One of the first "superintendents" of the newly formed Methodist Church in America. Appointed Superintendent with Dr. Thomas Coke at the Christmas Conference meeting at Baltimore in 1784.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Francis-Asbury, history, Methodist, Thomas[/tags]

It all began with John and Charles Wesley at Oxford sometime around 1728, when the two brothers, alarmed at the spread of deism on campus, organized meetings with students who were serious about their religion. In scorn the label "Methodists" stuck.

Wherever Wesley went, as he preached revival, little "societies" appeared all over England, Ireland, and Wales in his wake. These were not really congregations, most of them were members of the Anglican Church, and Wesley urged them to attend their parish churches for worship and Communion, but his converts found the center of their Christian experience in the Methodist societies where they confessed their sins to one another, submitted to the discipline of their leader, and joined in prayer and song.

John eventually began to divide his societies into smaller groups of twelve or so members called "classes" to encourage financial support, a penny a week for