Wesleyan Churches

The Wesleyan Church, throughout its history, has emphasized social concern, evangelism, and personal holiness. Thus, the Wesleyan Church finds it natural to express these aspects of the Christian life, along with other church ministries, in corporate worship. Worship in Wesleyan Churches is shaped by its history, traditions, convictions, and ministries. Each of these dimensions informs the congregational worship experience and worship's related concerns. Women and Worship. Wesleyans have been ordaining women for most of their 150 year history. When Congregationalist, Antoinette Brown, became in 1853 the first fully ordained woman in a recognized American denomination and possibly the first in Christian history, her ordination sermon was preached by Luther Lee, a Wesleyan. The first women's rights convention in America was held in a Wesleyan chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Women currently serve the Wesleyan Church as pastors, as co-pastors with their spouses, and as sta…