeled "the Oxford Methodists,"  a group of Oxford University students who were methodical in their habits of  prayer and Bible reading and who sought to live simple, holy lives. The Wesleys  were also zealous in evangelism and preached to the prisoners and the poor and  underprivileged of British society. John Wesley was converted in 1738 while  attending a Moravian meeting and hearing Luther's exposition on justification by  faith from the book of Romans. Of that night, Wesley records: "I felt my heart  strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and  an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine." He and his  brother, with fellow Oxford graduate George Whitefield, became central to a  great spiritual revivals which subsequently occurred in England and America.

The Church of England barred the Wesleys from their churches, so they preached in homes, in barns, in the streets and the fields. John Wesley was the preacher; Charles was a hymn writer. It is said that Charles rode 250,000 miles on horseback and preached over 42,000 sermons in his lifetime. He preached an average of 500 times yearly. Converts among the ordinary people multiplied, and were organized into Methodist "societies." Though the Wesleys intended at first to keep their movement within the Anglican church, that became impossible as time passed and the numbers of converts increased. In 1739 John Wesley drew up a  set of general rules, called the Articles of Religion, which are still used by  many Methodists. Methodism spread rapidly to America, where the first Methodist  society was organized in 1766. Charles Wesley died in 1788; John, in 1791. The  Wesleys were prolific writers. John wrote over 50 books, and Charles wrote over  6,000 hymns. Circuit riding preachers were an integral part of Methodism from its inception, and this played a key role in its growth in the American frontier. The camp meeting, involving gatherings for exuberant preaching and singing, also  played a prominent role in Methodism in the 1800s.

Methodist Doctrine
Wesley's Articles of Religion were drawn from the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles. Traditional Methodist theology holds to the biblical doctrines of Inspiration, God, the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Resurrection, Heaven, and Hell. Wesley was Arminian and edited a magazine called the Arminian Magazine. He rejected Calvinism, particularly the points dealing with unconditional election, irresistible grace, and limited atonement. Wesley did not believe the human will was the cause of salvation, but he did believe a Christian could lose his salvation through willfully turning from Christ. He also held that a believer could reach a state of sinless perfection called "entire sanctification" through the purifying power of the Holy Spirit. 
(Contrast 1 Jn. 1:8-10). Methodist baptism is administered to both infants and adults, usually by sprinkling. Some aspects of Anglicanism were carried over into the Methodist denomination, such as the use of prayer books, a rigid, formal liturgy, and infant baptism.

Methodist Church Polity
Methodists follow an episcopal form of church government. With a few exceptions, congregations are not independent and autonomous, but are controlled  to a large extent by bishops which oversee conferences of churches. Two key  words used in the United Methodist Church are "connectional" and "appointive,"  meaning all UMC congregations are connected in a network of conciliar and legal  relationships and the bishop has final appointive authority. The annual  conference is composed of all the churches in a particular region, and the  bishop of the conference ordains the pastors of the local churches and  supervises many aspects of local church life and doctrine. There is also a  general conference composed of representatives of all churches which meets every  four years. One Methodist pastor described the polity of his
denomination this  way: "Local churches do not have final control over their pulpits. United  Methodist bishops have the right to send any pastor to any church. While the  wishes of the local church are often duly considered, this is not always so.  Local churches have no protection against pastors who, regardless of their  theology, are approved and supported by the hierarchy." The denominational  system even owns the property of the local church under modern liberal Methodist  practice.

Methodism and the Charismatic Movement
That Methodism provided the soil for the pentecostal/charismatic movements is admitted by many, including Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan ("The Great Methodist Awakening," Charisma, May 1987). The Methodist doctrine of "entire sanctification" produced longings which could not be satisfied scripturally, as God does not promise sinless perfection, and this false doctrine became a spring  board to the pentecostal doctrines of "second blessing" and "baptism of the Holy  Spirit" subsequent to salvation. Methodist camp meetings became occasions for  all sorts of fanatical phenomena, such as "the jerks," "slaying in the Spirit,"  "the holy dance," and "the holy laugh." Outsiders called these the "Methodist  fits." It is easy to see that the devil was having a heyday in leading people  away from sound Bible experience into extremism and error. Out of this confused  spiritual and doctrinal climate the Pentecostal movement of the late 19th  century arose. The modern interdenominational charismatic movement started in  the Methodist denomination in the 1950s. After Methodist Pastor Tommy Tyson  experienced the pentecostal second blessing and spoke in "tongues," he traveled  widely as a conference evangelist and spread the charismatic message. Well-known  pentecostal faith healer Oral Roberts joined the United Methodist Church in  1968. Today there is a powerful charismatic movement within the UMC. United  Methodist charismatic leader Ross Whetstone conducts a healing service once a  week at the denomination's Nashville headquarters, and he estimates that 1.7  million United Methodists--about 18 percent--are involved in the charismatic  movement (Christian News, May 19, 1986, p. 10). In 1980, the charismatic United  Methodist Renewal Services Fellowship was given formal offices at the UMC  national headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. Pentecostalism has always fed on  apostate denominations. 

Today there are many different Methodist groups with varying beliefs and practices--23 groups in America alone. Some of the smaller groups have maintained a conservative doctrinal position and still adhere to old-line Methodism. The Evangelical Methodist Church was organized in 1946 in reaction to  the modernism of The Methodist Church. The Evangelical Methodists stand upon Wesley's 25 Articles of Religion and seek to maintain a fundamentalist position against the onslaught of liberalism, neo-evangelicalism, psychology, and other destructive influences of these hours. They also exercise a greater degree of local church autonomy than the United Methodists, with each church owning and controlling its own property and calling its own pastors. They do not have bishops, but have district superintendents and a general conference which meets every four years. The Evangelical Methodist Church has a membership of roughly 10,000. The Free Methodist Church of North America (membership 80,000) and the Southern Methodist Church (membership 7,500) were also opposed to the liberalism  of the larger Methodist Church. These latter two groups hold to the old-time  Methodist doctrinal platform, but are basically new-evangelical in mood and  practice today.

The largest U.S. Methodist group, the United Methodist Church (UMC), was formed in 1968 from a merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The combined membership of the two bodies was 11 million in 1965, but by 1983 had dropped to roughly 9 million members. Like most liberal denominations, the UMC has been declining in membership each year. The UMC lost almost 2,000,000 members in the 1970s and '80s. The United Methodist Church is extremely modernistic and ecumenical.

The United Methodist Church and Ecumenism. The United Methodist Church is a member of the radical National and World Council of Churches; in fact, the UMC is the largest financial supporter of the WCC. Roman Catholic Bishop James Malone, speaking before the UMC conference in Atlanta in 1972, said that the United Methodists and the RCC are on the same spiritual wave length. He announced an ecumenical dialogue between the RCC and the Methodists. Reporting on the success of RCC-UMC dialogue, Methodist Bishop William Cannon told the pope in 1982 that "doctrinally and spiritually, our two churches have much more in common than there are issues that separate us" and "there is a peculiar affinity between Methodists and Roman Catholics." At its 1980 Quadrennial General Conference, the UMC set up a Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns to promote ecumenical activity. At his election to the presidency of the National Council of Churches in 1981, Methodist Bishop James Armstrong said, "I want to be such a bridge, helping to create an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect in which women and men can come  together, races can come together, divergent points of view can come together.  ... we will continue to seize initiatives, pursuing dialogue with Roman  Catholics, Southern Baptists, the National Association of Evangelicals, and  others who name the name of Christ as well as humanizing groups and forces that  do not share our Christian confession." Efforts to absorb Methodists with other  liberal denominations in the States have been in progress though the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) since 1961. This attempted union of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, and others has been making steady progress through the years.

United Methodist pastors participate in ecumenical clergy associations, joining hands at the local level with Roman Catholics, Unitarians, other Modernists, and non-Christians. An example is the Piedmont Interfaith Council which includes United Methodist churches in its membership. Its 1990 "Ecumenical  Celebration of Thanksgiving" featured such "faith communities" as "the  Franciscans, the Sikhs, the Japanese Community, Bahai, the Russian Jewish Emigres, Islam, Buddhist, the Native Americas and the Jewish and Christian faith  traditions." Another example is the Salem, Massachusetts, clergy association,  which, in September 1993, welcomed a high priest from a witch's coven into its  membership. United Methodist pastor Ken Steigler was happy with this move, and  said the group should become even more ecumenical by inviting
Mormons,  Buddhists, and Muslims to participate. UMC ecumenism and worldliness on the  local level was illustrated when the Lafayette Park United Methodist Church in  St. Louis co-sponsored in 1980 a cocktail party and house tour to raise funds  for the restoration of a local Catholic shrine.

In these ecumenical adventures, Methodism has renounced its former position. The Twenty-five Articles of faith developed by John Wesley in 1784 and affirmed by Methodists until the second half of the 20th century, had these comments in regard to Romanism: "The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshipping and adoration, as well of images, as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God. ... Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wine in the Supper of our Lord ... is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of the ordinance, and hath given occasion to many superstitions. ... the sacrifice of masses in the which it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable, and dangerous deceit" (Thomas Lewis, President of the General Conference,  Handbook of the Methodist Protestant Church, 1925).

The Untied Methodist Church and Modernism. The prevailing theological climate in the UMC was stated by Bishop James Thomas at the UMC Quadrennial General Conference in 1976: "We do not believe in rigid doctrinal concepts to hold us steady in a wavering world." This is an  understatement; the fact is that most UMC pastors don't believe the Bible. Polls  have shown that at least 30 percent of UMC ministers do not believe Jesus Christ  is God, and 82% say they do not believe the Bible is the perfect Word of God. As  early as 1968 a widely publicized scientific survey by Jeffrey Hadden which was  published by the Washington University showed that about 60% of the Methodist  clergy did not believe in the virgin birth and at least 50% did not believe in  the bodily resurrection of Christ. A Gallup survey in 1982 revealed that 34% of  Methodists believe community service is more important than proclaiming the  Gospel. In The Battle for the Bible, respected evangelical leader Harold  Lindsell stated, "It is not unfair to allege that among denominations like  Episcopal, United Methodist, United Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, the  Lutheran Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church U.S. there is not a  single theological seminary that takes a stand in favor of biblical  infallibility. And there is not a single seminary where there are not faculty  members who disavow one or more of the major teachings of the Christian faith."

Modernism is not new in the UMC. It began to take root in the late 1800s, as Methodist pastors were indoctrinated in higher criticism in Germany and returned  to spread this poison. Robert Chiles has documented this shift from historic  orthodoxy to liberalism in his book Theological Transition in American Methodists: 1790-1935. A book entitled The Christlike God, published in the early 1940s by Methodist Bishop Francis McConnell of the New York area, denied the deity of Jesus Christ. McConnell said, "Is not this tendency to deify Jesus more heathen than Christian?" On the west coast, Methodist Bishop Gerald Kennedy  in Los Angeles was spouting every sort of unbelief and heresy prior to 1950. He  denied the Inspiration of Scripture, the Trinity, the Atonement, the Deity of  Christ, the Second Coming. Kennedy said, "I believe the testimony of the New  Testament taken as a whole is against the deity of Jesus."

Apostasy among Methodist missionaries is illustrated by E. Stanley Jones, missionary to India. In his book Christ and the Round Table Jones stated, "If verbal infallibility is insisted upon, then the certainty is very precarious" (p. 257). In his Song of Accounts Jones says, "We do not believe that the New Testament is the revelation of God--that would be the Word become printer's ink"  (p. 377). In his book Mahatma Gandhi: An Interpretation, Jones testified that he  went to India to convert the heathen, but in the end the heathen conquered him  and he became an idolizer of Gandhi and a promoter of pacifism. In 1943 Jones  delineated his concept of a World Church Union. By this plan there would be a  World Assembly of the Church of Christ and each nation would have a national  expression of this world body. The World Assembly would be made up of delegates  from the national assemblies; and, "interpreting the mind of Christendom on  world affairs, ... would be listened to by the nations." This sounds more like  the harlot of Revelation than the apostolic church of the first century. Jones  denounced capitalism and praised Russian communism. In his book The Choice  Before Us Jones argued for the establishment of a "new economic order" on earth  which would redistribute wealth along communist lines. Jones identified this  communist world order with the kingdom of God. In Song of Accounts, Jones says,  "I had to go outside my native land to make a discovery of the kingdom of God. I  found it ... in Russia" (pp. 148,149).

At its 1972 Quadrennial Conference, the UMC formally approved a policy of doctrinal pluralism founded upon the four-fold authority of Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason. United Methodist "scholars" participated in the Jesus Seminar which determined that Jesus did not believe that He was God, was not born of a virgin, did not perform miracles, did not give prophecies of the future, did not die for man's sins, and did not rise from the dead. Speaking  at a meeting connected with the 1972 UMC Quadrennial Conference, Cecil Williams,  pastor of the Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco, Calif., said, "I  don't want to go to no heaven ... I don't believe in that stuff . I think it's a  lot of - - - -." (Here he used a curse word.) William's church replaced the  choir with a rock band, and its "celebrations" have included dancing and even  nudity. A Jewish rabbi is on William's staff. After attending a service at Glide  Memorial, a newspaper editor wrote, "The service in my opinion, was an insult  to every Christian attending and was the most disgusting display of vulgarity  and sensuousness I have ever seen anywhere." In spite of William's apostasy and  immorality, his bishop has continued to support him.

One UMC pastor with wide experience who wrote on the conditions within his denomination said, "The pluralism of theology in United Methodism is bewildering. In my last year of denominational seminary, one classmate wanted a Methodist pastorate so he could help people get rid of the superstitious notion that there was a Higher Power who restricts their freedom to be authentically human. Yet in the same class were other seminarians who were eager to preach 
Jesus as Savior and Lord. Under pluralism, United Methodist clergy can hold almost any view--unless (and here's the rub) it is too strongly and explicitly orthodox-evangelical. One student pastor in Ohio heard a professor at a United Methodist seminary deny the necessity of the Resurrection. The student, in his parish newsletter, then stated that, without the authenticity of the Resurrection, there could be no Christianity. A very much dissatisfied superintendent called him to warn that if he expected to be ordained into a pluralistic church, he could not be so rigid and dogmatic over specific doctrines, including the Resurrection. Yet few such restrictions seem to apply in the [modernistic] direction. ... A pastor who supports the UMC system can be anything from quietly conservative to universalist, agnostic, or even father Left. ... For many reasons, the United Methodist climate is alien and inhospitable to forthright evangelical faith" (Pastor Charles Keysor, Christianity Today, Nov. 9, 1984).

The United Methodist Church and Homosexuality. The UMC formally states that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, and in 1984 voted to prohibit ordination of self-avowed, practicing homosexuals. In practice these statements mean almost nothing. As soon as the prohibition against homosexual ordinations went into effect UMC bishops ordained  sodomites in Colorado and California. The New York UMC Conference passed a  resolution which said, "We deeply regret our denomination's continued oppression  of homosexual persons ... We look forward to the day when the church will accept  gay and lesbian persons into full fellowship." Retiring UMC bishop Melvin  Wheatley spoke to a body of the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) in Sacramento, California, in 1985, and said the MCC is "wonderful because you are mixing the gay and Christian experience." The MCC is a homosexual denomination. Wheatly said in 1983, "I clearly do not believe that homosexuality is a sin. ...  Homosexuality, quite like heterosexuality, is neither a virtue nor an accomplishment. It is a mysterious gift of God's grace ... His or her homosexuality is a gift--neither a virtue nor a sin." Many United Methodist churches have performed wedding ceremonies for homosexuals, and a number of homosexuals have been ordained to the ministry in the UMC. James Conn, pastor of  a UMC congregation in Ocean Park, Calif., said, "The gospel as I understand it  is about the quality of the relationship, whether it is a homosexual or heterosexual one." Ignacio Castuera of Hollywood First Methodist Church said the  church is under a moral obligation to bless gay requests for marriage ceremonies. In 1992 the UMC Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns declared itself open to the full participation of all people, including  gays and lesbians, and the top judicial body of the UMC ruled that the agency  was within its rights to make such a declaration. When Melvin Talbert was  ordained head bishop for Northern California and Nevada in 1988, he stated: "I  do not believe we know enough about homosexuality to make hard and fast rules. I  would have hoped we could be more open and compassionate to people of different  sexual orientations. I come with no prejudgments." Also in 1988 the California  Methodist Conference sponsored an "enrichment weekend" for homosexual couples. Homosexuality is not the only moral perversion condoned in UMC circles. The UMC communications agency in 1988 issued a statement on "erotica" which approved  of sexually explicit pornography as long as it was not violent or coercive!

The United Methodist Church and Paganism. The new UMC worship book "showed respect for the spirituality" of America's pagan Indians by including American Indian ceremonies with optional smoking of the peace pipe! A song in the new UMC hymnal is entitled "Lord of the Dance." "They buried my body and they thought I'd gone, but I am the dance and I still go on. They cut me down and I leapt up high, I am the life that'll never, never die; I'll live in you if you'll live in me; I am the Lord of the Dance, said he."

The United Methodist Church and Pacifism At its 1984 national governing board meeting, UMC bishops called on America to disarm itself. "Unless we can abolish war, the chances are there will not be any world left for us to reform ... Christian conscience demands total disarmament by disbanding armies, navies and air forces over the face of the earth." In 1986 the UMC bishops issued a pastoral letter titled "In Defense of Creation and a Just Peace" which opposed maintaining a nuclear deterrence and called the possession of nuclear arms idolatry.

The United Methodist Church and Abortion. At its 1972 General Conference the UMC called for the legalization of abortion. The UMC was a founding member of the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, which sought "to encourage and coordinate support for safeguarding the 
legal option of abortion." In one year the Methodist Board of Church and Society  contributed more than $400,000 to the abortion rights coalition. The UMC came  out in support of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which legalized  abortion in the United States.

The United Methodist Church, Divorce, Immorality. Though the UMC is officially opposed to immorality, in practice there is rampant moral sin. This denomination has fallen light years away from the holiness position of its forefathers. We have seen the UMC position on homosexuality and abortion. Divorce is rampant in the UMC. A comprehensive survey conducted by the denomination in 1986 revealed that divorce among the clergy is more than three times higher than among the non-ordained members. As of 1984, all three of the new Methodist bishops for the western part of the U.S.  were divorced. United Methodist professor and minister Robert Elliott has developed a divorce service for couples seeking a blessing on their breakup. Joseph Quillian, dean of the school where Elliott teaches, called the divorce service a sound concept. The dean said, "There's no reason something shouldn't  be done ceremonially for committed Christians who divorce." Writing in the Christian Century magazine for Oct. 31, 1984, Methodist minister David Jaeger claimed that a pastor who has had sexual relationships with other women besides his wife may still be considered faithful to his wife, and claimed that adultery  should not disqualify a man from the ministry. The UMC meeting held to celebrate  Methodism's 200th anniversary featured country-western entertainer Willie  Nelson, who glorifies adultery and drunkenness in his music. Nelson said, "I  think all music is religious. We're all given our talents by some supreme  being--God, Buddah, whatever. They categorize it and call it country, gospel,  rock and roll, but it all comes from the same place." The UMC Board of Discipleship, prior to 1980, owned many explicit sex films which it used in conjunction with its "human sexuality forums." The movies depicted all sorts of moral reprobation, including male and female homosexuality.

The United Methodist Church and Feminism. The feminist movement exercises a powerful influence within the UMC. Women have been ordained to the ministry in what is now the UMC since 1956. As of 1992  they had 4,743 ordained women ministers, far more than any other
U.S. denomination. The UMC ordained its first female bishop, divorcee Leotine Kelly, in July 1980. In 1983 a UMC congregation in Florida sponsored the first father-daughter clergy team. The new UMC worship book contains a number of references to God as both Mother and Father. One statement in the worship book is "Jesus, good Lord, are you not also Mother?" In 1984, the UMC approved a report which called on all its churches to refer to God and Jesus Christ only
in  sexually inclusive language--in other words, not to address God as "He" or as  "Father." In 1986 the UMC Rocky Mountain Conference issued a ruling that REQUIRED all candidates for ordination to use "inclusive language" in referring to God. Candidates would have to use inclusive words such as Creator or Redeemer, and phrases such as Divine Light instead of Father, King or Lord. Candidates could refer to God as Mother and Father or he/she. The following year  the Rocky Mountain UMC Conference softened this resolution somewhat in that they  no longer REQUIRED inclusive language, but they still urged such upon their  people. The new resolution said, "All candidates are encouraged to use inclusive  language both in reference to the deity and to persons." The unscriptural  feminist attitude of many of the UMC "clergy" is illustrated in comments made by  "Pastor" Kim Smith, speaking before a women's conference in 1985. She said Paul  held "what we would consider sexist views of women." She claimed that Paul was a  man of his time and that he never meant his statements about women to become the  basis for the teaching of the entire church. Smith estimated that by the year  2000 half of the ordained clergy in California would be women.

United Methodists participated in the production of the National Council of Churches inclusive lectionary, which removed masculine references to God; addressed God as "Father and Mother"; deleted passages which instruct the wife to submit to the husband; changed many words, such as "son" to "child," "king" to "ruler," "kingdom" to "realm"; and added the names of wives to the O.T. genealogies. NCC lectionary committee member Sharon Ringe of the
Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio, said, "Much hurt is caused by
oppressive speech." In 1984 the UMC Women's Division issued an alternative to the Lord's Prayer: "Our Mother/Father, who is everywhere, Holy be your names. May your new 
age come, May your will be done. In this and in every time and place. Meet our needs each day and Forgive our failure to love, As we forgive this same failure in others. Save us in hard times, and Lead us into your ways of love. For yours is the wholeness and the power, And the loving forever. Amen." This was released  in Women and Worship by Harper & Row Publishers.

Evangelical Resurgence? Though some claim to see an evangelical resurgence within the UMC in recent years, they are deceiving themselves. In concluding his remarks on an eyewitness  report of the 1980 UMC Quadrennial General Conference, Editor M.H. Reynolds  remarks, "In dozens of other actions taken, it was made clear that liberals are  in control of the Methodist ship! Conservatives who remain on board are  desperately trying to bail water out of a sinking ship--a ship which is moving  into the storm of ecumenical and political revolution" (M.H. Reynolds, Jr., "The  United Methodist Church: Pluralism in Full Bloom," Foundation, May-June 1980).

The United Methodist Church Outside the United States While there are small Methodist groups throughout the world that have not followed the liberal path, such as the Free Methodists in Canada and the Evangelical Methodists in Mexico and Bolivia, the major Methodist denominations have departed from the evangelical faith of their forefathers. Many of the 
Methodist denominations outside the U.S.A. are being absorbed into larger ecumenical bodies. The Methodists in India united with Presbyterians, Anglicans and others to form the Church of South India in 1947 and the Church of North India in 1970. The Methodists in Australia united with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists in 1977 to form the Uniting Church of Australia. Most Methodists in Canada merged with the Presbyterians, Congregationals, and Evangelical United Brethren in 1968 to form the United Church of Canada. All of these bodies are radically modernistic and ecumenical. Similar ecumenical accords have happened in other lands.