Methodism

====India====
{{See also|Church of South India|Methodist Church in India}}
[[File:Wesleyan Church, Broadway.JPG|thumb|upright|The [[Church of South India|CSI]] English Wesley Church in [[Chennai]] is one of the oldest Methodist chapels in India.]]

Methodism came to India twice, in 1817 and in 1856, according to P. Dayanandan who has extensively researched the subject.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2004/10/29/stories/2004102903381000.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041103131148/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2004/10/29/stories/2004102903381000.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=3 November 2004 | location=Chennai, India | work=[[The Hindu]] | title=In commemoration of John Wesley | date=29 October 2004}}</ref> Thomas Coke and six other missionaries set sail for India on New Year's Day in 1814. Coke, then 66, died en route. Rev. James Lynch was the one who finally arrived in [[Madras]] in 1817 at a place called Black Town (Broadway), later known as George Town. Lynch conducted the first Methodist missionary service on 2 March 1817, in a stable.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The first Methodist church was dedicated in 1819 at [[Royapettah]]. A chapel at Broadway (Black Town) was later built and dedicated on 25 April 1822.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Pastorate – Mount Wesley Church |url=https://mountwesleychurch.org/pastorate/ |access-date=2023-11-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> This church was rebuilt in 1844 since the earlier structure was collapsing.<ref name=":0" /> At this time there were about 100 Methodist members in all of Madras, and they were either Europeans or Eurasians (European and Indian descent). Among names associated with the founding period of Methodism in India are [[Elijah Hoole]] and Thomas Cryer, who came as missionaries to Madras.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mr Elija Hoole – India – Biographical Papers – Special Series – (Wesleyan) Methodist Missionary Society Archive – Archives Hub |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb102-mms/mms/17/02/06/07 |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk}}</ref>

In 1857, the Methodist Episcopal Church started its work in India, and with prominent evangelists like [[William Taylor (bishop)|William Taylor]] of the Emmanuel Methodist Church, [[Vepery]], born in 1874. The evangelist [[James Mills Thoburn]] established the Thoburn Memorial Church in Calcutta in 1873 and the Calcutta Boys' School in 1877.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

In 1947, the Wesleyan Methodist Church in India merged with Presbyterians, Anglicans and other Protestant churches to form the Church of South India while the American Methodist Church remained affiliated as the [[Methodist Church in Southern Asia]] (MCSA) to the mother church in the USA – the United Methodist Church until 1981, when by an enabling act, the Methodist Church in India (MCI) became an autonomous church in India. Today, the Methodist Church in India is governed by the General Conference of the Methodist Church of India headed by six bishops, with headquarters in Mumbai, India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=3174 |title=The Methodist Church in India: Bangalore Episcopal Area |publisher=Gbgm-umc.org |access-date=19 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524022335/https://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=3174 |archive-date=24 May 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref>