From Russ Richey to an International, Interdenominational Methodist Connectionalism

Russ Richey produced a distinctively US American understanding of connectionalism that focused on the “machinery” of Methodism: conferences, doctrines, discipline (especially the Book of Discipline), the episcopacy, and clergy. Richey’s understanding of connectionalism was deeply rooted in the experiences of US American United Methodists and their predecessors and shaped by distinctively US American discourses on denominations and Methodism’s place in national theology and historiography. Scholars should expand on Richey’s insights to build a broader understanding of connectionalism by widening our geographic and denominational focus to incorporate more data from Methodist traditions around the world and beyond The United Methodist Church and by diversifying our tools of analysis beyond primarily structural ones, especially incorporating relational and spiritual understandings of connectionalism. Taking these steps can help us not only broaden but deepen our understanding of connectionalism and present a fuller Methodist ecclesiology.