Ignorance of History and John Wesley is at the heart of why many Wesleyans believe they are Protestants or part of the Protestant Reformation movement. Nothing can be farther from the truth and history helps us understand why this distinction of great importance especially to those who believe they are Wesleyans like the Methodists, the Church of the Nazarene and many "confused" Pentecostal denominations.
First, The Protestant Reformation grew as a protest or rebellion against the established Roman Catholic church while Wesleyanism grew out of and despite the Church of England. Wesley started and founded the Methodist movement while he was an ordained Anglican priest or a priest of the Church of England. While Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin and company were Protestants who rebelled from the Roman Catholic or Latin Church, John Wesley never rebelled against the Church of England although he detested the hyper-Calvinist doctrines of his own denomination.
Second, John Wesley NEVER believed in the Sola Scriptura doctrine of the Protestants. Dr. Albert Outler analyzed the way John Wesley faithfully exegeted the Scriptures and concluded that Wesley would not interpret Scripture without consulting post-Apostolic church pastors and writers or some of the post-Nicene Greek fathers like John Chrysostom and the Cappadocian fathers. (post-Apostolic like Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Papias, Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, and Ireneaus.) In the Wesley Quadrilateral coined by Outler, Church Tradition (Post-Apostolic MAINLY, or at most, ante-Nicene MAINLY plus some early post-Nicene Greek fathers) comes immediately after Scripture in his exegetical method and before one can reasonably apply Reason and Experience to the passage.
Thirdly, mainline Protestant denominations are either ignorant of the post-Apostolic church writings or almost completely disregard it. There has been a prevailing protestant attitude more than 1,500 years after Christ and the apostles that they have more information than the Apostles than the early church and are more "studied" or "scholarly" in their analysis of the Word of God. Wesley, on the other hand, who was mentored by his father who was also an ordained priest, diligently studied the post-Apostolic tradition. He was even quoted to say that the ante-Nicene church is the pristine church, while the post-Nicene church doctrine and lifestyle was corrupted or adulterated by unbiblical beliefs and practices.
"It is unlawful to assert that the apostles preached before they possessed “perfect knowledge,” as some do even venture to say, boasting themselves as being improvers of the apostles. For, after our Lord rose from the dead, the apostles were energized with power from on High when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them]. They were completely filled and had perfect knowledge. They departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things sent to us from God." Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.414.
We must not at all depart from the evangelical precepts. Disciples should observe and do the same things that the Master both taught and did. . . . So, then, neither the apostle himself nor an angel from heaven can preach or teach anything other than what Christ has once taught and that His apostles have announced. Therefore, I wonder very much from where this practice has originated. For it is contrary to evangelical and apostolic discipline. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.361.
Fourth, Wesley was explicit that the doctrine of predestination was a "detestable" doctrine
Fifth, mainline Protestantism except for the Moravians and Anabaptists espoused the Calvinist tenet of "once-saved-always-saved", a heresy condemned by the early church pastors and writers as part of Gnosticism.
Sixth, the soteriology of Protestantism is an extreme reaction to the Roman Catholic church which teaches salvation by works (although creed-wise, they shouldn't). Sola Fide is not a good articulation of the full gospel. Wesleyanism believes that there is no true salvation without evidences of sanctification and sanctification CANNOT be distinct and separate from justification. Although we may have an intuitive understanding of what that means, the early church had a simpler articulation. First, we have to be willing to renounce self and take up our cross to follow Christ which makes us a catachumen. However, a catchumen is not yet part of the Kingdom of God until he undergoes water baptism according to John 3:5. He then experiences initial salvation by his initial but vital union with Christ in death, burial and resurrection according to Romans 6:3-11. Having had so great a salvation, the believer is now admonished to maintain that salvation status by working out his "salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)" because only those who endure to the end shall be saved.
Seventh, to Protestants, holiness is none other than the holiness of Christ imputed to the believer. To John Wesley, "holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" is imparted holiness and MUST be seen in the life of the believer. To the early church, holiness is simply separation from the world according to James 4:4 and 1 John 2:15-17. Wesley is very much closer to the early church concept while the Protestant concept is an invented gospel with little or no Scriptural basis other than logical deductions out of passages which are out of context.
Eighth, Wesley always referred to the Greek line of church fathers for theology and exegesis of Scriptures. The Protestant Reformation, in general, refer to the Latin line of church fathers starting with Augustine (the first "Calvinist" who was Greek-illiterate, hence, his misunderstanding of Scripture).
Ninth, Wesley was a passionate restorationist of the early church faith. Mainline protestantism largely ignores or is ignorant of "the faith ONCE AND FOR ALL delivered to the saints". Hence all the modern theological innovations and inventions, most of which fall under the anathema of Paul in Galatians 1:8-9
AMONG NON-GREEK-ORTHODOX denominations, Wesleyan doctrine is still the closest to the common doctrines of the post-Apostolic church.
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