The Rise and Fall of American Methodism

The Methodist Church's rise and recent decline is perhaps the most statistically striking story in American religious history. At the time of the American Revolution, the denomination was tiny. English Methodist founder John Wesley was hostile toward American independence, which badly hampered the church's growth in America. After the Revolution, the American church began to operate independently from English Methodists. The legendary Methodist "circuit riders" began reaching the American backcountry, riding on horseback to reach every nook and cranny of the Appalachian frontier and Mississippi River Valley. In 1770, there were about 20 Methodist churches in America. By 1860 that number had grown to more than 19,000.

Methodist growth in America continued into the post-World War II era, reaching a high point of 11 million members in the 1960s. But in the past forty years, as with all of America's "mainline" denominations, Methodist membership numbers went into free-fall, to a current membership total of 7.6 million. Even as the total number of Americans skyrocketed, the number of Methodists plummeted.

The complex story of Methodism's decline is explained partly by the denomination's official political positions that have closely aligned with those of the American left. This century-long story is told in Mark Tooley's closely researched new book, Methodism and Politics in the Twentieth Century. Tooley is the President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, which seeks to promote renewal in mainline denominations, including the United Methodist Church.

Reading Tooley's history, one is struck by the desultory quality of the Methodist church's political choices over the past century. Bishops reacted to one world crisis after another with lagging responses that often appeared designed to please political allies. Even occasional dalliances with communism (both Soviet and Chinese) were, at the time, regarded as prophetic and forward thinking. Now they seem shockingly short-sighted.

Tooley demonstrates the perils of a church trying to maintain its prophetic edge through political advocacy. The church's primary business, of course, should never be contemporary politics. Confessing that Jesus is Lord has always had political ramifications, but aligning that confession too closely with specific powers of this world often leads to the church being exploited as a political tool and ultimately abandoned when the tool is no longer necessary. Tooley shows that the Methodists' high point of political power came in enacting what became the great failed policy of Prohibition. For the better part of the past century, some in the Methodist hierarchy have been scrambling to recover that lost political influence.

Being accepted by political authorities is always a tantalizing prospect, but it often comes with a price of distraction from the church's main business. Methodists, Tooley shows, sometimes cautioned themselves about this tension. The 1972 General Conference of the United Methodists warned that churches were often devoting entire Sundays to organizing political demonstrations, discussing "the next election, or the most recent word from the high priests of ecology," with nary a mention "of divine pardon, or of holiness of life, or of the world to come." Yet the American Methodist slide only accelerated after 1972.

Many individual congregations did not adopt an overtly political emphasis, and many local Methodists have felt alienated from the national denomination's priorities. And of course there are individual Methodist congregations in America that are thriving. Among the common features of these churches are gospel preaching of a sort that John Wesley would recognize, and robust strategies of outreach that would please the old circuit riders.

An overemphasis on politics is certainly not the exclusive cause of shrinking numbers in Methodist churches: other contributing factors might include theological (not just political) liberalism, the marginalization of intentional Christian commitment at flagship Methodist universities, and various other struggles common to churches across the theological spectrum, such as aging membership and competition from non-denominational mega-churches.

The overall situation of the Methodist Church looks quite different in global perspective, however. United Methodists are growing in other parts of the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. On any given Sunday, there are probably more people in Methodist churches of the Congo than in America.

The surging strength of African churches, which are overwhelmingly conservative in theology, has begun to change the character of United Methodist General Conference meetings—the quadrennial global assemblies of the denomination's leaders (the next one is slated for April in Tampa). The growing number of African delegates is one of the main reasons that Methodists have not yet endorsed ordaining homosexual pastors or blessing homosexual unions. And those regions of the U.S. that have seen the strongest support for normalizing homosexuality within the church have also lost members the fastest.

The American Methodists' experience of decline is a cautionary tale for all churches, including conservative ones. Evangelical church membership in America today is only holding steady, at best, and we may well look back in a generation and see a story of American evangelical decline similar to that which the mainline churches have experienced in the last forty years.

Especially those evangelical churches that position themselves effectively as a wing of the Republican Party might expect the same descent as the mainline. Obviously, there are politically-relevant doctrines concerning the biblical view of life, marriage, and sexuality that remain essential for evangelical Christian teaching. But seeking to fulfill the church's mission primarily through political advocacy appears to be a key historic ingredient in denominational decline.

Thomas S. Kidd teaches history and is a Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion. He is the author of Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots and God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution. Follow his writings via Facebook and Twitter.

Kidd's column, "Faith in History," is published on alternate Wednesdays on the Evangelical portal.

I grew up in the UMC. This article is good as far as it links the shift to a political focus to the UMC’s decline. At the same time, though, there was also a shift in theology in some churches that represented a departure from Christian orthodoxy. A UMC pastor wrote a book called, “What You Don’t Have to Believe to Be A Christian”, and one of the gems from that was something like, “You don’t have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but you can believe that he was someone really special.” I think that the social justice emphases, plus adopting feminist and various liberation theologies, plus things like importing foreign liturgical elements in worship (I once saw a Methodist minister wearing vestments more appropriate for an Orthodox priest), happen when you need something to replace the core of the faith, which you no longer really believe in. I think that has a much to do with the UMC’s decline as its emphasis on strictly secular politics.

“Many individual congregations did not adopt an overtly political emphasis, and many local Methodists have felt alienated from the national denomination’s priorities.”

I feel like saying, “Damn straight”, but “Amen” is probably more appropriate, seein’ as it’s Lent and all...

I love my Wesleyan tradition and am heartened at the Renewal Movement, which is intentionally taking back the high ground in Methodism, one person at a time. IMHO, Methodism started its precipitous slide when the Methodists merged with the United Brethren back in the 60s.

IMHO, Methodism started its precipitous slide when the Methodists merged with the United Brethren back in the 60s.

Exactly mirrors my observation and opinion as long as you add the National Council of Churches to the mix when considering reasons behind the unraveling of Methodism. The most telling evidence would be my uncle. When he died in the late 90s (age 94), I was the executor of his will and was most surprised to find he left not a dime to the congregation that he had been a member of all his life. Of course, I was not able to question him directly about the reason but I did draw a conclusion from numerous comments in the waning years of his life. I think he was especially bothered with the women taking over the pulpit.

As another person who spent my young years in the Methodist church I have to say I am not sorry to hear of the declining numbers. My parents had us at church and Sunday school every Sunday. Sunday night, Wednesday night and other weekly functions were not with as much regularity but were common.

Some examples of teaching from the pulpit that I heard growing up were:

1) Jesus did not actually rise from the dead. The people that bore witness to Him after the crucifixion were probably just on an emotional plane where they saw ghosts or hallucinations.

2) Mary was not necessarily a virgin. She could have been pregnant from an unspecified dalliance with an un-named man but God chose to single out Mary and her unborn child as “His.” I was in my early teen years when this topic came up in a Sunday morning sermon.

3) Don’t try to read the Bible. It’s too complicated. Just try to be a good person.

There are many more examples I could site but all diametrically opposed to scripture as I have read and understood it since my salvation at age 30. I did have a young adulthood full of the devil until my salvation such that actually hearing the Word of God truthfully washed me and changed me. I accepted Christ after an uncle and aunt testified to me for many months using that old Baptist tool “the Roman’s road.” In 18 years of Methodism I honestly never heard of accepting Christ as savior. As a child I was an excellent student, loved learning, did well in school, was an avid reader so my hearing and learning were not the issue.

I know and have met many good and loving Methodist people. Many of my family are still Methodist. I love them all but truly am concerned with the matter of their salvation. Folks, it’s hard to witness to your own family and especially your parents. The Methodist church hasn’t done the job of preaching the truth in my sphere of knowledge and some of my loved ones are paying for it. We pray and quietly speak the Truth. It’s a situation that I put in God’s completely capable Hands but this report appears to be good news from my perspective.

RE: Don’t try to read the Bible. It’s too complicated. Just try to be a good person.

If the Bible isn’t the standard for how good is defined because it is too complicated to understand, How do they define “good” then?

What rule do they use to determine what is good or bad?

And if someone defines good differently than what this pastor teaches, who is right? Or is he saying that both are right?

If someone says having sex outside of marriage is good, does the pastor say “yes” or “no”?

What acts as his guide?

If the Bible isn’t the standard for how good is defined because it is too complicated to understand, How do they define “good” then?

Your questions were exactly the dilemmas I spent my teen years trying to unravel. I did attempt to read the entire Bible beginning at about age 12. I think the only books I was not able to complete during those years were the latter Old Testament prophets. In attempt to be brief I will just say that I was confused back then by the information I was reading versus the teachings I was hearing versus the lives of people in our church. I don't want to pass judgement on the congregation but this was during the '60's and in the south. We had rampant racism in our family, church congregation and circle of friends. That was pretty much the norm then but I didn't feel it fit with what I read in the Bible.

In our church we also had younger adults who protested the war in Vietnam. Although they were young, I looked up to those "kids" as my elders. We also had many mature adults such as my folks who were conservative and ardent patriots. I do thank God that I learned American conservative political values from my dad. But, the conflict between the different demographic factions within the church was ugly and my sponge of a young mind absorbed the arguments but did not understand the cursing and vulgar language used to accord with what I read in that Bible.

I thank God for the church family I had as my children went through those formative pre-teen and teen years because I vividly remember my confusion in trying to form a set of personal values with an intangible definition of "good." I will admit, I failed. My children were much more successful then I and I give credit to having those Biblical pastors to back up what I was teaching in our home.

I accept the personal accountability for my youth because I am an intelligent person and could have made better choices. I was a mom at age 17, was actually introduced to drugs for the first time at a Methodist church and made a generally bad start to adulthood. But, God is good. I guess I was just stubborn enough to want to find the answers to that list of questions you posed. I did like so many of my generation and followed into Eastern stuff, New Age, any crazy philosophical route that presented itself interested me.

The Uncle and Aunt who led me to the Lord were also raised Methodist. They had neighbors who testified to them and were saved about 3 years before me. When they began to testify to me I certainly rejected them because I'd tried Christianity. But, they were (and are) my favorite relatives so I socialized with them often. The things they said actually made sense to me. The Biblical definition of "good" put an end to a 12 year quest to find answers. I am no longer a member of a Baptist church so not trying to testify that Baptists have a monopoly. I do believe we as Christians have a monopoly. I don't believe that being a Methodist is UN-Christian either. It's just my experience (and that of other members of my family) that the Christian teaching isn't heard in a Methodist church.

My Grandfather started out as a circuit rider in Arkansas in the late 1800s. He preached throughout Texas and Oklahoma into the early 50’s when he left to be with the Lord. My mother gathered his sermon notes into binders to preserve for the family and they made their way into my hands. I never knew him, he was gone before I came along, but it has been a blessing reading them.

I grew up in the Methodist Church, graduated from Methodist universities, attended Methodist churches as a young adult, and still visit them at family events/holidays. There are still some good, spirit-filled pastors at the local level - especially in the Bible belt. But there are too many that have no business in the pulpit, and far too much politics in the denomination leadership.

Preach/teach the Word, including the meat of the Gospel, and the people will come and lives will be transformed. Preach a social gospel, or put on a show, the church will simply fade away. By no means is this just a problem with the Methodist Church, as I have visited many different churches/denominations in my life.

People are hungry for God because deep inside they know they need to be spiritually connected to the vine. Ceremonies and tradition can never replace the need for a relationship with our Heavenly Father. And churches need to help people make that connection and keep it alive and growing. A religion or denomination by itself will never replace the life and joy that comes from being God’s child, and feeding on the Word which is Spirit, Truth and Life.

I pray for every church/denomination and every Believer and the lost, knowing that God will pour water on thirsty ground, sometimes even in a dead church.

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