To be Wesleyan is to be consciously and proudly part of the broad, ancient tradition of the Christian faith. Wesleyan means to be consciously and proudly part of the broad, ancient tradition of the Christian faith. We do not belong to a religious sect that came into existence in the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1777, at the founding of City Road Chapel in London, Wesley described the movement of Methodism.
Nothing can be more remote from the truth. . . .
Methodism, so called, is the old religion, the religion of the Bible, the religion of the primitive Church, the religion of the Church of England. This old religion. 12 John Wesley was well read. Though Wesley took very seriously the broad Christian tradition, he did not accept its authority over that of Scripture, if he perceived there to be a conflict . He did not always accept the Church's judgment regarding those it considered to be heretics.