Methodist theology affirms the personal, bodily return of Jesus Christ as a central article of faith, confessed in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. Wesley himself did not engage extensively in speculative eschatology about the sequence or timing of end-time events, but he held the return of Christ as a certain future reality that should motivate holy living and evangelism. The urgency of Wesley's evangelistic ministry was partly driven by this eschatological horizon.

The Methodist tradition has not been associated with elaborate dispensational or premillennial prophecy schemes. The United Methodist Book of Discipline affirms the ultimate triumph of God's purposes and the final consummation of history without specifying the eschatological sequence. Methodist eschatology tends to emphasize the ethical implications of Christ's return — living in readiness, loving neighbor, pursuing justice — more than prophetic timelines.