Who Started Methodism?
The Methodists were founded by a small group of ministers of the Church of England, primarily John Wesley and George Whitefield, but there were also others, including John’s brother Charles. They originally started meeting in Oxford between 1729 and 1735 as rebels against the emphasis on logic and reason that characterized the Church of England in the early eighteenth century. The term ‘methodist. was originally used as a derogatory term to describe the religious society that Whitefield and the Wesley brothers formed. They were also nicknamed the ‘Holy Club’ as the young men would rather spend hours fasting and praying than partying. The Methodist movement grew and is still popular today but it also had a great impact on the Church of England itself. Although conservative members of the Church of England in the mid-eighteenth century found the Methodist emphasis on private worship, conversion and deep religious experience strange, the enthusiasm of the methodists became fashionable in
