Differences between Wesleyan and Free Methodist denominations?

spelz · Jun 18, 2012

Hi, I'm just curious about the similarities and differences between these denominations. I know they both emphasize personal holiness and the possibility of apostacy/falling away, but beyond that I don't know much. They both seem like good churches to attend. Thanks for any information you could provide. Sam

GraceSeeker · Jun 18, 2012

Did you check out these websites: The Free Methodist Church and The Wesleyan Church?

Both are offshoots of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 1800s. In the Methodist Bicentenail Celebration back in 1984 these groups came together with other Methodist bodies such as the United Methodist Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church among others.

Maid Marie · Jun 19, 2012

I've not attended either church, but from what I know of their history I think the Wesleyan Church has stronger holiness roots than the Free Methodist Church does.

I'd guess that there polity is different too.

Lee52 · Jun 20, 2012

I was a Local Licensed Minister in the Free Methodist Church.

They are strongly Wesleyan doctrine and range from a bit more conservative, to very much more conservative than the UMC, generally.

I had a close friend that was Wesleyan Church, who is now with Jesus in Heaven. Though very, very conservative, his theology was solid. He was very loving through that solid, Biblical living conservativism. He and his family were almost Mennonite in nature in life style.

All this to say that Maid Marie is accurate in her post.

GraceSeeker · Jun 20, 2012

In my last appointment, we had 12 United Methodist Churches, 4 Free Methodist Churches, 2 Wesleyan Churches, and 1 AME Church in a county of only had 12,000 people. There was no significant difference in the theology of either the laity or the clergy of these churches. At a county ministerial association meeting you might have been able to pick the independent Christian from the Baptist from the Methodists, but you couldn't have guessed which Methodist was United Methodist, which was Free and which was Wesleyan.

Lee52 · Jun 21, 2012

GraceSeeker said:
In my last appointment, we had 12 United Methodist Churches, 4 Free Methodist Churches, 2 Wesleyan Churches, and 1 AME Church in a county of only had 12,000 people. There was no significant difference in the theology of either the laity or the clergy of these churches. At a county ministerial association meeting you might have been able to pick the independent Christian from the Baptist from the Methodists, but you couldn't have guessed which Methodist was United Methodist, which was Free and which was Wesleyan.

And I do love the unity. You probably could have thrown in a Nazarene, a Salvation Army, and Church of God of NA and gotten the exact same result.

Hediru · Jun 21, 2012

This is an interesting discussion. What are the Free Methodist and Wesleyan churches views on women in ministry out of curiosity?

Maid Marie · Jun 21, 2012

Hediru said:
This is an interesting discussion. What are the Free Methodist and Wesleyan churches views on women in ministry out of curiosity?

A friend of mine is a Wesleyan woman pastor. As far as I know she has had a good ministry in TWC.

I don't enough about the FMC to answer.

GraceSeeker · Jun 21, 2012

Lee52 said:
And I do love the unity. You probably could have thrown in a Nazarene, a Salvation Army, and Church of God of NA and gotten the exact same result.

Nah, probably not. The Nazarene Church and the Church of God both closed down. The Church of God became an independent Pentecostal congreation. And the Nazarene Church was on the market for sale with not takers. There is little purpose for the Salvation Army in town, as the rest of the churches in the community had already come together to create a local mission organization that does the same thing.

Hediru said:
This is an interesting discussion. What are the Free Methodist and Wesleyan churches views on women in ministry out of curiosity?

The initial reason that led to separation of the group that would eventually become the Free Methodist Church from the Methodist Episcopal Church was that the folks in the Methodist churches in western upstate New York had ordained a woman to serve as pastor and the rest of the denomination would not recognize her. That squabble led to the realization of other disagreements (pew subscriptions, slavery, and personality conflicts between key leaders) and the eventual splitting off of these churches from the rest of the denomination. But the Free Methodists have never had a time when they did not ordain women in ministry.

Lee52 · Jun 21, 2012

GraceSeeker, I was talking in a larger context, but did not make my thoughts clear.

BTW, the Church of God of North America, Anderson, IN is not pentecostal like the Cleveland, TN Church of God. We truly believe in the Biblical accounts of Pentecost, but do not practice those manifestations in our services. Like UMC, we have a plethora of congregational practices from high church liturgical congregations to "down-home" low church worship services.

Most still practice the Camp Meetings started in the Methodist traditions.

GraceSeeker · Jun 22, 2012

Lee52 said:
GraceSeeker, I was talking in a larger context, but did not make my thoughts clear.

I know you were talking in the larger context. I'm the one who surely wasn't clear. I was just having a little fun with your post is all given the particularlities of one community. I would certainly affirm you statement in the larger context.

Lee52 · Jun 23, 2012

GraceSeeker said:
I know you were talking in the larger context. I'm the one who surely wasn't clear. I was just having a little fun with your post is all given the particularlities of one community. I would certainly affirm you statement in the larger context.

Ah, humor! I have heard of that.........

crixus · Mar 17, 2015

I know that the United Methodist Church is more liberal and the Free Methodists are more conservative. What about the Evangelical Methodist Church? Does anyone know where they stack up in comparison to the UMC and Free Methodists? Is the Evangelical Methodist Church even more conservative than the Free Methodists, or are they in between them and the United Methodists? I searched online but couldn't find the answer. If anyone has first hand knowledge of this I'd appreciate your input. Thank you and God bless!

Maid Marie · Mar 17, 2015

crixus said:
I know that the United Methodist Church is more liberal and the Free Methodists are more conservative. What about the Evangelical Methodist Church? Does anyone know where they stack up in comparison to the UMC and Free Methodists? Is the Evangelical Methodist Church even more conservative than the Free Methodists, or are they in between them and the United Methodists? I searched online but couldn't find the answer. If anyone has first hand knowledge of this I'd appreciate your input. Thank you and God bless!

I would say they are more conservative than the UMC but not sure how they compare to Free Methodist.

Dave-W · Mar 18, 2015

My dad was ordained in the Wesleyan Methodist church and one of his closest friends in the Free Methodist denom.

Their only bone of contention that I ever heard was on church government; with the Wesleyans being for congregational autonomy (little to no oversight) while the Free Methodists had a heirarchy with bishops overseeing multiple congregations.

circuitrider · Mar 18, 2015

The Evangelical Methodist Church is extremely small, only 232 churches last I read. The article I read about them makes them very conservative, maybe more so than Free Methodists.

Differences between Wesleyan and Free Methodist denominations?

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