This list deals with those who are notable in the history or culture of all Methodist churches. For other Methodists who are not notable in Methodist history or culture, see Category:Methodists.
Wallace Wattles – New Thought pioneer, theologian and Christian Socialist - Famous for inspiring the blockbuster book, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Author of Science of Getting Rich bestselling book 1910. Possibly the biggest selling author in the 20th and 21st Century who was a Methodist minister.
Richard Watson – theology and president of the Methodist Conference
Orange Scott – first president of the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion
Alben W. Barkley - 35th Vice-President of the United States (1949–53)
Dick Cheney - 46th Vice-President of the United States (2001–09)
Chiang Kai-shek - Premier of China (1930–31, 1935–38, 1939–45, 1947) and President of the Republic of China (1948–49, 1950–75), the longest-serving non-royal ruler of China, having held the post for 46 years.
Feng Yuxiang – General of the Zhili Clique and later founder of the Guominjun, known as the "Christian General" and "Backstabbing General"
Women lay leaders
Belle Harris Bennett (1852–1922) – missionary and suffragist from Richmond Kentucky who led the Southern Methodist Church reform giving women full laity rights in 1919
Eliza Bennis (1725–1802) – early Irish convert (1769) and leader in Limerick and Waterford
Superman – also known as Clark Kent or Kal-El. Superman is the archetypal costumed super-hero. He is clearly the most influential character in the comic book super-hero genre. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, both of whom were Jewish. The character of Superman, however, has always been depicted as having been raised with a solidly Protestant upbringing by his adoptive Midwestern parents – Jonathan and Martha Kent. Of Clark's parents, Martha is the more devout churchgoer. Clark Kent was raised as a Methodist. The Kents are Methodists, although Jonathan is not as regular a churchgoer as his wife.
Superboy – also known as Conner Kent or Kon-El Superboy is a clone made from the DNA of Superman (who was raised as a Methodist) and Lex Luthor (a Nietzschean atheist). Superboy was being raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who were also the adoptive parents of Clark Kent, the Kryptonian infant orphan who grew up to be Superman.
Supergirl – real name is Linda Danvers, the fictional character of Supergirl (the post-Crisis version written prominently by Peter David during the late 1980s and 1990s) was an active Methodist. Supergirl's minister, Rev. Larry Varvel, was based on a real-life Methodist minister of the same name.
Scout Finch – Main character of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. The Finch family is described in the first chapter as descended from an English Methodist, Simon Finch, who fled religious persecution and emigrated to Alabama. The Finches are also described as attending Maycomb's Methodist church, in contrast to other characters, such as Miss Maudie Atkins (Baptist) and Calpurnia (AME).
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