Methodism

==Prayer, worship, and liturgy==
[[File:Wesley's Chapel during Wikimania 2014 by-RaBoe 68.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|[[Communion table]] behind the [[Communion rail|rail]] in [[Wesley's Chapel]], London. The [[reredos]] depicts the [[Ten Commandments]].]]

Early Methodism was known for its "almost monastic rigors, its living by rule, [and] its canonical hours of prayer".<ref name="Hurst1902">{{cite book|last=Hurst|first=John Fletcher|title=The History of Methodism|year=1902|publisher=Eaton & Mains|pages=310}}</ref> It inherited from its [[Daily Office (Anglican)|Anglican patrimony]] the rubrics of reciting the [[Daily Office]], which Methodist Christians were expected to [[Christian prayer|pray]].<ref name="Jones2019">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Susan H. |title=Everyday Public Worship |year=2019 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-05757-4 |language=en}}</ref> The first prayer book of Methodism, ''[[The Sunday Service of the Methodists|The Sunday Service of the Methodists with other occasional Services]]'' thus included the canonical hours of both [[Daily Office (Anglican)|Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer]]; these two fixed prayer times were observed everyday in [[early Christianity]], individually on weekdays and corporately on the [[Lord's Day]].<ref name="Jones2019"/><ref name="Beckwith2005">{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Roger T. |title=Calendar, Chronology And Worship: Studies in Ancient Judaism And Early Christianity |date=2005 |publisher=[[Brill Academic Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-14603-7 |page=193 |language=en}}</ref> Later Methodist liturgical books, such as the ''Methodist Worship Book'' (1999) provide for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer to be prayed daily; the [[United Methodist Church]] encourages its communicants to pray the canonical hours as "one of the essential practices" of being a disciple of Jesus.<ref name="MWB"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Praying the Hours of the Day: Recovering Daily Prayer |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/praying-the-hours-of-the-day-recovering-daily-prayer |publisher=[[General Board of Discipleship]] |access-date=6 September 2020 |date=6 May 2007}}</ref> Some Methodist religious orders publish the Daily Office to be used for that community, for example, ''The Book of Offices and Services of The Order of Saint Luke'' contains the canonical hours to be prayed traditionally at [[fixed prayer times|seven fixed prayer times]]: [[Lauds]] (6 am), [[Terce]] (9 am), [[Sext]] (12 pm), [[Nones (liturgy)|None]] (3 pm), [[Vespers]] (6 pm), [[Compline]] (9 pm) and [[Vigil]] (12 am).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Book of Offices and Services|date=6 September 2012|publisher=[[Order of St. Luke]]}}</ref>

[[File:Methodistcommunion2.jpg|upright|thumb|United Methodist minister breaking bread during a Communion service]]
[[File:Camp meeting of the Methodists in N. America J. Milbert del M. Dubourg sculp (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Methodist preachers were known for promulgating the doctrines of the [[Born again#Methodism|new birth]] and [[entire sanctification]] to the public at events such as tent revivals, brush arbor revivals and camp meetings (''depicted here in an engraving''), which they believe is the reason that God brought them into existence.<ref name="Gibson">{{cite web|url=https://ucmpage.org/sgca/wesley01.htm|title=Wesleyan Heritage Series: Entire Sanctification|last=Gibson|first=James|publisher=South Georgia Confessing Association|language=en|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529053529/http://ucmpage.org/sgca/wesley01.htm|archive-date=29 May 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]

With respect to public worship, Methodism was endowed by the Wesley brothers with worship characterised by a twofold practice: the ritual liturgy of the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' on the one hand and the non-ritualistic preaching service on the other.<ref name="Firth">{{cite web|last1=Firth|first1=Richard|title=Methodist Worship|url=http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/4416/1/Firth13PhD.pdf|publisher=University of Birmingham|date=2013|access-date=7 February 2016}}</ref> This twofold practice became distinctive of Methodism because worship in the Church of England was based, by law, solely on the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and worship in the [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] churches was almost exclusively that of "services of the word", i.e. preaching services, with [[Holy Communion]] being observed infrequently. John Wesley's influence meant that, in Methodism, the two practices were combined, a situation which remains characteristic of the denomination.<ref name="Firth" /><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Westerfield Tucker |editor-first=Karen B. |title=The Sunday Service of the Methodists: Twentieth-Century Worship in Worldwide Methodism |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |chapter=Form and Freedom: John Wesley's Legacy for Methodist Worship|isbn=978-0687011346}}</ref> The [[Lovefeast]], traditionally practiced quarterly, was another practice that characterized early Methodism as John Wesley taught that it was an apostolic ordinance.<ref name="Tovey2016">{{cite book|last=Tovey|first=Phillip|title=The Theory and Practice of Extended Communion|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|language=en|isbn=978-1317014201|pages=40–49}}</ref> Worship, hymnology, devotional and liturgical practices in Methodism were also influenced by [[Pietism|Lutheran Pietism]] and, in turn, Methodist worship became influential in the [[Holiness movement]].<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Ruth |author-first=Lester |title=The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies |date=2011 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0199696116 |editor1-last=Kirby |editor1-first=James E. |location=[[Oxford]], England and [[New York City]] |pages=324–329 |chapter=Worship: Sacraments, Liturgy, Hymnody, Preaching – Liturgical Revolutions |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696116.013.0018 |lccn=2009926748 |editor2-last=Abraham |editor2-first=William J. |editor2-link=William J. Abraham |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5AOZwZ8n_oC&pg=PA324 |s2cid=152440716}}</ref>

In America, the United Methodist Church and [[Free Methodist Church]], as well as the [[Primitive Methodist Church]] and [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection|Wesleyan Methodist Church]], have a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from [[high church]] to [[low church]] in liturgical usage. When the Methodists in America were separated from the Church of England because of the American Revolution, John Wesley provided a revised version of the ''Book of Common Prayer'' called ''[[The Sunday Service of the Methodists; With Other Occasional Services]]'' (1784).<ref name="Coe1996">{{cite book|last=Coe|first=Bufford W.|title=John Wesley and Marriage|year=1996|publisher=[[Lehigh University Press]]|language=en|isbn=978-0934223393|page=11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=James F. (introduction) |title=John Wesley's Sunday service of the Methodists in North America |publisher=Quarterly Review |year=1984 |isbn=978-0687406326 |location=Nashville, Tennessee |language=en-us}}</ref> Today, the primary [[liturgical book]]s of the United Methodist Church are ''[[The United Methodist Hymnal]]'' and ''[[The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992)|The United Methodist Book of Worship]]'' (1992). Congregations employ its liturgy and rituals as optional resources, but their use is not mandatory. These books contain the liturgies of the church that are generally derived from Wesley's ''Sunday Service'' and from the 20th-century [[Liturgical movement|liturgical renewal movement]].

The [[Methodist Church of Great Britain|British Methodist Church]] is less ordered or liturgical in worship. It makes use of the ''Methodist Worship Book'' (similar to the Church of England's ''[[Common Worship]]''), containing worship services ([[Christian liturgy|liturgies]]) and rubrics for the celebration of other [[Rite (Christianity)|rite]]s, such as marriage. The ''Worship Book'' is also ultimately derived from Wesley's ''Sunday Service''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Methodist Publishing: Resources Catalogue|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/469949/methodist-publishing-catalogue-2013.pdf|publisher=Methodist Publishing|access-date=24 March 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324142640/http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/469949/methodist-publishing-catalogue-2013.pdf|archive-date=24 March 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

A unique feature of American Methodism has been the observance of the [[liturgical year|season]] of [[Kingdomtide]], encompassing the last 13 weeks before Advent, thus dividing the long season after Pentecost into two segments. During Kingdomtide, Methodist liturgy has traditionally emphasized charitable work and alleviating the suffering of the poor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kingdomtide |url=https://firstchurchorlando.org/news/2013/kingdomtide/ |publisher=First United Methodist Church of Orlando |access-date=17 January 2020 |date=7 September 2013 |archive-date=22 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522164500/https://firstchurchorlando.org/news/2013/kingdomtide/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A second distinctive liturgical feature of Methodism is the use of [[Covenant Renewal Service|Covenant Services]]. Although practice varies between national churches, most Methodist churches annually follow the call of John Wesley for a renewal of their [[covenant (religion)|covenant]] with God. It is common, in British Methodism, for each congregation to hold a Covenant Service on the first convenient Sunday of the year. Wesley's covenant prayer is still used, with minor modification, in the order of service:

{{blockquote|Christ has many services to be done. Some are easy, others are difficult. Some bring honour, others bring reproach. Some are suitable to our natural inclinations and temporal interests, others are contrary to both ... Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us.

...I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.<ref name="MWB">{{cite book |title=The Methodist Worship Book |date=1999 |publisher=Methodist Publishing House |location=Peterborough, Eng. |isbn=1858521165}}</ref>{{rp|290}}}}

As Wesley advocated outdoor evangelism, [[revival meeting|revival services]] are a traditional worship practice of Methodism that are often held in churches, as well as at [[camp meeting]]s, [[brush arbor revival]]s, and [[tent revival]]s.<ref name="Dresser2015">{{cite book|last=Dresser|first=Thomas|title=Martha's Vineyard: A History|year=2015|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Incorporated|language=en|isbn=978-1625849045|page=57}}</ref><ref name="CensusHunt1910">{{cite book|last=Durand|first=E. Dana |title=Religious Bodies: 1906|year=1910|publisher=Government Printing Office|language=en|page=484}}</ref><ref name="ChilcoteWarner2008">{{cite book|last1=Chilcote|first1=Paul W.|last2=Warner|first2=Laceye C.|title=The Study of Evangelism: Exploring a Missional Practice of the Church|date=2008|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|language=en|isbn=978-0802803917|page=206}}</ref>