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The Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas
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Historical Overview
The conversion of Whitfield, Charles and John Wesley led to the outbreak of a religious revival which impacted the Anglican Church and indeed the social structure of England. In an age of social decay the message of transformation preached brought hope to the masses and every level of English society. Some scholars have suggested that the revival saved England from the social and political upheavals which engulfed France and led to the French Revolution.
The religious revival changed course when on the urging of Whitfield, John Wesley took to the open air. The populace were hungry to hear the word of God. They responded en masse to the message of the revival.
An important development in the work overseas came with the conversion of Nathaniel Gilbert, a planter living in Antigua, who returned to England to hear John Wesley preach. He returned to Antigua to proclaim the Good News to his slaves.
After twenty six years of lay organization and control, the work in the West Indies and the United States came under the authority of the missionaries sent out by John Wesley.
Methodism has become a world church. With growth, schisms arose doing much harm to the cause of the movement. But the spirit of the Wesleys and common heritage, were the foundation from which unions were to emerge. In 1907 the Methodist New Connexion, The Bible Christians and the United Methodist Free Churches formed the United Methodist Church. After the first World War the momentum towards union continued, leading to the great union of 1932 when the Wesleyan Methodist, The United Methodist and the Primitive Methodist Churches formed the Methodist Church. That union became effective for the branches of the Wesleyan movement in the Caribbean and the Americas.
In the Caribbean and the Americas the first attempt at autonomy floundered in 1903. For the next 54 years the Church kept alive the vision of the founders of the first conference. By the spirit of Christ the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas came into being on May 18, 1967. The island of Antigua, where Nathaniel Gilbert preached and where the first Missionaries landed became the headquarters of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas.
An excerpt from the Introduction of
"Methodism: Its Root and Fruit"
by Rev. Dr. Wycherley Gumbs,
September 1986.
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