Methodist connectionalism : historical perspectives

2009·1.1 MB·English

by  Russell E. Richey

Methodist Connectionalism

Methodist Connectionalism
Historical Perspectives
Russell E. Richey
General Board of Higher Education and Ministry
The United Methodist Church
Nashville, Tennessee
This project was supported by a generous grant from the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Agape
Foundation to the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, and was prepared
by the author as a Senior Fellow of the Center. The author wishes to thank especially Alonzo L.
McDonald, Peter McDonald, and the other McDonald Agape Foundation trustees for their support
and encouragement. The opinions in this publication are those of the author and do not necessar-
ily reflect the views of the Foundation or the Center.
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ISBN 978-0-938162-85-8
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Contents
Abbreviations vii
Acknowledgments xiii
Foreword xv
Introduction: History, the Methodist Mode of Self-Identification 1
Connectional Order
Chapter 1: The First Word about Methodism: History in the Discipline 17
Chapter 2: Connectionalism: Defined in Conflict 34
Chapter 3: General Conference: A Retrospective 49
Connectionalism and Ministry
Chapter 4: Itinerancy in Historical Perspective: “A Wandering Arminian
Was My Father . . .” 65
Chapter 5: Extension Ministries 83
Chapter 6: Organizing for Missions 98
Self-Presentation—Ritually and Apologetically
Chapter 7: Connecting at the Table 117
Chapter 8: A Study in Conference Self-Preoccupation 129
Chapter 9: A Methodist Doctrine of the Church? 141
Conceptualizing the Connection
Chapter 10: Family Values: A Connectional Concern 155
Chapter 11: Methodism as Machine 172
Chapter 12: Methodism and Providence 183
Chapter 13: United Methodism at 40: Taking Stock 208
Conclusion: Reforming the Connection: Breaching Four Walls 234
Notes 249
Index 291
Abbreviations
For Methodist Denominations
AME The African Methodist Episcopal Church (1816– )
AMEZ The African Methodist Episcopal Church Zion (1820– )
CME The Christian [originally Colored] Methodist Episcopal Church (1870– )
EA The Evangelical Association/Church (1803–1946)
EUBC The Evangelical United Brethren Church (1946–1968)
MC The Methodist Church, USA (1939–1968)
MEC The Methodist Episcopal Church (1784–1939)
MECS The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1844–1939)
MPC The Methodist Protestant Church (1830–1939)
UBC The United Brethren Church (1800–1946)
UMC The United Methodist Church (1968– )
For Denominational Periodicals and Journals
CA Christian Advocate,New York (MEC)
MQRS Methodist Quarterly Reviewof the MECS
QR Quarterly Review(UMC)
VII
VIII ABBREVIATIONS
For Other Publications
Annual Report/Board or Annual reports, however titled
Institution/Church
Asbury/Coke Discipline The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in America, with Explanatory
Notes by Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, 10th
ed. (Philadelphia: Henry Tuckniss, 1798; reprint:
Rutland, Vt.: Academy, 1979).
Bangs, History Nathan Bangs, A History of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, 12th ed., 4 vols. (New York:
Carlton & Porter, 1860).
Barclay, Missions Wade Crawford Barclay, Early American
Methodism, 1769–1844, The Methodist Episcopal
Church, 1845–1939: Widening Horizons, 1845–95,
vols. 1–3 of History of Methodist Missions, 4 vols.
(New York: Board of Missions of the Methodist
Church, 1949–73), vols.1–3 by Barclay, vol. 4 by J.
Tremayne Copplestone.
Behney/Eller, History J. Bruce Behney and Paul H. Eller, The History of
the Evangelical United Brethren Church, ed.
Kenneth W. Krueger (Nashville: Abingdon, 1979).
Buckley, History of James M. Buckley, A History of the Methodists
the Methodists in the United States, 4th ed. (New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1890).
Curts, General Conferences The General Conferences of the Methodist
Episcopal Church: From 1792–1896, edited by
Lewis Curts (Cincinnati: Curts & Jennings, 1900).
Discipline/Church year Book of Discipline(under slightly varying names)
for the denomination cited; e.g., UMC Discipline
1996.
Emory, Discipline Robert Emory, History of the Discipline of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, rev. W. P. Strickland
(New York: Carlton & Porter [1857]).
Abbreviations IX
Frank, Polity Thomas Edward Frank, Polity, Practice, and the
Mission of The United Methodist Church
(Nashville: Abingdon, 2006).
HAM The History of American Methodism, ed. Emory
Stevens Bucke, 3 vols. (New York: Abingdon, 1964).
JGC/Church year Journal of the General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Churchfor the church and
year indicated. Includes citations rendered dis-
cretely though from the aggregated Journals of
the General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, 1796–1856, 3 vols. (New York:
Carlton & Phillips, 1856). Vol. 1, 1796–1836; Vol.
2, 1840–44; Vol. 3, 1848–56.
JLFA The Journal and Letters of Francis Asbury, ed.
Elmer T. Clark, 3 vols. (London: Epworth; and
Nashville: Abingdon, 1958).
Lee, Short History Jesse Lee, A Short History of the Methodists
(Baltimore, 1810; Rutland, Vt.: Academy, 1974).
Mathews, Slavery Donald G. Mathews, Slavery and Methodism
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1965).
MEA The Methodist Experience in America, ed. Russell
E. Richey, Kenneth E. Rowe, and Jean Miller
Schmidt, Vol. 2 (Nashville: Abingdon, 2000; Vol. 1
in preparation).
Minutes/church/year Annual or General Minutes, however titled and
aggregated. Reference for the early years of the
MEC is to Minutes of the Annual Conferences of
the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Years
1773–1828(New York: T. Mason and G. Lane,
1840) unless alternative edition indicated. For
example, reference for 1784 in Minutes of the
Methodist Conferences, Annually Held in America
from 1773 to 1813, Inclusive (New York:
X ABBREVIATIONS
Published by Daniel Hitt & Thomas Ware for the
Methodist Connexion in the United States, 1813)
as Minutes/MEC/1784 (1813).
Richey, Conference Russell E. Richey, The Methodist Conference in
America(Nashville: Kingswood, 1996).
Simpson, Cyclopaedia Matthew Simpson, Cyclopaedia of Methodism:
Embracing Sketches of its Rise, Progress, and
Present Condition with Biographical Notices and
Numerous Illustrations, 5th rev. ed. (Phila-
delphia: Louis H. Ewerts, 1882).
Sweet, Methodists William Warren Sweet, ed., Religion on the
American Frontier, 1783–1840: The Methodists,
A Collection of Source Materials (New York:
Cooper Square [1964]; reprint of 1946 edition).
Tigert, History Jno. J. Tigert, A Constitutional History of
American Episcopal Methodism, 3rd ed., rev. and
enl. (Nashville: Publishing House of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, 1908).
Wesley,Journal(Curnock) The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., ed.
Nehemiah Curnock, 8 vols. (London: Epworth,
1909–16).
Wesley, Letters(Telford) The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., ed.
John Telford, 8 vols. (London: Epworth, 1931).
Wesley, Works The Works of John Wesley; begun as The Oxford
Edition of The Works of John Wesley (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1975–83); continued as The
Bicentennial Edition of The Works of John Wesley
(Nashville: Abingdon, 1984– ); 16 of 35 vols. pub-
lished to date.
Wesley, Works(Jackson) The Works of John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson,
14 vols. (London, 1872; Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1958).