Methodism

====Nigeria====
The Nigerian Methodist Church is one of the largest Methodist denominations in the world and one of the largest Christian churches in Nigeria, with around two million members in 2000 congregations.<ref name="Nigeria">{{cite web|title=Methodist Church Nigeria|date=January 1963 |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/methodist-church-nigeria|publisher=World Council of Churches|access-date=25 March 2014}}</ref> It has seen exponential growth since the turn of the millennium.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lifecoalition.com/index_files/Page472.htm|title=Life Coalition International – Jesus Is The Standard|access-date=15 September 2014}}</ref>

Christianity was established in Nigeria with the arrival in 1842 of a [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] missionary.<ref name="Nigeria" /> He had come in response to the request for missionaries by the [[Saro people|ex-slaves who returned to Nigeria from Sierra Leone]]. From the mission stations established in [[Badagry]] and [[Abeokuta]], the Methodist church spread to various parts of the country west of the River Niger and part of the north. In 1893 missionaries of the [[Primitive Methodism|Primitive Methodist Church]] arrived from Fernando Po, an island off the southern coast of Nigeria. From there the Methodist Church spread to other parts of the country, east of the River Niger and also to parts of the north. The church west of the River Niger and part of the north was known as the Western Nigeria District and east of the Niger and another part of the north as the Eastern Nigeria District. Both existed independently of each other until 1962 when they constituted the Conference of Methodist Church Nigeria. The conference is composed of seven districts. The church has continued to spread into new areas and has established a department for evangelism and appointed a director of evangelism. An [[episcopal polity|episcopal system]] of church governance adopted in 1976 was not fully accepted by all sections of the church until the two sides came together and resolved to end the disagreement. A new constitution was ratified in 1990. The system is still episcopal but the points which caused discontent were amended to be acceptable to both sides. Today, the Nigerian Methodist Church has a prelate, eight archbishops and 44 bishops.<ref name="Nigeria" />