21st Century Circuit Rider Revival
Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash
Until I was eighteen, I had only ever attended a few Methodist churches, all in the Texas Panhandle and West Texas. With this sample size I was under the impression that the United Methodist Church was a strong conservative denomination. It wasn’t until I moved to Washington, DC, and later Cambridge, Massachusetts, for graduate school that I saw the dire state of modern Methodism.
While attending the Harvard Kennedy School I have found a vibrant, albeit small community of conservative Christians with a love for tradition and a respect for the word. None of these Christians, however, come from Mainline Protestantism. As far as I am aware, I am the only traditionalist Methodist at the school. All of these extremely dedicated conservative Christians are traditional Catholics or non-denominational evangelicals; most of them when meeting me claim that they have never met a conservative Methodist.
No one can blame them, either. After spending only a few weeks here I could tell that New England is a modern-day mission field. There are plenty of Methodist churches adorned with all forms of progressive accoutrements to signal to the very liberal population of Massachusetts that they aren’t like those other churches. The nearest Methodist church I found that considers itself not traditional, but just apolitical, is in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on the New Hampshire border. This nearly 2-hour round trip commute is nearly impossible for any Boston resident who doesn’t own a car.
The people of New England deserve to be evangelized by the Global Methodist Church, and there are other areas like it. In America’s urban cores there is a distinct lack of traditionalist churches that provide a ministry in the Wesleyan tradition. This will be one of the greatest challenges for the GMC: to plant urban churches that will leave a lasting impression on these population centers. Most of those who venture to do this will be pilgrims in a foreign land often unwelcoming to traditional Christians. You need to look no further than the Catholics of Cambridge who had to withstand the sight of a procession of students on their way to attend a Black Mass happening above a Chinese restaurant a block away. This event took place after a eucharistic host was stolen from the local parish attended by many locals as well as university professors.
With evil like this happening, it is easy for many to retreat to the comfort of their rural and suburban churches, never to engage with wayward urban souls again. However, we are called to the ends of the Earth in Acts 1:8. As Wesleyans, we must come to these urban areas to profess the good news to all. Being from a rural area, I have a strong affinity for those who are willing to go forth and witness to those without access to the Word. We have no better example of this than the circuit riders of the 18th and 19th centuries. As the United States expanded westward, so too did Methodism. Wesley’s message was disseminated by brave preachers riding from village to village proclaiming the word and planting the seeds that would catapult Methodism to its 1820 position as the largest denomination in the country.
The itinerant preachers of antebellum Methodism were a dedicated group willing to move to areas they had never encountered before riding along their circuit to deliver the message. Carrying very little personal property, the circuit riders would bring bibles, copies of the Methodist discipline and hymnals on their journey to sell to folks without access to these texts. This method of pastoring helped grow Methodism to its titanic size by the mid-19th century, with over 4000 ministers and 1 million laymen by 1844.
Francis Asbury, the most influential figure in the Methodism of 18th and 19th century America, oversaw these circuits. Travelling over 270,000 miles in his time as a Methodist bishop, Asbury knew the importance of the circuit. Asbury said, “We must reach every section of America, especially the raw frontiers. We must not be afraid of men, devils, wild animals or disease. Our motto must always be forward!” (Charles Ludwig, Francis Asbury: God’s Circuit Rider [1984], 154). Asbury had the right message for his time and for ours. The frontier, however, is no longer the American prairie.
Asbury would be astounded to learn that once-strong traditionalist Methodist cities are now vacant of any orthodox theology. Cities like Baltimore, Washington, New York and Boston where the denomination once flourished now have few churches within their borders that provide an orthodox Wesleyan message. The solution to this problem is the circuit riders of years past.
The GMC will require dedicated laypeople in urban areas to begin the arduous task of church planting. The first step to taking the message back to urban America will be these laypeople scouting locations for churches and building orthodox faith communities that are able to last well into the future. In places like these cities where multiple churches will need to be planted across multiple states, we will need clergy willing to travel on Sundays to different churches to deliver the sacraments for the congregants there.
Just like the 1800s, when the clergy member is not present, preaching will be the responsibility of dedicated and spiritual laity. These men and women will be tasked with providing the Word and the message each Sunday and performing basic church functions, while the clergy move through the circuit to make sure that each church’s needs are met as best they can. This itinerant method, combined with the evangelistic energy of John Wesley’s teaching, allowed for the zeal of early circuit riders to be spread. This is what the GMC will need moving forward.
The passion that early circuit riders had for the word of God, for the salvation of souls, must be replicated in the GMC for itinerant preaching to be effective, or any preaching for that matter. The circuit riders who traveled thousands of miles in a year were nothing if not dedicated, spiritual men. O. A. Fisher, one of the early circuit riders to come to Texas, demonstrates his faithfulness and dedication to this mission: “Sometimes my heart almost fails me in my work for God and labor for souls. But I hope to be faithful until death that I may receive a crown of life” (Olin W. Nail, Texas Methodist Centennial Yearbook [1934], 215). The most enduring and inspiring aspect of the circuit riders is their dedication to God. One of the things that made the growth of Methodism accelerate so swiftly was the awe-inspiring lengths that these men would go to deliver the Word. Their faith in God and their commitment to sacrifice inspired thousands to confess their sins and embrace salvation.
The 1784 Book of Discipline contained the words “to reform the continent, and spread scriptural holiness over these lands.” This served as a commission to the itinerant preachers to spread the gospel far and wide and to ensure that America is a nation full of Christians. The phrase embodies the evangelical mission of early Methodism in the United States. While the continent has largely been reformed, there is still much scriptural holiness that must be spread. To reach urban areas now experiencing spiritual drought, we must have Methodists willing to embrace the evangelical nature of Wesley’s itinerant preaching. The areas may be smaller and the travel faster, but the population is much, much larger.
A return to itinerant preaching, especially in areas that lack traditional Wesleyan churches, is a necessity for the new denomination. To flourish and grow the GMC will need a strategy for urban church planting, and I think tapping into the rich evangelical history of the circuit riders can lead us. The loving message of Christ as preached by John Wesley and the early Methodist preachers saw large success in the urban areas of England and the United States. There is no reason that an evangelical Methodist revival is not possible today. With committed clergy and dedicated laity, this mission is one that we will see again if we look to the examples of our past.
Speaking from my personal experience, the men and women of Cambridge, Massachusetts, need and deserve a church that is grounded in sound, scriptural teaching. We have men and women who can take up the mantle of church planting, laity who are prepared to step up and preach. All we need now is dedication to the fundamentally Wesleyan idea of the itinerant preacher to serve these areas most effectively. This daunting task is not unlike the task faced by Methodist preachers who set out across the vast Western frontier so many years ago. But I believe it is most important to remember what Peter Gravis, another Texas circuit rider, said when looking back on all the good that the circuit riders provided the country and the kingdom of God:
“The pleasant circuit or station…cost us, who were first, sweat and toil, privations and hardships. The seeds were sown and took deep root, and now… the church of the living God stands” (Hubert Freeman Mills, The Methodist Circuit Rider in Texas, 1865-1900 [1953], 70).
Carter Estes is a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.