Francis Asbury

Francis Asbury (1745–1816) was an English-born Methodist preacher and bishop who helped establish and expand Methodism in the United States after arriving in 1771.

John Wesley: John Wesley (1703–1791) was an English cleric who founded the Methodist movement with his brother Charles. Wesley sent Asbury to the American colonies in 1771 and later ordained him a bishop.
Circuit rider: A circuit rider was an itinerant Protestant minister who traveled a prescribed route to serve scattered congregations. Asbury organized preachers into circuits so worship could reach settlements beyond established towns.
Methodism: Methodism is a Protestant Christian movement that developed from the eighteenth-century revival led by John and Charles Wesley. The movement’s societies, doctrines, and preaching practices formed the tradition Asbury carried to America.
Second Great Awakening: The Second Great Awakening was a wave of Protestant revivals in the United States from the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century. Methodist networks built under Asbury became a major channel for the revival’s expansion.
Thomas Coke: Thomas Coke (1747–1814) was an English Methodist cleric who became the first Methodist bishop in the United States alongside Asbury. Coke and Asbury jointly led the 1784 organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Methodist Episcopal Church: The Methodist Episcopal Church was the American Methodist denomination organized in 1784 under episcopal leadership. Asbury became its leading bishop and helped shape its governance and ministry.
First Great Awakening: The First Great Awakening was an eighteenth-century revival that reshaped Protestant religion in Britain’s North American colonies. Its revival culture prepared colonial communities for the Methodist growth Asbury later pursued.
African Methodist Episcopal Church: The African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historically Black Methodist denomination founded in Philadelphia in 1816. Its founding followed racial discrimination within white Methodist institutions Asbury led.
Richard Allen: Richard Allen (1760–1831) was an African American Methodist preacher who founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen’s break with white Methodist authority revealed the racial limits of the church Asbury helped lead.
Methodist class meeting: A Methodist class meeting was a small group for spiritual oversight, mutual support, and religious instruction. Class meetings gave local communities a structure that itinerant preaching alone could not provide.

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