B. T. and Ellen Roberts and the First Free Methodists

by Howard A. Snyder, Daniel V. Runyon

B. T. Roberts (1823-1893) and his wife Ellen Stowe Roberts (1825-1908) were key figures in the founding of the Free Methodist Church in 1860. After successfully serving Methodist pastorates for nearly a decade, B. T. Roberts was expelled from the Methodist Episcopal Church because of his reformist writings and preaching. This book, which is an abridged version of Snyder's original 2006 biography, tells the full story of B. T. and Ellen Roberts, including their marriage and family life as well as public activities as church leaders.

250 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2011

About the author

Howard A. Snyder serves as Professor of Wesley Studies, at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Previously he was Professor of the History and Theology of Mission in the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, 1996-2006. He has also taught at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, and pastored in Chicago, Detroit, and São Paulo, Brazil.

Reviews

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I joke with my husband that this summer "I'm reading about dead Methodists so I can better understand how to be a living Methodists." This book felt very personal to me at this season of ministry but also credit to Snyder's narrative craft, that I just felt totally engrossed in this story. This read helped me to contend with the best and the worst that is in the 'big C' church and more specifically within the DNA of my own Wesleyan roots. Yet, what I walked away with was such a profound admiration for the 'saints' of this movement- people who lived above reproach, with integrity, conviction, and wisdom. I walked away wanting to know more about this couple and inquire of more in their story to help inform my own 'operating instructions' for life in ministry in seasons of ecclesiological instability. Perhaps I will have to dedicate time to read the unabridged account from which this abridgement was distilled.

[Esther* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confession: I bought this for my grandma while I was away at the Free Methodist conference and read it on the way back before gifting it to her :)

I loved this book so much. It is biographical history from 1800s America but felt so personal to me as it detailed the life of the couple that became the founding leaders of the Free Methodist movement, which I’ve been part of all my life. It’s an abridged version of the original (which was over 900 pages long!) and I think it’s excellently written and edited. Other biographical material I’ve read on Methodism or Free Methodism has been a slog to get through, but this was very readable.

The positive influences on Benjamin and Ellen Roberts are detailed and honoured by this account, and I felt really stirred by the encounters they both had that inspired them to follow their convictions. Their joys and their tragedies are shared in a way that makes them feel relatable and vulnerable to us. I was particularly fascinated to find out how impacted they were by revival meetings, long before the birth of the Pentecostal Church, and how they sought to keep the movement and gifts of the Spirit central to whatever mission they were part of.

It details the disputes that arose within the Methodist church of those who wanted to be ‘free’ from social prejudices, secret societies and practices that enslaved others, and those who feared these changes within the established church. It was heartbreaking to see the written accounts from the day which seemed to blindly oppose any voice of dissent, rather than engaging with the valid theological and moral questions being raised by those like the Roberts’.

This account has helped me to understand the radical and vibrant origins of the church I’m part of, and I think it would be an excellent challenge and inspiration to people of any denomination.