Methodist Roots
In Methodist Roots, a special teaching series with our Assembly of Bishops, you’ll discover the history of Methodism and understand how key features of the faith influence the church today. Watch the video below and download the study guide to participate in weekly lessons.
Watch Methodist Roots
Start by watching the Methodist Roots video. This video was filmed in the United Kingdom and features significant Wesleyan sites that connect us to our Methodist heritage.
Join the study
After watching the video, use the study guide to dive deeper into the topics with your church, small group or in your personal devotional time. Each week is a new lesson. Throughout the series, you’ll also learn about important and sacred places that serve as a reminder of God’s faithfulness and calling.
Download the study guide in your preferred language:
Featured Wesleyan Sites
Experience snippets of significant Wesleyan sites – from Wesley’s Chapel in London to Charles Wesley’s home in Bristol.
Wesley’s Chapel – London, England
John Wesley was meeting with the Methodist society in London and needed a gathering place. He acquired a ruined cannon foundry just outside the city and repaired it. The Foundery was his London headquarters from 1739 until 1778. It was a center of Methodist preaching and activity, a space that provided a home for John and his mother Susanna and housed London’s first free medical dispensary.
Wesley Chapel was built for sacramental worship, including an altar in the apse behind the pulpit. The current pulpit is raised up, but is only two-thirds as high as the original. John Wesley in his journal describes the building as “perfectly neat but not fine.” Over its many years, various memorials have been added to remember key figures in British Methodism. King George III donated wooden pillars for the balcony which have been replaced by marble ones at the chapel’s centenary. The crypt now houses the Museum of Methodism.
The chapel is a functioning church with several weekly worship services and other ministries.
John Wesley’s House – London, England
John Wesley’s House was built soon after the construction of the Wesley Chapel. Previously, John Wesley had resided in the Foundery, but in 1779 this became his home. One floor was for his use and other floors were for visiting preachers. The front room was his study and contains his desk and some of his library. The windows look west onto Bunhill Fields and his mother’s grave. The bed in which he died was sold in the 1800’s, but a similar one is in the bedroom now. Just off the bedroom is a small closet where he prayed regularly. The house has been restored to reflect an