UM Heritage Sunday is May 23 — Don’t Misuse “Methodist” and “Methodism”
By M. Garlinda Burton
I grew up in the former Methodist Church, so it was not unusual for congregational, conference, and churchwide media and leaders to refer to the “history of Methodism,” “Methodist women and men,” or to start a sentence with, “We Methodists believe….”
What I did NOT learn until I was an older teen was that we weren’t the only “Methodists,” and that our commandeering of the Methodist moniker is at least partly rooted in institutional racism. What I have come to understand is that we United Methodists should take care not to gloss over or underplay the historic and current impact of our continued misuse of our name.
Recently, a United Methodist historian was called out by a leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church for listing the Rev. Jarena Lee as a “Methodist” hero in an article on churchwomen history. The article listed the late Ms. Lee, an 18th-century clergywoman, along with other renown women from United Methodism. The problem is that Jarena Lee was not a United Methodist foremother. Rather, she was an African American woman in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Ms. Lee was, in fact, the first authorized woman preacher in the AME Church.
Yes, Ms. Lee’s heritage is Methodist, but this should not be conflated with a United Methodist heritage. Ms. Lee’s denomination came into being after 18th century Black members of our ancestral Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) denounced the racism that defined our denomination. Because the white-led Methodist Episcopal Church refused to confront its own policies and practices of anti-Black racial discrimination and exclusion, an organized walkout of Black Methodists was led by then MEC pastor, the Rev. Richard Allen, in 1787.
This walkout led to the 1794 creation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was Wesleyan in its construct and—as John Wesley preached—welcomed full and free participation of Black people.
Likewise, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (1796) and the Christian Methodist Episcopal (1879) denominations were formed to allow Black Methodists to worship, minister, and work together free from the practices of anti-Black racism that defined the “mother” Methodist Episcopal Church and, later, the MEC South.
(As with several other largely white Christian denominations in the 18th century, Southern members of the MEC formed their own denomination because they supported the practice of enslaving Black people, while, at least in policy, the northern and western U.S. churches did not.)
So, Jarena Lee, Richard Allen, and other African Americans and other People of Color— whom many United Methodists today are quick to claim as our “forebears”—were, in fact, only able to achieve their full calling in Christ after severing ties with a white-dominant church that refused to honor their work, their calling, and their humanity.
Though these denominations share a common founder (John Wesley) and basic tenets, our paths have diverged widely because some refused to be patient with the racism that continues to cripple the white-dominant church. And we United Methodist are still coming to terms with the impact that historic and systemic racism had and continues to have on the witness, mission, and teachings of our and other Methodist/Wesleyan churches.
Therefore, we of United Methodist heritage need to take care we don’t falsely presume to own the name “Methodist” and “Methodism.” And, if we want to celebrate our common heritage, we can only do so in a spirit of confession, truth-telling, repentance, recompense, and respect.
—M. Garlinda Burton of Nashville, Tenn., is a United Methodist deaconess and Interim General Secretary of the denomination’s General Commission on Religion and Race.
(NOTE: Heritage Sunday is observed on Aldersgate Day or the Sunday preceding that date. The church-wide theme for UM Heritage Sunday 2021 is "Pride, Shame and Pain: Methodist History with Racism and Efforts to Dismantle It." Find more resources from the denomination’s General Commission on Archives and History.)
Citing Pan-Methodist History
Be specific when telling pan-Methodist history. If your list or article includes Methodist/Wesleyan persons and facts other than United Methodist, make sure to explain that clearly. Don’t imply in any way that all Methodists are United Methodists.
Connect the dots. Telling a fuller history of the Methodist/Wesleyan movement in your community, state, or nation helps us all understand and appreciate better our shared and distinctive origins, ministries, calling, and reach. As you prepare for Heritage Sunday, consider telling these stories as well. Visit the World Methodist Council (https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/) website to learn more.
Own and confess our racist history. When citing heroes from the international AME, AMEZ, or CME—or other Methodist/Wesley churches—note how those denominations came into being, including the racism or colonialism that influenced Methodist history.
Remember, Methodism is intercultural and international. Along with the historically Black Methodist denominations, there are more than 80 other-than-United Methodist and Wesleyan churches. Together, they represent more than 80 million members in 138 countries around the world. Among them are: the Korean Methodist Church; the Methodist Church of Brazil; the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas; the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico; the British Methodist Church; the Free Methodist Church; the Methodist Church of Bangladesh; the Methodist Church of Southern Africa; the Church of the Nazarene; the Methodist in Kenya; the Methodist Episcopal Church of India; the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia; and the Nepal Methodist Church.
Citing United Methodist History
Specify branch/name of the church and year. Example: “Bishop L. Scott Allen was elected to the episcopacy of the former Methodist Church in 1967.”
Include People of Color and people outside the United States. When teaching and celebrating church history, do not neglect the history of Methodists of color in your area. Their stories are also the Church’s stories.
Distinguish among former names of the church. When citing congregations, events, and people, use Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church South, Methodist Church, etc.
Re-check your sources. Make sure that people, places, and events are cited correctly. In particular, use “Methodist” and “Methodism” appropriately. If an event or person is United Methodist (or from one of our predecessor denominations), specify that.
Three historically Black Methodist Denominations and Their Origins
African Methodist Episcopal Church— Grew out of the Free African Society, established in 1787 in Philadelphia by Richard Allen (a Black man formerly enslaved in Delaware), Absalom Jones, and others. When white officials at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church literally yanked Black worshipers off their knees as they prayed, the Society members witnessed again just how far white American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. Therefore, in 1794, Allen and company established Bethel AME, with Allen as their pastor. To establish Bethel’s independence from interfering white Methodists, Allen successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 to protect the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution and new Wesleyan denomination. (Learn more at https://www.ame-church.com/our-church/our-history/)
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church—Was organized around 1796 by Black members of John Street Methodist Church in New York City. One of the first Methodist churches in the United States, John Street was a mostly white church with a growing number of Black congregants. As Black membership increased, so did a racial caste system that culminated in the practice of forcing Black people to wait for Holy Communion until white people were served first. Led by Bishop James Varick, the Black members left John Street to establish Zion Church. As the denomination grew, it adopted the name African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church to distinguish it from the AME Church, which was founded under similar circumstances in Philadelphia. (Learn more at https://www.institutionalamez.org/ame-zion-history.html)
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church—Formerly the “Colored Methodist Episcopal Church,” CME was organized in 1879, in Jackson, Tennessee, by 41 formerly enslaved Black members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. By the end of the Civil War, the MECS (which had split with the Northern church over slavery) had more than 100,000 African-American members. With reconstruction, the white church expressed a desire to “promote the religious interest” of Black members, but were not willing to desegregate. At the same time, Black members expressed a desire to create a more independent and autonomous Black Methodist presence in the U.S. South. The white church agreed to the proposal from Black church leaders, and the church was organized in 1870, with William Henry Miles and Richard H. Vanderhorst elected their first bishops. (Learn more at https://thecmechurch.org/history/)