200 Years of United Methodism
An Illustrated History

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The Four Tides of United Methodism

The Holy Club in Session. Engraving by S. Bellin after painting by Marshall Claxton, printed in London by Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1861.United Methodist history bears out the Shakespearean truth that there is a tide in human affairs "which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Four such tides have been taken by the spiritual movements that now compose The United Methodist Church. They sailed on these tides--religious and cultural developments of particular significance in their eras--to marked fortune. Yet the tides did not steer the spiritual movements. Their courses were plotted by God-filled men and women. So in what follows we will reflect on the four tides that affected United Methodism, inspect the vessels that took these tides, and review the sailors.

Most of the sailors will answer the roll call as statistics, although some of their officers will respond to the calling of their names. Their ships will be described as they took the four tides on which they rode to churchly fortune--the tides of Pietism (1766-1783), Nationalism (1784-1860), Idealism (1866-1918), and Pluralism (1919-1984) . Between the tides of Nationalism and Idealism there was a Tidal Wave, the Civil War (1861-1865).

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