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39. THE BRITISH WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPEL |
| Wesleyan Methodism began in the classrooms of Oxford University where students, under John Wesley, attempted to order their lives to include both academics and good work(1). They were dubbed “Methodists” by skeptical observers. Wesley explored his Methodism in preaching halls, while maintaining a connection with the Church of England. So although students would meet in the halls, they would continue to receive the rites of Holy Communion, marriage and baptism, and be ordained as clergy through the Church of England(2). In 1791 the Wesleyan Methodist Church severed all ties with the Church of England and became an autonomous body(3). Under an agreement with American Methodists in 1820, British WesleyanMethodists were allocated Lower Canada as a missionary area(4). However, following a later split between the American and Canadian Methodist Conferences, and the subsequent departure of the Americans, the British returned to Upper Canada. The presence of British Wesleyan Methodists in York was noted in two places. First in 1819 where they were part of the American-based Methodist Church congregation, but chose to leave it and worship at a small chapel on George Street. Then upon their return to Upper Canada in 1832 under Reverend Donald Fraser, the British Wesleyan Methodists built a wooden chapel at the same site on George Street(5). The two chains of Methodism existed in a union from 1833 until 1840 when there was a return of the earlier dissension(6). The divisions within the churches were not over doctrine but administration and politics. |
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