It was at the end of the 1730s that the first noted signs of the inception of the Methodist church have come to be found. The Methodist church was founded by the teachings of a man by the name of John Wesley. John Wesley was a former clergy of the Church of England. He is also referred to as a Christian theologian. This is because his works stemmed outside of the reach of the Methodist church. He had lead such a large initiative in the following of the Methodist church that, there are over seventy million people to date that belong to the Methodist church. The Methodist churches that we have come to know today also have had some rather significant assistance in its composition from a couple of other great leaders. The early Methodist church and its practices were formed with the help of George Whitfield. George Whitfield was the first to initiate open-air preaching, in which one delivers a religious message to the public in crowds that are formed right out in the open. Then there was the brother of John Wesley, by the name of Charles Wesley, that has also played an instrumental role in the Methodist churches that were created out of such a great movement. Charles Wesley had influenced the formation and growth of the Methodist church in the form of song. Charles Wesley had produced a body of hymns that may be still heard sang out in Methodist churches to this very day.