FOUNDED: 1729 C.E.
RELIGION AS A PERCENTAGE OF WORLD POPULATION: 1.17 percent

Overview

Methodism, a form of Protestant Christianity, was founded by John Wesley (1703–91) as a means of promoting disciplined Christian living within the Church of England. Ordained an Anglican priest in 1728, Wesley formed a small religious society in about 1729 while a fellow and tutor of Lincoln College, Oxford, England. As the movement grew and spread, it was characterized by open-air preaching focused on God's forgiving love toward all people (justification), the possibility of holy living (sanctification), disciplined living "by method and rule," Christian nurturing in close-knit societies, and an organizational structure closely monitored by Wesley himself. Opposing itself to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, the Wesleyan revival stressed God's "free grace" to all and attracted many poor people who felt excluded by the elitist teachings and practices of the Church of England.

As the eighteenth century progressed, Methodism...