Authority and Order

The important questions in ecumenical dialogue centre upon issues of authority and order. This book uses the development of ministry in the early Methodist Church to explore the origins of the Methodist Order and identify the nature of authority exercised by John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. Showing Methodism as having been founded upon Episcopalian principles, but in a manner reinterpreted by its founder, Adrian Burdon charts the journey made by John Wesley and his people towards the ordination of preachers, which became such a major issue amongst the first Methodist Societies. Implications for understanding the nature and practice of authority and order in modern Methodism are explored, with particular reference to the covenant for unity between English Methodists and the Church of England.

Adrian Burdon is a Minister in the Methodist Church, presently working with the Leeds Methodist Mission, West Yorkshire. He is Former Principal of the Methodist Theological College in Tonga, South Pacific (1993-2000), and was a part-time tutor at the Methodist Theological institution in Durham (Wesley Study Centre) from 2001-2003. He is also Convenor of the Methodist Liturgical Committee and Chair of the World Church Scholarship Programme of the Methodist Church in Britain.