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Books > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Methodist Churches
In recent years, new music and worship styles have enriched the
worship styles have enriched the worship experience, from
contemporary worship and praise music to world music. New hymnody
offers modern images and refreshing tunes that tell the old, old
story. Now churches can continue to sing the hymns they treasure
and add newer music to their worship life! All editions come with
Cross & Flame emblem on the cover except for the "Cross Only"
version of the Pew Edition.
The Primitive Methodist Connexion's mature social character may
have been working-class, but this did not reflect its social
origins. This book shows that while the Primitive Methodist
Connexion's mature social character was working-class, this did not
reflect its social origins. It was never the church of the working
class, the great majority of whose churchgoers went elsewhere:
rather it was the church whose commitment to its emotional witness
was increasingly incompatible with middle-class pretensions. Sandy
Calder shows that the Primitive Methodist Connexion was a religious
movementled by a fairly prosperous elite of middle-class preachers
and lay officials appealing to a respectable working-class
constituency. This reality has been obscured by the movement's
self-image as a persecuted community of humble Christians, an image
crafted by Hugh Bourne, and accepted by later historians, whether
Methodists with a denominational agenda to promote or scholars in
search of working-class radicals. Primitive Methodists exaggerated
their hardships and deliberately under-played their social status
and financial success. Primitive Methodism in the later nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries became the victim of its own founding
mythology, because the legend of a community of persecuted
outcasts, concealing its actual respectability, deterred potential
recruits. SANDY CALDER graduated with a PhD in Religious Studies
from the Open University and has previously worked in the private
sector.
Features & Benefits- Examines the faith of John and Charles
Wesley- Organized around four themes: message, community,
discipline and servanthood- Concise but comprehensive- Highlights
the unique strengths of Wesleyan theology- Draws on John Wesley's
writings and Charles Wesley's hymns- Written by a scholar and
teacher specializing on the Wesleys
A history of the New Room and of Methodism in Bristol and Kingswood
in the time of John and Charles Wesley and the subsequent history
of the building.The first full-scale history of the New Room,
Bristol - the oldest Methodist Chapel in the world. It was built by
John Wesley in 1739 and is the cradle of Methodism.
A fascinating introduction to the English Revival of
Christianity and the tumultuous world of the 18th century
The English Revival of the 18th century was an exciting time for
Christianity that most people today know little about. For
instance: "What caused it and why did it spread? Did it prevent a
revolution in the UK, similar to that which had convulsed France?
And what effect did it have--locally, nationally, and globally?"
Introducing the Revival's main players--the Wesleys, Whitefield,
John Newton, and William Wilberforce--this book answers all of
those questions and more. It brings together what they believed,
what they taught, and the immense impact they had on the people of
the UK, both the rich and the poor. Out of the Revival came the
Clapham Sect and the successful campaign to end slavery; the
Methodist church; and a new role for women. This book will interest
and delight both the expert and history novice alike.
In 1834 the weary missionary Jason Lee arrived on the banks of the
Willamette River and began to build a mission to convert the local
Kalapuya and Chinook populations to the Methodist Church. The
denomination had become a religious juggernaut in the United
States, dominating the religious scene throughout the mid-Atlantic
and East Coast. But despite its power and prestige and legions of
clergy and congregants, Methodism fell short of its goals of
religious supremacy in the northwest corner of the continent. In A
Country Strange and Far Michael C. McKenzie considers how and why
the Methodist Church failed in the Pacific Northwest and how place
can affect religious transplantation and growth. Methodists failed
to convert local Native people in large numbers, and immigrants who
moved into the rural areas and cities of the Northwest wanted
little to do with Methodism. McKenzie analyzes these failures,
arguing the region itself-both the natural geography of the place
and the immigrants' and clergy's responses to it-was a primary
reason for the church's inability to develop a strong following
there. The Methodists' efforts in the Pacific Northwest provide an
ideal case study for McKenzie's timely region-based look at
religion.
"Brilliantly provocative. . . . [A] masterful account."-Grant
Wacker, Christian Century The emergence of Methodism was arguably
the most significant transformation of Protestant Christianity
since the Reformation. This book explores the rise of Methodism
from its unpromising origins as a religious society within the
Church of England in the 1730s to a major international religious
movement by the 1880s. During that period Methodism refashioned the
old denominational order in the British Isles, became the largest
religious denomination in the United States, and gave rise to the
most dynamic world missionary movement of the nineteenth century.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Methodism had circled the
globe and was poised to become one of the fastest-growing religious
traditions in the modern world. David Hempton, a preeminent
authority on the history of Methodism, digs beneath the hard
surface of institutional expansion to get to the heart of the
movement as a dynamic and living faith tradition. Methodism was a
movement of discipline and sobriety, but also of ecstasy and
enthusiasm. A noisy, restless, and emotional tradition, Methodism
fundamentally reshaped British and American culture in the age of
industrialization, democratization, and the rise of empire.
Throughout its 200 year history, Hinde Street Church in London has
been one of Britain's best-known Methodist churches, with a long
tradition of great preaching and local community service. In the
early years crowds flocked there to hear the foremost orators of
the day. And thousands of children in the church's Sunday School
were taught reading and writing skills before universal education
was introduced. Hinde Street has always reflected its Marylebone
locality: from the early days when poverty and disease were rife,
to the turn of the twentieth century when shop-girls and young
workers from the new West End stores were an important part of the
local population. Alan Brooks' book tells of episodes of tragic
internal strife, of personal sacrifice and of the devastation of
war. But he also recalls a high tradition of worship and music over
two centuries, the excitement of building a magnificent new chapel,
and the church's constantly developing efforts to support its
inner-city constituency. Fascinating details of Hinde Street's
connections with many of Methodism's great leaders over two
centuries are revealed, including its long-term relationship with
Donald Soper and with the West London Mission whose ambitious
social welfare outreach continues to this day.
The story of John Wesley's affair with Grace Murray and how Charles
Wesley prevented their marriage by persuading Grace to marry John
Bennet, who was one of the key Methodist lay preachers, has long
fascinated historians, but most have tended to view John as the
victim and been hugely critical of the behaviour and actions of the
others involved. Grace has been described as 'impetuous, imperious,
and probably a little unstable' and as an 'uneducated, vain,
fickle, selfish and presuming' flirt, even though this does not tie
in with either John Wesley's or John Bennet's view of her. Bennet
has been dismissed as 'a cheat' and 'a treacherous, unfriendly
man', even though Charles Wesley, George Whitefield and other
contemporaries consistently praised his character. Charles has been
accused of over-reacting to gossip and acting out of personal
reasons. It has been alleged, for example, that he wanted John to
remain single so he could retain the income his own wife required,
and that both he and his wife were too snobbish to want to have
Grace as their sister-in-law. All these accusations have tended to
obscure rather than clarify what really happened because they
either ignore or do not pay enough attention to the fact that John
Wesley was just as much to blame for what happened.Today, after
decades of relative historical neglect, Grace Murray is beginning
to receive more recognition as 'a strong-willed, capable and
dedicated woman worthy of a distinguished place in the annals of
early Methodism'. What emerges from this study is a remarkable
woman - a pioneer female class leader and preacher, who, throughout
her life, had to come to terms not only with the doubts and fears
that can beset Christians at times, but also with the prejudices of
her day. Dr Johnson represented those well when he quipped: 'A
woman preaching is like a dog walking on its hind legs. It is not
done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.' What
comes across most strongly in Grace's writings is her acute
awareness of her own failings and her abiding faith in the
redemptive love of God. When she knew she was approaching death she
wrote to her son:'God did wonders for me all my life. I have been
astonished and overwhelmed with a sense of his love to me the chief
of sinners, the most unfaithful and unprofitable of all his
servants.'Her character makes it all the more understandable why
John Wesley was hit so hard by her loss and why he struggled to
understand why God had not permitted him to marry her:The main
outcome of Grace's marriage to John Bennet has usually been
portrayed as being John Wesley's disastrous marriage on the rebound
to Molly Vazeille, but of far more significance was the divide her
loss created between John and Charles. That had huge and important
repercussions on the way in which Methodism was subsequently to
develop.After the initial trauma was over both John Wesley and
Grace Murray came to believe that it was God who had prevented
their marriage. In a more secular age, it seems preferable to
explain what happened by looking at the actions of people involved
and using the evidence available. This book tries to do exactly
that and what emerges is a tragedy of errors for which all the
protagonists can be held equally responsible. John Wesley, Grace
Murray, John Bennet, and Charles Wesley all did what they did for
the best, if at times misguided, motives. Whether the hand of God
can also be seen in what happened is left to the reader's
judgement.
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