Methodism

====Philippines====
Methodism in the Philippines began shortly after the United States acquired the Philippines in 1898 as a result the [[Spanish–American War]]. On 21 June 1898, after the [[Battle of Manila Bay]] but before the [[Treaty of Paris (1898)|Treaty of Paris]], executives of the American Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church expressed their desire to join other [[Protestant]] denominations in starting mission work in the islands and to enter into a [[Comity Agreement]] that would facilitate the establishment of such missions. The first Protestant worship service was conducted on 28 August 1898 by an American military chaplain named George C. Stull. Stull was an ordained Methodist minister from the Montana Annual Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church (later part of the United Methodist Church after 1968).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Oconer |first1=Luther J. |last2=Asedillo |first2=Rebecca C. |title=The United Methodist Church in the Philippines |url=http://archives.gcah.org/bitstream/handle/10516/1319/UMC_Philippines.pdf |website=gcah.org |publisher=United Methodist Church |page=2}}</ref>

[[File:AIM Pilipinas First Bishop.jpeg|thumb|left|Consecration of the first Presiding Bishop of Ang Iglesia Metodista sa Pilipinas held at Luacan Church in [[Bataan]], Philippines]]
Methodist and Wesleyan traditions in the Philippines are shared by three of the largest mainline Protestant churches in the country: [[Philippines Central Conference (United Methodist Church)|The United Methodist Church in the Philippines]], ''[[Iglesia Evangelica Metodista En Las Islas Filipinas]]'' ("Evangelical Methodist Church in the Philippine Islands", abbreviated IEMELIF), and The [[United Church of Christ in the Philippines]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uccp.ph/|title=uccp.ph|access-date=15 September 2014}}</ref> There are also evangelical Protestant churches in the country of the Methodist tradition like the Wesleyan Church of the Philippines, the [[Free Methodist Church]] of the Philippines,<ref>[http://cebu.freemethodistchurch.org/aboutus.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011114200/http://cebu.freemethodistchurch.org/aboutus.html|date=11 October 2008}}.</ref> and the [[Church of the Nazarene]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nazarene.org.ph/|title=Philippines Church of the Nazarene – Mabuhay!|access-date=15 September 2014}}</ref> There are also the IEMELIF Reform Movement (IRM), The Wesleyan (Pilgrim Holiness) Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Bible Methodist Church, Incorpoorated, the Pentecostal Free Methodist Church, Incorporated, the Fundamental Christian Methodist Church, The Reformed Methodist Church, Incorporated, The Methodist Church of the Living Bread, Incorporated, and the Wesley Evangelical Methodist Church & Mission, Incorporated.

There are three [[Episcopal area (United Methodist Church)|episcopal areas]] of the United Methodist Church in the Philippines: the Baguio Episcopal Area, Davao Episcopal Area and Manila Episcopal Area.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meaweb.blogspot.com/|title=Manila Episcopal Area|access-date=15 September 2014}}</ref>

A call for autonomy from groups within the United Methodist Church in the Philippines was discussed at several conferences led mostly by episcopal candidates. This led to the establishment of the ''[[Ang Iglesia Metodista sa Pilipinas]]'' ("The Methodist Church in the Philippines") in 2010,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aimpilipinas.org/ |title=AIM Pilipinas Website |work=AIM Pilipinas |access-date=28 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418183528/http://aimpilipinas.org/ |archive-date=18 April 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> led by Bishop [[Lito C. Tangonan]], George Buenaventura, Chita Milan and Atty. Joe Frank E. Zuñiga. The group finally declared full autonomy and legal incorporation with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission (Philippines)|Securities and Exchange Commission]] was approved on 7 December 2011 with papers held by present procurators. It now has 126 local churches in [[Metro Manila]], [[Palawan]], [[Bataan]], [[Zambales]], [[Pangasinan]], [[Bulacan (province)|Bulacan]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://philmethodist.blogspot.com/2011/06/first-annual-conference-of-pmc.html |title=Philippine Methodist |work=AIM Pilipinas |date=9 June 2011 |access-date=28 March 2012}}</ref> [[Aurora (province)|Aurora]], [[Nueva Ecija]], as well as parts of [[Pampanga (province)|Pampanga]] and [[Cavite (province)|Cavite]]. Tangonan was consecrated as the denomination's first Presiding Bishop on 17 March 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aimpilipinas.blogspot.com/ |title=AIM Pilipinas Blogsite |work=AIM Pilipinas |access-date=28 March 2012}}</ref>