There are in the United States sixteen distinct Methodist denominations, all agreeing essentially in doctrine. John Wesley had been conducting his United Societies for more than twenty years before the movement took root in North America.

Philip Embury (1729–1775), a Wesleyan local preacher, emigrated in 1760 from Limerick to New York. Robert Strawbridge (?–1781), a local preacher and native of Ireland, settled in Maryland. In 1766 Embury was stimulated by his relative, Mrs Barbara Heck, to begin Methodist preaching, and a society was soon formed, which grew rapidly. Embury was reinforced by the arrival of Thomas Webb (1724–1796), an English local preacher and a captain in the British army. Webb and Thomas Taylor, a layman of superior ability, appealed to Wesley to send over missionaries, and the 26th annual British Conference, held in 1768, sent to the society in New York, £50 and furnished passage money for two missionaries, Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor (1739–1825). Three years later Francis Asbury was sent over, and was made assistant superintendent. Meanwhile Strawbridge had been preaching with success in Maryland and in Virginia.

These “advance agents” of this spiritual propaganda brought with them Wesley’s Arminian Theology. They brought also “the means of grace” on which Wesley placed the greatest stress; such as personal testimony in private and public, class and prayer meetings, watch-nights, love-feasts, the direct and fervent preaching of the Gospel and the singing of Wesleyan hymns, carried on by means of circuits and stations, exhorters,^[1][2][3][4] local and travelling preachers, and the organization of local societies with class leaders, stewards and trustees. The intention was to make American Methodism a facsimile of that in England, subject to Wesley and the British Conference—a society and not a Church. Pilmoor and others objected to Asbury’s strict discipline, and Wesley, hearing of the disagreement, in 1773 appointed Thomas Rankin (c. 1738–1810) superintendent of the entire work of Methodism in America.

The First American Conference.—The first American Conference was held in 1773, and consisted of ten preachers, all of whom were born in England or Ireland. Asbury came to America to remain permanently; but Rankin, unable to identify himself with its people, to take the test oaths required in the Revolution, or to sympathize with the colonies, returned to England, as did all the English preachers except Asbury. By May 1776 there were 24 preachers and 4921 members; but in the first year of the Revolution there was a loss of 7 preachers and nearly 1000 members. The next year saw extensive revivals, in sections removed from the seat of war, which added more than 2600 to the number of members.

The preachers in the South determined upon administration of the sacraments, and a committee was chosen whose members ordained themselves and others. The Northern preachers opposed this step and for several years the Connexion was on the verge of disruption. An agreement was finally made to suspend the administration until Wesley’s desires and judgment could be ascertained. He perceived that the society would disintegrate unless effective measures were speedily taken, and, aided by two presbyters of the Church of England, early in 1784 he ordained Thomas Coke (1747–1814), already a presbyter of that Church, as superintendent. He likewise ordained two of his lay preachers as deacons and elders, to accompany Coke, whom Wesley sent to America as his commissioner to establish, for the Methodist Society, a system of Church government, which should include the administration of Baptism and of the Lord’s Supper. Coke^[5]