Methodist local preacher
Encyclopedia
A Methodist local preacher is a lay person who has been accredited by a Methodist church to lead worship on a regular basis. Local preachers play an important role in the Methodist Church of Great Britain
and other churches historically linked to it, and have also been important in English
social history.
tried to avoid a schism with the Church of England
, and encouraged those who attended his revivalist meetings to attend their parish churches but they also attended Methodist preaching services, which were held elsewhere, and met in "classes" (small cell groups). It quickly became necessary to build "preaching houses" where the Methodist meetings could be held. These began to function as alternative churches, often depending on the attitude of the local Anglican clergy.
One such preaching house was The Foundery, which served as Wesley's HQ in London. In about 1740, Wesley was away on business and had left a young man, Thomas Maxfield, in charge of The Foundery. Since no clergymen were available, Maxfield took it upon himself to preach to the congregation. Wesley was annoyed by this and returned to London in order to confront Maxfield. However, his mother, Susanna Wesley
, persuaded him to hear Maxfield out, suggesting that he had as much right to preach as Wesley. Wesley was sufficiently impressed by Maxfield's preaching to see it as God's work and let the matter drop, with Maxfield becoming one of Methodism's earliest lay preachers.
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. Because of their small number, these priests were necessarily itinerant, travelling around the country like Wesley himself. Their travelling pattern, like that used until the mid 20th Century by judges, gave rise to the use of the word Circuit to describe a group of churches overseen by a single minister; this word is still in use today.
Because of the limited number of ordained ministers he could call on, Wesley appointed local preachers who were not ordained but whom he examined, and whom he felt he could trust to lead worship and preach: though not to minister sacrament
s.
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. The circuit minister had pastoral oversight and administered sacraments, but the majority of services were led, and sermons preached, by Local Preachers (note the capital letters). Local Preachers would regularly spend a whole day with a local church (called a Society), leading one or more services and undertaking pastoral visiting. Many travelled significant distances in the course of a day, often on foot.
In its essentials, this pattern remains to the present day. Although by the end of the nineteenth century most circuits were staffed by several ministers, there were almost always more churches in the circuit than ministers, many of them offering two or three services every Sunday. The need for local preachers has never declined and in many Circuits an active Local Preacher may well be involved in preparing and leading worship on seven or eight occasions in a thirteen-week Quarter.
's Adam Bede
is represented as one). Methodism itself was subject to schism giving rise, in England, to several Methodist churches including the Primitive Methodists and the Bible Christians as well as the mainstream Wesleyan Methodist Church. The separated denominations went much further than the Wesleyans in making use of women as Local Preachers and as ordained ministers. In Wesleyan Methodism from 1803, women were restricted to addressing women-only meetings - a ban that was not lifted until 1910. Many women, such as Sarah Mallet, however, ignored this ban. From 1918 on, Wesleyan Methodism recruited and deployed women Local Preachers on exactly the same basis as men.
Methodist reunion in England did not take place until 1933 at which time the ordination of women in the separated denominations ceased until 1971. But Methodism has always acknowledged and valued the ministry of women, a Wesleyan influence going back to Susanna Wesley
herself.
movement and the Labour Party in Britain were local preachers, perhaps most famously four of the Tolpuddle martyrs
, including their leader George Loveless. 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, and Len Murray
, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress from 1973 to 1984.
Currently, the training for local preachers in the U.K. consists of a course supported by local tutors, with examination on its content by continuous assessment rather than unseen examination. The course (Faith & Worship) 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.
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 new preacher is then listed as On Note, begins a course of study and practical training (which takes between two and five years to complete), and begins to accompany an accredited preacher and share in the leadership of worship.
After some months, provided favourable reports are received at the Circuit Preachers' Meeting, they then progress to being On Trial. Local Preachers On Trial still work at first with an experienced preacher, but in due course they progress to leading worship on their own. The Preachers' Meeting continues to appoint preachers and other local officers to audit their services, make reports and offer guidance. 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. The candidate must also give an account of their Call to Preach, and are expected to have knowledge of some of the most important of the Sermons of the Rev. John Wesley. Final admission as a Local Preacher is referred to as being fully accredited or received onto full plan, the Circuit Plan being the schedule of preaching appointments for the Circuit. The decision is formally ratified by the Circuit Meeting before it is put into effect. A Service of Recognition is held, often within the context of a principal act of worship.
All candidates for ordination as a presbyter in the Methodist Church in Great Britain (or the Methodist Church in Ireland) are required to be admitted as Local Preachers before they can be accepted as candidates or begin their training.
In the United States
, Local Pastor candidates attend a Local Pastors Licensing School. Such schools are offered by Annual Conference
s or sometimes by Jurisdictions of the United Methodist Church.
Increasingly, in British Methodism, Local Preachers accept guidance from the churches to which they go, for example in regular or seasonal local elements of liturgy, or in using those nominated in a rota of readers or prayer leaders. A relatively recent development is the appointment of Worship Leaders who are members of the local church and authorised to share in the leading of worship there. All preachers and worship leaders are offered additional resources for shaping worship and preaching by their own charity, the Leaders of Worship & Preachers' Trust (LWPT) which publishes a quarterly journal (Ichthus) and has its own website.
s that developed in Britain; and from Britain to Methodist churches in other countries, particularly those that were founded or supported by the UK Methodist church, such as the churches in India
, Australia
, New Zealand
, the Caribbean
, Fiji
, and many countries in Africa
. The title of "local preacher" was used historically in several Methodist denominations in North America, and local preachers there had the right to marry and bury people (though not to administer Communion) as well as to lead worship. But the role has more or less vanished from America to-day. Although the modern US United Methodist Church
recognises an order of "lay speaker
s", they do not have the authority or the responsibility for leading worship in the same way as a local preacher in Britain. Within the last decade, the United Methodist Church began an order called "local pastors," which are appointed by a bishop to serve in one local charge and resemble the local preacher model.
, lay preachers are of course used by many other churches. The other non-conformist churches in Britain have long had similar arrangements, and the Church of England
now makes considerable use of "lay reader
s", a title also used in the Roman Catholic church. However Anglican and Catholic lay readers, and indeed the lay preachers of other denominations, have never quite enjoyed the status within their own churches, or the recognition beyond them, that are associated with the Methodist local preacher.
Methodist Church of Great Britain
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...
and other churches historically linked to it, and have also been important in English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
social history.
Historical background
"Local preachers" have been a part of Methodism from its beginnings as a revival movement in eighteenth century England. John WesleyJohn Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
tried to avoid a schism with the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, and encouraged those who attended his revivalist meetings to attend their parish churches but they also attended Methodist preaching services, which were held elsewhere, and met in "classes" (small cell groups). It quickly became necessary to build "preaching houses" where the Methodist meetings could be held. These began to function as alternative churches, often depending on the attitude of the local Anglican clergy.
One such preaching house was The Foundery, which served as Wesley's HQ in London. In about 1740, Wesley was away on business and had left a young man, Thomas Maxfield, in charge of The Foundery. Since no clergymen were available, Maxfield took it upon himself to preach to the congregation. Wesley was annoyed by this and returned to London in order to confront Maxfield. However, his mother, Susanna Wesley
Susanna Wesley
Susanna Wesley , born Susanna Annesley, was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Annesley and Mary White, and the mother of John and Charles Wesley....
, persuaded him to hear Maxfield out, suggesting that he had as much right to preach as Wesley. Wesley was sufficiently impressed by Maxfield's preaching to see it as God's work and let the matter drop, with Maxfield becoming one of Methodism's earliest lay preachers.
Methodism formally broke with the Anglican church as a result of Wesley's 1784 ordination of ministers to serve in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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. Because of their small number, these priests were necessarily itinerant, travelling around the country like Wesley himself. Their travelling pattern, like that used until the mid 20th Century by judges, gave rise to the use of the word Circuit to describe a group of churches overseen by a single minister; this word is still in use today.
Because of the limited number of ordained ministers he could call on, Wesley appointed local preachers who were not ordained but whom he examined, and whom he felt he could trust to lead worship and preach: though not to minister sacrament
Sacrament
A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
s.
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. The circuit minister had pastoral oversight and administered sacraments, but the majority of services were led, and sermons preached, by Local Preachers (note the capital letters). Local Preachers would regularly spend a whole day with a local church (called a Society), leading one or more services and undertaking pastoral visiting. Many travelled significant distances in the course of a day, often on foot.
In its essentials, this pattern remains to the present day. Although by the end of the nineteenth century most circuits were staffed by several ministers, there were almost always more churches in the circuit than ministers, many of them offering two or three services every Sunday. The need for local preachers has never declined and in many Circuits an active Local Preacher may well be involved in preparing and leading worship on seven or eight occasions in a thirteen-week Quarter.
Women as local preachers
In early British Methodism, a number of women served as Local Preachers (the heroine of George EliotGeorge Eliot
Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
's Adam Bede
Adam Bede
Adam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot , was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time...
is represented as one). Methodism itself was subject to schism giving rise, in England, to several Methodist churches including the Primitive Methodists and the Bible Christians as well as the mainstream Wesleyan Methodist Church. The separated denominations went much further than the Wesleyans in making use of women as Local Preachers and as ordained ministers. In Wesleyan Methodism from 1803, women were restricted to addressing women-only meetings - a ban that was not lifted until 1910. Many women, such as Sarah Mallet, however, ignored this ban. From 1918 on, Wesleyan Methodism recruited and deployed women Local Preachers on exactly the same basis as men.
Methodist reunion in England did not take place until 1933 at which time the ordination of women in the separated denominations ceased until 1971. But Methodism has always acknowledged and valued the ministry of women, a Wesleyan influence going back to Susanna Wesley
Susanna Wesley
Susanna Wesley , born Susanna Annesley, was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Annesley and Mary White, and the mother of John and Charles Wesley....
herself.
Importance of local preachers in English social history
Local preachers have always been required to undergo some form of training and examination - the examination being concerned with their doctrinal orthodoxy as well as with their knowledge of the scriptures and the history and doctrines of the church. Because Methodism had great strength among the lower middle classes and skilled working classes in nineteenth century England, training as a local preacher was one of the ways in which intelligent people who had little chance of formal schooling acquired education and an ability at public speaking. 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 nineteenth century. Many of the founders of the trade unionTrade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
movement and the Labour Party in Britain were local preachers, perhaps most famously four of the Tolpuddle martyrs
Tolpuddle Martyrs
The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th century Dorset agricultural labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. The rules of the society show it was clearly structured as a friendly society and operated as...
, including their leader George Loveless. Local preachers continue to be found in the ranks of the Labour movement: prominent recent examples include George Thomas
George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy
Thomas George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy PC was a British Labour Party politician and Speaker of the House of Commons. Born in Port Talbot, Wales, he initially worked as a teacher in both London and Cardiff...
, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1976 to 1983, and Len Murray
Len Murray
Lionel Murray, Baron Murray of Epping Forest, OBE PC, known as Len Murray was a British Labour politician and union leader.-Early life:...
, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress from 1973 to 1984.
Discipline, Training and accreditation of local preachers today
Local Preachers in British Methodism, together with their colleagues in the ordained ministry, are members of the Preachers' Meeting of the Circuit in which their membership is held. The Local Preachers' Meeting used to meet quarterly, though in many Circuits it is now less often. 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. It functions also as a study and fellowship group, and as a focus for continuing development of fully accredited Local Preachers. The standing of a Local Preacher, however, is national not local and, for example, is not affected by removal to another church or Circuit - though it is always up to the superintendent minister whether any preacher is given any appointments.Currently, the training for local preachers in the U.K. consists of a course supported by local tutors, with examination on its content by continuous assessment rather than unseen examination. The course (Faith & Worship) 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.
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 new preacher is then listed as On Note, begins a course of study and practical training (which takes between two and five years to complete), and begins to accompany an accredited preacher and share in the leadership of worship.
After some months, provided favourable reports are received at the Circuit Preachers' Meeting, they then progress to being On Trial. Local Preachers On Trial still work at first with an experienced preacher, but in due course they progress to leading worship on their own. The Preachers' Meeting continues to appoint preachers and other local officers to audit their services, make reports and offer guidance. 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. The candidate must also give an account of their Call to Preach, and are expected to have knowledge of some of the most important of the Sermons of the Rev. John Wesley. Final admission as a Local Preacher is referred to as being fully accredited or received onto full plan, the Circuit Plan being the schedule of preaching appointments for the Circuit. The decision is formally ratified by the Circuit Meeting before it is put into effect. A Service of Recognition is held, often within the context of a principal act of worship.
All candidates for ordination as a presbyter in the Methodist Church in Great Britain (or the Methodist Church in Ireland) are required to be admitted as Local Preachers before they can be accepted as candidates or begin their training.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Local Pastor candidates attend a Local Pastors Licensing School. Such schools are offered by Annual Conference
Annual Conference
An Annual Conference in the United Methodist Church is a regional body that governs much of the life of the "Connectional Church." Annual conferences are composed primarily of the clergy members and a lay member or members from each charge . Each conference is a geographical division...
s or sometimes by Jurisdictions of the United Methodist Church.
Local preachers and the liturgy
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. A local preacher may, at his or her discretion, do a number of different things:- modify the order of service
- omit or include any part of the order of service
- determine which Bible readings are to be included, which may - but need not - be selected from those defined in the lectionaryLectionaryA Lectionary is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion.-History:...
- involve other people in the preparation and leading of the worship
Increasingly, in British Methodism, Local Preachers accept guidance from the churches to which they go, for example in regular or seasonal local elements of liturgy, or in using those nominated in a rota of readers or prayer leaders. A relatively recent development is the appointment of Worship Leaders who are members of the local church and authorised to share in the leading of worship there. All preachers and worship leaders are offered additional resources for shaping worship and preaching by their own charity, the Leaders of Worship & Preachers' Trust (LWPT) which publishes a quarterly journal (Ichthus) and has its own website.
Local preachers worldwide
The institution of local preachers spread from the original Wesleyan Methodist church to the other Methodist denominationReligious denomination
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...
s that developed in Britain; and from Britain to Methodist churches in other countries, particularly those that were founded or supported by the UK Methodist church, such as the churches in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, and many countries in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. The title of "local preacher" was used historically in several Methodist denominations in North America, and local preachers there had the right to marry and bury people (though not to administer Communion) as well as to lead worship. But the role has more or less vanished from America to-day. Although the modern US United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
recognises an order of "lay speaker
Lay speaker
A lay speaker is a position in the United Methodist Church for the laity. Technically, a lay speaker is a “member of a local church … who is ready … to serve the Church.” Generally, lay speakers are leaders in the United Methodist Church on local, district, and conference levels...
s", they do not have the authority or the responsibility for leading worship in the same way as a local preacher in Britain. Within the last decade, the United Methodist Church began an order called "local pastors," which are appointed by a bishop to serve in one local charge and resemble the local preacher model.
Lay preaching in other denominations
Although Methodism has probably organised the institution of local preaching more thoroughly than any other denominationReligious denomination
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...
, lay preachers are of course used by many other churches. The other non-conformist churches in Britain have long had similar arrangements, and the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
now makes considerable use of "lay reader
Lay Reader
A lay reader is a layperson authorized by a bishop of the Anglican Church to read some parts of a service of worship. They are members of the congregation called to preach or lead services, but not called to full-time ministry.Anglican lay readers are licensed by the bishop to a particular parish...
s", a title also used in the Roman Catholic church. However Anglican and Catholic lay readers, and indeed the lay preachers of other denominations, have never quite enjoyed the status within their own churches, or the recognition beyond them, that are associated with the Methodist local preacher.