Back in England, both Charles and John had transforming religious experiences in May 1738. While worshipping at Aldersgate Chapel, John’s “heart was strangely warmed” with the personal assurance of Christ’s love for him. They organized small groups for study, spiritual discipline, and service, while Methodism continued to grow as a spiritual reform movement within the Church of England—a very formal State Church. Methodists focused their preaching and outreach among the common people, addressing the pressing issues of their society.

METHODISM IN AMERICA

Beginnings

In 1769, John sent missionaries to America, only to find that colonists had already started Methodist societies. When the American Revolution began (which John was against), Methodists were persecuted for their ties to the Church of England. Eventually, American Methodists distanced themselves from England, and Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke emerged as leaders. During the Christmas Conference of 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church was officially formed with John's blessing and support. During these early days as an organized church, Methodists went where the people were. Circuit riders and lay preachers took Methodism to the American frontier, where it spread rapidly. However, the Methodist Episcopal Church in America soon began to fragment as conflicts arose over slavery and race.

Richard Allen, a Methodist preacher and freed slave, regularly preached and led prayer meetings at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. In 1787, when white church leaders forced two African-Americans who were praying up from their knees, Allen led a walkout. In 1794, “Mother Bethel” Church was dedicated with Allen as pastor, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church was officially founded in 1816. Today, there are over 2 million AME church members worldwide in about 7,000 congregations.

In New York City, African-American Methodists from John Street Methodist Episcopal Church began meeting separately from whites in 1796, due to both overcrowding and active discrimination. Several freed slaves, including James Varick, Abraham Thompson, Thomas Miller, and June Scott, provided leadership and helped build “Mother Zion” Church in 1800. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion denomination was officially founded in 1821. Today, there are over 1.2 million AMEZ church members worldwide in about 3,000 congregations.

Because Methodists were in every region of the growing United States, the Methodist Episcopal Church was caught up in the national conflict over slavery. At General Conference in 1844, representatives from slaveholding states submitted a Plan of Separation, and the church split into the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Following the Civil War, former slaves who had been members of the Methodist Episcopal (ME) Church South, wanted to start an independent religious organization. With the assistance of whites from the ME Church South, African-American religious leaders such as William H. Miles and Richard H. Vanderhorst, organized the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in 1870. The denomination changed its name to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in 1954, and today there are over 800,000 CME church members worldwide in about 3,000 congregations.

The Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South remained separate until 1939 when they united with the Methodist Protestant Church to become The Methodist Church. However, the legacy of racism continued with the creation of the Central Jurisdiction, a separate administrative body based on race rather than geography. Finally, in 1968, the Central Jurisdiction was abolished, and the Methodist Church joined with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form one of the largest Protestant denominations in the world, The United Methodist Church. Today there are more than 8 million UM church members worldwide with about 35,000 congregations.

Saint Paul School of Theology was one of two theology schools authorized by the 1956 General Conference of the Methodist Church. The founding of the seminary was the realization of a dream for Methodist lay and clergy leaders. Due to a shortage of Methodist pastors in the Midwest, Kansas City was selected as the location. Saint Paul was chartered in 1958, and the first group of fifty students began classes in 1959. Today, Saint Paul is one of thirteen seminaries of the United Methodist Church.