Methodism

====Germany====
{{Further interlanguage link|Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche|de|Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche}}
[[File:Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche Eningen unter Achalm.jpg|thumb|Methodist chapel at the foot of the [[Achalm]] mountain, [[Baden-Württemberg]]]]

In Germany, Switzerland and Austria, ''Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche'' is the name of the [[United Methodist Church]]. The German part of the church had about 52,031 members {{As of|2015|alt=in 2015}}.<ref name="Germany statistics" /> Members are organized into three annual conferences: north, east and south.<ref name="Germany statistics" /> All three annual conferences belong to the ''Germany Central Conference''.<ref name="WMC-Germany">{{cite web |title=Germany Central Conference |date=9 November 2019 |url=https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/europe/name/germany-central-conference/ |publisher=World Methodist Council |access-date=25 September 2021}}</ref> Methodism is most prevalent in southern [[Saxony]] and around [[Stuttgart]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

A Methodist missionary returning from Britain introduced (British) Methodism to Germany in 1830, initially in the region of [[Württemberg]]. Methodism was also spread in Germany through the missionary work of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] which began in 1849 in [[Bremen]], soon spreading to [[Saxony]] and other parts of Germany. Other Methodist missionaries of the [[Evangelical Association]] went near Stuttgart (Württemberg) in 1850.<ref name="WMC-Germany"/> Further Methodist missionaries of the [[Church of the United Brethren in Christ]] worked in [[Franconia]] and other parts of Germany from 1869 until 1905.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drury |first=A. W. |url=http://archive.org/details/UBwmHistoryOfTheChurchOfTheUBCByAWDrury |title=History Of The Church Of The United Brethren in Christ |date=1924 |language=En}}</ref> Therefore, Methodism has four roots in Germany.

Early opposition towards Methodism was partly rooted in theological differences{{snd}}northern and eastern regions of Germany were predominantly Lutheran and Reformed, and Methodists were dismissed as fanatics. Methodism was also hindered by its unfamiliar church structure (Connectionalism), which was more centralised than the hierarchical polity in the Lutheran and Reformed churches. After [[World War I]], the 1919 [[Weimar Constitution]] allowed Methodists to worship freely and many new chapels were established. In 1936, German Methodists elected their first bishop.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of The United Methodist Church in Europe – The United Methodist Church|url=http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/history-of-the-united-methodist-church-in-europe|publisher=United Methodist Communications|language=en|access-date=20 January 2017|archive-date=30 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130141854/http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/history-of-the-united-methodist-church-in-europe|url-status=dead}}</ref>