What Is Practiced Under The Methodist Religion?

The Methodist religion is a part of Christianity. It is a movement within the protestant brand of Christianity. It has its origin in the 16th century with the evangelical awakening of Great Britain. They believe in the Triune Godhead i.e Father Son and Holy Spirit. And pray to Jesus.

To add to the above, the Methodist movement started in the 18th century
in England.  Its founder, John Wesley (1703-1791), was an Anglican
clergyman and the son of an Anglican clergyman. He started a bible
study/prayer group in Oxford University while a student there.  He
was a great believer in methodical habits and, as a result, the group
was nicknamed "the Methodists" by other students.



After University he and his brother, Charles, went to the USA as
missionaries.  Disheartened by his failure, John returned to
England.  During this voyage there was a terrible storm and it was
thought the ship would be lost.  He was absolutely terrified, but
was very impressed by the serenity and faith of a group of Moravian
christians.  He realised they had a real and living faith in Jesus
which he, despite being an Anglican clergyman, lacked.  The ship,
and Wesley, survived the storm and he returned to London, determined to
follow up his contact with the Moravians until he too shared their
living faith in Christ.  While in a meeting at a Moravian mission
in Aldgate Street, London, he said "I felt my heart strangely warmed.",
and he knew he had found the living relationship with God through the
Lord Jesus Christ  for which he had been seeking.



He had no intention of leaving the Church of England, but he did feel a
great compassion for the unchurched masses, who felt out of place in
church, so he and his brother, Charles, with others of like mind
travelled the length and breadth of England, preaching to all who came
to hear in the open air.  This brought him into conflict with the
Anglican church, as it was against their rules for clergymen to preach
in the parish of another clergyman without specific permission from
that clergyman, even when that preaching took place in a field or some
other such public place.  This resulted in John and Charles being
expelled from the Church of England and, however reluctantly, they had
to set up another church organization for their converts rather than
including them within the congregations of the Church of England.



They decided to adopt the nickname that the students at Oxford had
given to their group at the university and so the Methodist Movement,
otherwise known as the Methodist church was born.  It is one of
the Protestant evangelical denominations within the christian church,
and was for a time divided into the Primitive Methodist and the
Wesleyans.   They differed simply on predestination and
freewill, but never really fell out.  I believe a significant
number of Methodist churches returned in some shape or form to the
Church of England in the late twentieth century, but by no means all of
them did that.



John Wesley and the Methodist church had a significant political and
historical impact on England.  It is thought by many historians
that the rescue work done by the early Methodists amongst the poor,
both working people, and the destitute, alcoholics etc was a prime
reason why England avoided a similar upheaval to the French
Revolution.  Because Methodists were a significant proportion of
the poor and working population and they were helping themselves and
each other, there was not the same degree of disorganisation, distress
and disorder amongst their ranks as in those of the poor in
France.  The leaders of the first trades unions were also
Methodists.



The
Evangelical awakening in Great Britain occured in the 19th century and
was influenced to a large extent by the earlier success of
Methodism amongst the previously unchurched.  At that time, many
men became Anglican clergymen because it was regarded as a suitable
occupation for a gentleman without having a living faith in
Christ.  To some extent this was the Anglican church catching up
with
what John Wesley had learned from the Moravians, i.e. The prime need
for a living faith in God through  Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ
only, to experience salvation.