[2] The Wesleyan Methodist Church followed John and Charles Wesley in holding to an Arminian theology, in contrast to the Calvinism held by George Whitefield, by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon (founder of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion), and by Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland, the pioneers of Welsh Methodism.

Its Conference was also the legal successor to John Wesley as holder of the property of the original Methodist societies.

[3] The name "Wesleyan" emerged as early as 1740 to distinguish John Wesley's followers from other Methodists, such as "Whitefieldites" and the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion.

But it did not come into more general and formal use until early in the 19th century, when it served to differentiate the "Original Connexion" from its offshoots and, in Wales, from Calvinistic Methodism.

[6] In 1787 Wesley, under legal advice, decided to license his chapels and itinerant preachers under the Toleration Act 1689, albeit "not as dissenters but simply 'preachers of the gospel'".

John Wesley was convinced of the importance of education and, following the advice of his friend Philip Doddridge, opened schools at The Foundery in London, and at Newcastle and Kingswood.

Though a steady increase was achieved, that ambitious target could not be reached, in part limited by the number of suitably qualified teachers, mostly coming from the institution founded in Glasgow by David Stow.