Book Review: A Generous Orthodoxy Part 20 of ??

Methodist

McLaren writes that Methodists have a great story to tell about themselves. In 1739, the movement which came to be called Methodism grew rapidly when George Whitefield convinced John and Charles Wesley to join him in preaching in the fields and streets--that is, to preach outside of churches, which, at the time, was a radical concept. McLaren notes that the Methodists didn't stop with their evangelism at this point (for which McLaren criticizes much of modern evangelism), but rather they organized converts into small groups which were called: bands, classes, and societies.

These societies allowed new converts to be mentored in the Christian faith and train to become mentors to future converts. McLaren thinks that the Methodist movement's vitality ebbed when they lost the focus of reaching out to the types of people who didn't come to church. He gives a hypothetical example of a miner turned Methodist lay-preacher who sees his teenage daughter looking at a young, rough-looking miner who had just started attending meetings. This lay-preacher remembers what he used to be like before he was saved and sanctified and thus begins to preach harder about sin-- implying that sinners aren't very welcomed in the meetings, thus driving the young, rough-looking miner away.

Personally, I find it highly ironic that Methodists left the Anglican church at least partially because the poor and as yet undiscipled people in their ranks were not made to feel welcomed in Anglican churches, but a few generations later William Booth's followers (the Salvation Army) left the Methodist church for much the same reason.