William Thom (preacher)

Last updated

William Thom (also known as 'Billy') (1751-1811) was a Methodist preacher and co-founder, with Alexander Kilham, of the breakaway 'New Itinerancy', later the Methodist New Connection, founded in 1797. Thom was the first President of the New Connection, while Kilham was its first secretary. [1] Thom wrote a brief guide entitled Serious advice to the servants of the Methodist Society: in the circuit of Leeds , published in 1796, [2] and he and Kilham jointly wrote the Out-lines of a constitution; proposed for the examination, amendment and acceptance, of the members of the Methodist New Itinerancy, which was published in 1797. [3]

He was mentioned in John Wesley's Last Will and Testament as being 'of Whitby' and listed as a 'preacher and expounder of God's Holy Word'. Wesley wrote a letter to Thom in 1790 regarding the Methodist position on attending Church of England communion services. [4]

Memorial

Bethesda Chapel in Albion Street, Hanley (now a redundant church) has four monuments erected in memory of those who helped to establish the Methodist New Connexion in Hanley, including one dedicated to the memory of William Thom, describing him as "an able minister of the gospel". [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Whitefield</span> English minister and preacher (1714–1770)

George Whitefield, also known as George Whitfield, was an Anglican cleric and evangelist who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wesley</span> English founder of Methodism (1703–1791)

John Wesley was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Methodist movement that continues to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Williams Pantycelyn</span> Welsh hymnist, poet and prose writer (1717–1791)

William Williams, Pantycelyn, also known as William Williams, Williams Pantycelyn, and Pantycelyn, is generally seen as Wales's premier hymnist. He is also rated among the great literary figures of Wales, as a writer of poetry and prose. In religion he was among the leaders of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival, along with the evangelists Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Asbury</span> Methodist minister and bishop in America

Francis Asbury was a British-born Methodist minister who became one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. During his 45 years in the colonies and the newly independent United States, he devoted his life to ministry, traveling on horseback and by carriage thousands of miles to those living on the frontier.

The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, the MEC reunited with two breakaway Methodist denominations to form the Methodist Church. In 1968, the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church.

Alexander Kilham was an English Methodist minister.

The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primitive Methodism in the United Kingdom</span>

Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English and Welsh Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. It emerged from a revival at Mow Cop in Staffordshire. Primitive meant "simple" or "relating to an original stage"; the Primitive Methodists saw themselves as practising a purer form of Christianity, closer to the earliest Methodists. Although the denomination did not bear the name "Wesleyan", Primitive Methodism was Wesleyan in theology, in contrast to the Calvinistic Methodists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circuit rider (religious)</span> Preacher who rides circuit

Circuit rider clergy, in the earliest years of the United States, were clergy assigned to travel around specific geographic territories to minister to settlers and organize congregations. Circuit riders were clergy in the Methodist Episcopal Church and related denominations, although similar itinerant preachers could be found in other faiths as well, particularly among minority faith groups.

The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, and the World Council of Churches among other ecumenical associations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christmas Conference</span> Founding conference of the Methodists within the US

The Christmas Conference was an historic founding conference of the newly independent Methodists within the United States held just after the American Revolution at Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1784.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John William Fletcher</span> British Methodist cleric

John William Fletcher was a Swiss-born English divine and Methodist leader. Of French Huguenot stock, he was born in Nyon in Vaud, Switzerland. Fletcher emigrated to England in 1750 and there he became an Anglican vicar. He began to work with John Wesley, becoming a key interpreter of Wesleyan theology in the 18th century and one of Methodism's first great theologians. Fletcher was renowned in Britain for his piety and generosity; when asked if he had any needs, he responded, "...I want nothing but more grace."

The Methodist New Connexion, also known as Kilhamite Methodism, was a Protestant nonconformist church. It was formed in 1797 by secession from the Wesleyan Methodists, and merged in 1907 with the Bible Christian Church and the United Methodist Free Churches to form the United Methodist Church. In Australia, it joined with those plus the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Primitive Methodist Church as the Methodist Church of Australasia in 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meeting house</span> Building in which religious and sometimes public meetings take place

A meeting house is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place.

The Character and Death of Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers is a Methodist tract from 1794, still in print in 2008. The text is a publication of the sermon given by the Reverend Thomas Coke upon the death of the Methodist writer Hester Rogers, with an appendix written by her husband James Rogers; there is a third section, a “Supplement to the Appendix—consisting of Miscellaneous Extracts from the Journals of Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers.” Coke's sermon and James Rogers' appendix both contain published passages from Hester Rogers' own book entitled A Short Account of the Experience of Mrs. H.A. Rogers, Written by Herself as well as unpublished excerpts from her journals and correspondence. The history of the “Supplement to the Appendix” is not clear.

Robert Hindmarsh (1759–1835) was an English printer and one of the original founders of Swedenborgianism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethesda Methodist Chapel, Hanley</span> Church in Staffordshire, England

Bethesda Methodist Chapel is a disused Methodist chapel, in Hanley, Staffordshire, England. One of the largest Nonconformist chapels outside London, the building has been known as the "Cathedral of the Potteries", being "one of the largest and most ornate Methodist town chapels surviving in the UK".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Kilham</span> Methodist missionary

Hannah Kilham (1774–1832) née Spurr was an English Methodist and Quaker, known as a missionary and linguist active in West Africa. She was also a teacher and philanthropic activist in England and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethesda Chapel, Dublin</span> Church in Ireland

The Bethesda Chapel, Dublin, was an Episcopal Church of Ireland, church on Granby Row and Dorset Street, Dublin.

William Bramwell was an English Methodist itinerant preacher who led a successful Christian revival in Yorkshire.

References

  1. "Bethesda :: Architecture".
  2. Republished by Gale ECCO, Print Editions (24 Jun. 2010), ISBN   978-1171082002
  3. Republished by Gale ECCO, Print Editions (29 May 2010), ISBN   978-1170504789
  4. "The Wesley Center Online: Wesley's Letters: 1790a".
  5. "Bethesda Chapel".