Unsung Heroes of Methodism: John Fletcher

We’ve all heard the names John and Charles Wesley, but there are a lot of other important names in the history of Methodism you may not know. The Unsung Heroes of Methodism series tells the stories of lesser-known figures whose lives and witness still impact The United Methodist Church today, even if their names aren’t familiar to us.

John Fletcher

Can you imagine purchasing hymnals or Sunday school materials from a company called Fletchersbury? Probably not, but if history had gone a little differently that might be the case. You’ve probably never heard of John Fletcher, but he was a very important figure in the early Methodist movement and a great theologian.

John Fletcher, whose real name was Jean Guillaume de la Fléchère, was born in Switzerland in 1729. We know little about his early life except that he was educated in Geneva and traveled as a mercenary before settling in London in 1750. To support himself he worked as a private tutor for a wealthy family before becoming a deacon, and later a priest, in The Church of England.[1]

This was during the height of Methodist activity in England and Fletcher quickly became drawn to this movement after hearing John Wesley preach. Though offered a lucrative parish in the country, Fletcher chose to serve in the industrial town of Madeley instead where he established charities for the working poor.[2] Fletcher was renowned for his piety, humility and charity. In 1781 he married fellow Methodist Mary Bosanquet, who was famous in her own right as one of the first women Wesley allowed to preach in public.[3]

Because he was an Anglican priest with his own parish, Fletcher didn’t iterate, but he served the Methodist movement in other ways by writing articles explaining and defending it. Like John Wesley, Fletcher was a strong advocate of Arminianism, which unlike the popular Calvinist theology of the times believed humans had free will to accept or reject the grace freely offered to them by God.

Fletcher’s greatest work was a collection of essays called “Checks to Arminianism”, which answered many of the challenges to Wesley’s teachings on salvation put forth by the Calvinists. His writings also helped establish the Methodist doctrine of Christian perfection or entire sanctification. Theologians today still use Fletcher’s writings extensively in their own works.[4]

By the 1780s Fletcher had become one of the Wesley’s most trusted colleagues. Wesley had come to admire him so much that he proposed Fletcher take his place as leader of the Methodists after his death. However, Fletcher’s health was never very good and he would actually die before Wesley on August 14, 1785.[5] Wesley delivered a sermon memorializing Fletcher in which he commends his outstanding character and piety.

“I never knew anyone walk so closely in the ways of God as he did. The Lord gave him a conscience tender as the apple of an eye. He literally preferred the interest of everyone to his own.” John Wesley Sermon 133 “On The Death of The Rev. Mr. John Fletcher”.

Wesley had already realized the movement would need a younger and more active leader, so he appointed Thomas Coke superintendent over the Methodist societies in 1784. Coke would become the first bishop of the newly formed Methodist Episcopal Church (from which The United Methodist Church is descended).[6] And the rest as they say is history.

It's interesting to imagine what might have happened if Fletcher rather than Coke had taken over leadership of the Methodists. For one thing, it seems less likely that Fletcher, who shared Wesley’s strong loyalty to Anglicanism, would have allowed the Methodists to become an independent denomination at all. He certainly would have been less comfortable accepting the title of bishop than Coke or Asbury.

While we can never know for sure what kind of leader Fletcher would have been, he lived an extraordinary life and was an important figure in Methodist history. Coming to England as an immigrant, he devoted his life to serving God and the poor, while his writings are still treasured by Methodist theologians around the world.

This content was produced by umc.org on October 19, 2023. Philip J. Brooks is a writer and content developer at United Methodist Communications. Contact him by email.