Methodist local preacher

[3][page needed] Methodism formally broke with the Anglican church as a result of Wesley's 1784 ordination of ministers to serve in the United States following the American War of Independence.

Before the schism, Wesley had as accredited preachers only a handful of fellow Anglican priests who shared his view of the need to take the gospel to the people where they were.

As the independent Methodist Church developed following the schism and Wesley's death, a pattern was soon established in which ordained ministers, whose number was still limited, were attached for a short period (at first three years, subsequently five, and now more usually seven or more) to a circuit.

In early British Methodism, a number of women served as local preachers (the heroine of George Eliot's Adam Bede is represented as one).

[6] From 1910 the blanket ban was repealed, and from 1918 on, Wesleyan Methodism recruited and deployed women local preachers on exactly the same basis as men.

[8] Although the church as an institution was by no means politically radical, many of its members were, and the discipline and eloquence of Methodist local preachers found a ready use in the developing labour movement of the later 19th century.

Many of the founders of the trade union movement in Britain were local preachers, including George Loveless, the leader of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

[9] Local preachers continue to be found in the ranks of the Labour movement: prominent recent examples include George Thomas, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1976 to 1983,[10] Len Murray, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress from 1973 to 1984,[11] David Hallam Member of the European Parliament 1994 to 1999 and,[12] early in his career, David Blunkett, former Home Secretary.

The Meeting is the body which is responsible for the training and development of local preachers, for their pastoral care in this specific role and also for the discipline (should that be necessary) of its own members.

The course (Worship: Leading and Preaching) is organised on a connexional (national) basis, but all other aspects of the training and examination of preachers are dealt with at the local (circuit) level.

[15] Those offering themselves for training first ask for a note to preach from the superintendent minister of their circuit which is given at his or her sole discretion and reported to the Preachers' Meeting.

The meeting carries out an oral doctrinal examination at the beginning of training, at intermediate points, and before the final acceptance of the candidate as an accredited preacher.

[18] Compared to lay people in some other denominations, Methodist local preachers are accorded significant authority over the progress of a service, for which they are seen as having overall responsibility, rather than just delivering the sermon.

Although the modern US-based United Methodist Church recognises an order of "lay speakers",[20] they do not have the authority or the responsibility for leading worship in the same way as a local preacher in Britain.