Methodist Missionaries belonged to a movement within the Church of England, initiated by
John Wesley and his brother, Charles . Members of the
"Holy Club," as the early Methodists were nicknamed, the two
brothers sought quality religious experience and enthusiasm. They had little use
for rigid doctrine and formality in worship.
Wesleyanism or Methodism
became a popular movement among labourers, artisans and the poor. In North America
there was long a movement of lay preachers based
in the East. Most of the early Methodist preachers in Canada were
American. Once the Hudson Bay Company invited missionaries to its trading
posts a new mission field - the Canadian West was opened, supplied by
missionaries from Britain.
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