Methodism

====China====
[[File:Flower lane church 2010.jpg|right|thumb|[[Flower Lane Church]] is the first Methodist church erected in downtown [[Fuzhou]].]]
[[File:Wuhan - former Methodist School - P1050047.JPG|thumb|Former Methodist school in [[Wuhan]] (founded 1885)]]

Methodism was brought to China in the autumn of 1847 by the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]]. The first missionaries sent out were [[Judson Dwight Collins]] and [[Moses Clark White]], who sailed from [[Boston]] 15 April 1847, and reached [[Fuzhou]] 6 September. They were followed by Henry Hickok and [[Robert Samuel Maclay]], who arrived 15 April 1848. In 1857, the first convert was baptised in connection with its labours. In August 1856, a brick built church was dedicated named the "Church of the True God" ({{lang-zh|s=真神堂|p=Zhēnshén táng}}), the first substantial church building erected in Fuzhou by Protestant Missions. In the winter of the same year another brick built church, located on the hill in the suburbs on the south bank of the [[Min River (Fujian)|Min]], was finished and dedicated, called the "[[Church of Heavenly Peace, Fuzhou|Church of Heavenly Peace]]". In 1862, the number of members was 87. The Fuzhou Conference was organized by [[Isaac W. Wiley]] on 6 December 1867, by which time the number of members and probationers had reached 2,011.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Hok Chau ({{lang-zh|c=周學|p=Zhōu Xué|labels=no}}; also known as Lai-Tong Chau, {{lang-zh|c=周勵堂|p=Zhōu Lìtáng|labels=no}}) was the first ordained Chinese minister of the South China District of the Methodist Church (incumbent 1877–1916). [[Benjamin Hobson]], a medical missionary sent by the [[London Missionary Society]] in 1839, set up Wai Ai Clinic ({{lang-zh|c=惠愛醫館|p=Huì ài yī guǎn|labels=no}}).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.ifeng.com/article/46027.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313042953/http://blog.ifeng.com/article/46027.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 March 2013 |title=回眸：当年传教士进羊城-MW悦读室之岭南话廊-凤凰网博客 |publisher=Blog.ifeng.com |access-date=19 April 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mall.cnki.net/magazine/Article/GDSI199901009.htm |title=合信的《全体新论》与广东士林-《广东史志》1999年01期-中国知网 |publisher=Mall.cnki.net |date=3 February 2012 |access-date=19 April 2013 |archive-date=7 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007074316/http://mall.cnki.net/magazine/Article/GDSI199901009.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Liang Fa]], Hok Chau and others worked there. Liang baptized Chau in 1852. The Methodist Church based in Britain sent missionary [[George Piercy]] to China. In 1851, Piercy went to Guangzhou (Canton), where he worked in a trading company. In 1853, he started a church in Guangzhou. In 1877, Chau was ordained by the Methodist Church, where he pastored for 39 years.<ref>Rebecca Chan Chung, Deborah Chung and Cecilia Ng Wong, "Piloted to Serve", 2012.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/PilotedToServe |title=Piloted to Serve |publisher=Facebook |access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref>

In 1867, the mission sent out the first missionaries to Central China, who began work at [[Jiujiang]]. In 1869, missionaries were also sent to the [[capital city]] [[Beijing]], where they laid the foundations of the work of the North China Mission. In November 1880, the [[History of Methodism in Sichuan|West China Mission]] was established in [[Sichuan Province]]. In 1896, the work in the Hinghua prefecture (modern-day [[Putian]]) and surrounding regions was also organized as a Mission Conference.<ref>Stephen Livingstone Baldwin, Foreign Missions of the Protestant Churches, 1900.</ref>

In 1947, the Methodist Church in the Republic of China celebrated its centenary. In 1949, however, the Methodist Church moved to Taiwan with the [[Kuomintang]] government.