OUR LEGACY FROM THE PAST - NCCUMC

12
METHODISM COMES
TO THE CAROLINAS
Francis Asbury, a most remarkable man, great both in
character and ability, led and governed the growing number of
Methodists in America. He took on the responsibility of training
the ministers who would go out into the wilderness, and he chose
rugged young men between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five
who would be brave enough to stand up against Indians,
desperados, or wild animals that they might encounter. They
became known as "itinerant preachers," a term that had
originated in the English Methodist Church where the traveling
preacher was needed to reach the far ends of the parish. No settlement
was too sparse, no road too rough, no wilderness too wild for
these men. They rode on uncharted woods paths, unafraid of man
or beast, simply trusting in God.
These young men were controlled by very strict rules laid
down by the annual conference, and their salaries were anywhere
from $64to $80a year! As one might imagine, this way of life was
not conducive to marriage, so most of them never had the comfort
of a home, wife, or children. Their life expectancy was about
thirty-five years due to the hardships they endured.
The circuit rider was probably the most significant figure in
the religious movement of the South. He carried all his worldly
possessions on his back or in his saddle bags. In the evening, he
might be in some pioneer's cabin teaching of Hell and Heaven, or
praying for the outpouring of the Spirit on the family, or standing
up on some platform in the woods urging his listeners to seek safety
and peace in the loving arms of Jesus. From these early labors
came our "camp meetings" which had such a marked influence
upon the religious life in the South. From these camp meeting
revivals grew the meeting houses which began to dot the sparsely
settled communities of colonial America.
In order to have some semblance of order, it became
necessary to parcel the Carolinas into prescribed circuits, with a
circuit rider to service those communities. The first circuit was
known as the CAROLINA CIRCUIT, and was formed in May of