In response to Memorial M22 (2021), work has been ongoing to uncover and understand the extent to which Methodist churches might have benefited directly or indirectly from the transatlantic traffic in enslaved African people. This work has included conversations with connexional and global partners.
The Conference is invited to engage with this work in workshops. Three texts are presented, setting the basis for the ‘accepted position’ (that the Methodist Church was historically anti-slavery and abolitionist) alongside illustrations of the ways in which it was entangled and complicit:
- Eight ‘vignettes’ or case studies from research by Dr Clive Norris into the wide entanglement of the Methodist movement/Church in enslavement from c1740-1840
- An article from the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society, also by Dr Norris, describing Wesley’s supporters who were also enslavers.
- Text of John Wesley’s tract Thoughts on Slavery (1774) (printed copies will be available from the Heritage exhibition stand at the 2026 Methodist Conference)
Scripture was used to justify enslavement and the Methodist Church benefited financially, directly and indirectly, from its entanglement in the abhorrent system of trafficking African people that underpinned the British economy in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These are hard truths for a Christian people proud that John Wesley’s last known letter was of encouragement to William Wilberforce, a campaigner against the traffic in enslaved African people.
Members of the Conference need to be aware that the activities and events described in these texts are dehumanising and inherently violent. The texts use terms and references that are or may be considered offensive today. In part, such language is shocking because it was normalised in our past but acknowledging that is part of our truth-seeking and truth-telling.
Faithful use of historical text raises difficult questions of whether to use terms as originally written or modify the language. Wesley’s tract is presented as published. Clear printer’s errors have been corrected by the transcriber; as far as possible, however, original spelling and punctuation have been preserved. Dr Norris’ article is presented as previously published for the journal, as this is a publicly available document. Dr Norris has adopted in his current research the approach recommended for schools in the 2025 handbook Teaching Slavery, which draws on the authoritative work of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at University College London. However, what terminology is considered appropriate for contemporary discussion of entanglement with enslavement and reparations is a topic that continues to evolve, and the Team is seeking to develop an accurate and respectful terminology for use by the Methodist Church.