This text outlines the development of British Methodist ecclesiology from the time of the Wesleys to the present day. It begins with a brief analysis of the complex intervention between the shifting ecclesiological consciousness of the early Methodist societies. It then expounds the now largely forgotten tradition of "classical" Wesleyan ecclesiological thought, and takes a brief look at non-Wesleyan Methodist traditions. It incorporates some material (principally from William Shrewsbury) that has never been discussed academically. Carter surveys the last century of Methodist ecclesiological development, setting it in an ecumenical context, and attempts to relate Methodist insights to the wider ecumenical debate in ecclesiology. The aim of this book is to whet the reader's appetite for the further and more profound investigation that the subject deserves.