Hi, I’m Dr. Luther Oconer and welcome to
United Methodist History, Lecture 5, where I’ll talk about the beginning of American
Methodism and this lecture will be divided into four important time periods from 1760-1790. As we have shown in the previous lecture,
Methodism had already begun to get its feet planted in England. And within the next 30 years, given its aggressive
evangelism and discipleship cultivated within a growing network of preachers, societies,
chapels, and circuits, it has taken England by storm. However, despite British Methodists continued
missionary advance in their country, that same zeal did to not overflow to the other
side of the Atlantic. The truth is Methodism was nowhere to be found
in the British colonies in North America. As you can see on this chart…Methodism was
nowhere to be found. You see that there were the more established
churches (and I mean official state churches) from Europe like the Anglicans, Catholics,
Dutch Reformed, and German Churches (like the Lutheran and German Reformed). And then you also have the sect type of churches
which escaped persecution in their country of origins and found a haven in the colonies,
like the Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Mennonites, Quakers, and Sandemanians. By the way, if in case you're wondering about
who the Sandemanians were, they were actually a small sect that originated in Scotland and
founded by John Glass and later was spread in England and North America by his son-in-law,
Robert Sandeman, hence they were called Sandemanians. Anyhow, what’s also interesting to note
here is as you look at the charts from each of the colonies, only about 20% of the population
actually were churched. Again, Methodists were nowhere to be found
at this period. So it took thirty years (since leaving Georgia
in 1737) before Wesley began to include the North American colonies in his missionary
plan. Why did he wait so long? Was he turned off by bad experience in Georgia? Probably not. Wesley actually kept in close touch with the
revival in North America after his return to England in 1738. In fact, 1) He reprinted Jonathan Edwards’
Narrative of the Late Work of God at and near Northampton in New England in 1744; which
he even reprinted many times. 2) He corresponded with American Evangelicals,
both Anglicans, and Presbyterians on a number of occasions. But at the same time, Wesley did seem to have
practiced a “hands-off” policy regarding the American colonies. And what were the reasons behind that? 1. He channeled his concern for the colonies
through his younger colleague in the revival, George Whitefield. Whitefield was more dramatic as preacher than
his tutor John Wesley but much less methodical. His forte was oratory not organization. Even though they differed on doctrine and
practice, as we out found in Lectures 2 and 3, they maintained respect for each other. Whitefield visited the North American colonies
seven times between 1739 and 1770. 2. Money, actually, the lack of it. In the 1740s and 1750s Methodism was growing
rapidly in England, building chapels, going in debt. Premature extension into the American colonies,
where so many evangelical preachers were working, may have seemed risky and unwise. 3. But the most serious reason was the outbreak
of Britain’s Seven Years War (1754-1771) with France over control of North America. Americans call this war the French and Indian
War. The power of France in North America was broken
in 1761, but the war lingered on until 1771. However, here’s the thing, what Wesley could
not control, was the migration of many of his followers to the colonies once the war
was over. Beginning in the early 1760s, increasing numbers
of Methodist layfolk begin to arrive in the colonies, part of a general exodus of communities
escaping England’s, and especially Ireland’s, deteriorating economy. Therefore, with the migration of Methodists
from England and Ireland, the earliest Methodist societies would emerge in the three seaport
cities of Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia. Let’s begin with Baltimore. Methodist work here was first begun by Irish
immigrant and local preacher Robert Strawbridge. The Strawbridges—Robert, his wife Elizabeth
(also a devout Methodist), and a niece and nephew arrived sometime in 1760 or 1761 and
settled in Frederick County in Maryland. Robert set out on a wide preaching circuit
through Frederick, Baltimore, and Harford counties and to the edge of the Eastern Shore. His wife was also involved in some evangelistic
activities by exhorting the surrounding families and converting farmer John Evans and forming
a Methodist class. Preachers converted by Robert Strawbridge
include African Americans like Jacob Toogood, one of the first known black Methodist preachers
in America, and white leaders and preachers William Watters and Freeborn Garrettson. Garrettson even became a bishop later. You need to understand that his ministry was
really unofficial since it was not sanctioned by Wesley. Nevertheless, with the encouragement of and
a possible ordination by a German Reformed preacher in connection with William Otterbein,
one of the founders of the United Brethren, Strawbridge expanded his powers by baptizing
and conducting the Lord’s Supper. Again, even though he was not ordained in
the Methodist ministry. In 1774, just 14 or 13 years after the Strawbridge’s
arrival, Methodists in Baltimore opened Lovely Lane Meeting House in Baltimore, which became
the site for the birth of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784. The second port where Methodism also emerged
was New York. About 1766, Barbara and Paul Heck and Margaret
and Philip Embury along with the Hecks’ two African-American servants, John Lawrence
and Betty, begin Methodist meetings in New York City at the home of Philip Embury. The Hecks and Emburys were children of German
refugees who had been living in Ireland and who joined the Methodists there. Their parents left the Palatinate region of
Germany due to hardships early in the 18th Century. Philip Embury had been a Methodist lay preacher
in County Limerick in Ireland. Due to economic hardships, the Hecks and Emburys
left Ireland for New York in 1760. The services soon outgrew the Embury home,
and the Methodist Society began meeting in rented facilities; first on Barrack Street
and then at “The Old Rigging Loft” on Horse and Cart Street (now William Street). It was called “rigging loft” because the
upper story of the building was sometimes used to rig sails for ships. Philip Embury was soon joined in the pulpit
by Captain Thomas Webb, a British officer (actually he was a lieutenant and not a captain)
and a licensed Methodist lay preacher who was converted in Bristol. Here’s a description from Thomas Taylor,
the congregation’s lay leader, about Captain Webb, in his letter to Wesley on April 11,
1768: By 1768 the little society of Methodists had
outgrown the rigging loft and they purchased a lot on John Street in modern Wall Street
area for a meeting house. Embury, who was also a carpenter, designed
the first building and supervised construction. The new meeting house was named Wesley Chapel
and was dedicated on October 30th, 1768. It was later renamed John Street Methodist
Church. Today, this is John Street UMC as it stands
today. If you’ll ever visit New York City and go
to Wall Street or the World Trade Center, it’s just a walking distance away. Now another port city where Methodist work
emerged was Philadelphia. The first “Methodist” to preach in Philadelphia
was George Whitefield in 1739 during what became known as the First Great Awakening. After he left the city several of his converts
began meeting informally with other like-minded persons over the next two decades led by shoemaker
Edward Evans and James Emerson, a recent immigrant from Ireland. When Captain Thomas Webb visited Philadelphia
in 1767, he reorganized seven remaining members who “stood fast in the faith for nearly
thirty years” into a Methodist society. Evans began to serve as a freelance evangelist
in the city. Two years later (1769), when Methodist preachers
Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmore arrived from England, they found a society of about
a hundred desiring to be in connection with Mr. Wesley. The congregation outgrew its meeting room
and began to look for larger quarters. Within a few months, they purchased St. George’s
German Reformed Church, unfinished for lack of money and abandoned by that congregation. By the way, the German Reformed Church was
the denomination that William Otterbein, one of the founders of the United Brethren in
Christ, originally belonged to. So, the Methodists retained the building’s
name and Joseph Pilmore, their more or less resident pastor, dedicated St. George’s
Methodist Chapel on November 24, 1769. By the way, here are some recent images of
St. George UMC, and look I was there, trying to replicate the cover for the Beatles’
Please Please Me album! By the end of the 1760s, Methodism in America
consisted of many household meetings but just a handful of societies and preaching houses
from New York to northern Maryland. Wesley sends lay preachers, beginning in 1769 The Methodists along the mid-Atlantic coast
from New York to Baltimore were beginning to form societies and build preaching houses
but had no regular preachers. The New York congregation instructed their
lay leader, Thomas Taylor to beg Wesley to send
a preacher. So, as you can see, the appeal from the New York
Methodists was quite urgent. While Embury and Webb were effective preachers
they were still lacking in “many qualifications” necessary for the work. Similarly, that same year, a number of Robert
Strawbridge’s followers also sent a “pressing call” to England for preachers. So Wesley eventually heeded the call. On October 24, 1769, the first official missionaries
sent by Wesley to North America arrived in the person of Richard Boardman and Joseph
Pilmore. They landed at Gloucester Point,
New Jersey, just six miles south of Philadelphia. Pilmore stayed in Philadelphia while Boardman,
on the other hand, traveled north to New York City. In the two cities, they introduced Methodist
discipline, including class meetings, love feasts, watch nights, and public readings
of Wesley’s General Rules. Two years later, in 1771, Francis Asbury and
Richard Wright arrived as “volunteer” preachers. Asbury, then only 26 years old, would in time
take leadership of the emerging church. Boardman and Pilmore, however, failed to keep
Wesley’s rules, particularly because of their leniency towards Robert Strawbridge’s
administration of Holy Communion. Remember the Methodists in America just like
in England were a renewal movement and not a church and since their preachers were not
ordained, of course. they were not allowed to administer the sacraments. Boardman and Pilmore apparently concluded
that Strawbridge’s remote location and the people's lack of access to an Anglican church
required him to offer the sacraments to those he served. For Strawbridge's part, he believed that providing
sacraments for the people superseded Mr. Wesley’s rule not to administer them. Therefore, in Wesley’s eyes, this was too
dangerous and would constitute separation from the Church of England. Also, Asbury complained about the two in addition
to them for not venturing outside the cities. Hence, the two pioneering missionaries had
to go. In his letter on December 4, 1773, Wesley
wrote : On January 2, 1774, Boardman and Pilmore boarded
a ship for England. Boardman did not return to America but Pilmore
did, in 1786 in Philadelphia, as an Anglican priest. He broke off from Wesley after Wesley allowed
the Americans to form their own church in 1784 which was actually ironic given how their
positions have reversed on the matter. So, going back to 1773, in order to correct
the difficulties with his two pioneering missionaries, Wesley sends Thomas Rankin, a veteran preacher,
and a strict disciplinarian, to enforce the discipline, especially the itineracy, and
head off a separation from the Church of England. Rankin came to the colonies with extensive
itinerant experience and an acerbic impression of Americans. He actually spent a year in Charleston, South
Carolina where he worked as a merchant’s agent. Rankin gathered the ten American preachers
(among Asbury) for their first conference in America. This happened at St. George’s in Philadelphia
on July 14-16, 1773, and an engraving of this event is shown on the screen. As you can see, St. George’s was still unfinished
even after four years the Methodists bought the building. Six rules were agreed to during this meeting,
which tied the preachers to the authority of Mr. Wesley and specified their rules and
doctrines. But here were two of the rules worth mentioning
here: Rankin’s brusque manner and lack of sympathy
with the colonial cause when war broke out led to strained relations. Rankin returned to England at the end of the
second year of the war in 1778. Now, speaking of the war, this now brings
us to what happened to the Methodists during the War of Independence. Please go to the next video. Thank you!