Sep
25
2018
With the close of the civil war, the Methodist Episcopal (ME) church begins a major outreach to black people in the Southern States, called the Freedman’s aid society. It began with an outreach of evangelism educational programs. But it soon added orphanages and colleges for southern blacks, but also ministered to other ethnic groups. Since the ME and ME, south did not reunite, the ME organized its own conferences in the southern states. The nine conferences thus organized had 47,000 white and 88,000 black members. The ME, south church lost many of its black members. To keep them within the Methodist fold, the Colored Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church was formed in 1870. This new church would not accept white members, but within a few years it had 75,000 members.
Social changes abounded within the churches. There was no longer a probationary period in the ME church before someone could be come a member. Class meetings were no longer compulsory for church membership. In a few years both the ME and ME south allow lay participation in Annual conferences. Though seminaries are established to educate pastors, they are somewhat suspect. Most branches of Methodists establish a “course of study” to standardize what preachers are taught. These classes were an alternative to a seminary education. Within the ME church there continues to be resistance to ordaining women, though some of the other branches of Methodism adopt it.
In 1885 a “General Holiness Assembly’ is held. It defines holiness as “a second definite work received instantaneously by faith, by which the heart is cleansed from all corruption and filled with the perfect love of God.” Methodists of all stripes had dominated in the holiness movement, since it seemed to coincide nicely with Wesley’s idea of “moving on to perfection”, though the movement included people for all denominations. With this new definition of a “second blessing” received instantaneously and superseding salvation in importance many Methodists drew back from the movement. The majority of Methodists believed that holiness was not instantaneous, but an ongoing life-long process. The primary exception to this was the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, which had split from the ME Church in 1843, primarily over its lack of support for abolition. In 1887 they limited members to those who had experienced an instantaneous gift of holiness, though they still allowed those who hadn’t had the gift to be associate members. But over the next decades a number of denominations formed with varying definitions of holiness as their key organizing principals. Many of these drew much of their initial membership from the various Methodist churches. They included The Church of God (Anderson Indiana), the Church of God (Holiness), The Church of the Nazarene, The Pentecostal Churches of America, and The Independent Holiness Church.
Also in 1885 the United Brethren began to look at constitutional changes that would allow lay representation at both Annual and General Conferences. They would also prohibit membership in “secret societies” by Church members. These were adopted in 1889, which led to a walkout led by Bishop Milton Wright (father of Orville and Wilbur) and the formation of the United Brethren Church (Old Constitution).
