Methodism

===Oceania===
Methodism is particularly widespread in some [[Pacific Island]] nations, such as [[Fiji]], [[Samoa]] and [[Tonga]].

====Australia====
In the 19th century there were annual conferences in each Australasian colony (including New Zealand). Various branches of Methodism in Australia merged during the 20 years from 1881. The [[Methodist Church of Australasia]] was formed on 1 January 1902 when five Methodist denominations in Australia – the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] Church, the [[Primitive Methodist]]s, the [[Bible Christian Church]], the [[United Methodist Free Churches|United Methodist Free]] and the [[Methodist New Connexion]] Churches merged.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14464919 |title=METHODIST CHURCH OF AUSTRALASIA. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=1 January 1902 |access-date=28 January 2016 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Humphreys |first1=Robert |title=Religious Bodies in Australia |last2=Ward |first2=Rowland |publisher=Robert Humphreys and Rowland Ward |year=1986 |isbn=1-86252-709-1 |location=Melbourne, Australia |page=45 |language=en}}</ref> In polity it largely followed the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

In 1945 Kingsley Ridgway offered himself as a Melbourne-based "field representative" for a possible Australian branch of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America, after meeting an American serviceman who was a member of that denomination.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Brien |first=Glen |title=Kingsley Ridgway: Pioneer with a Passion |publisher=Wesleyan Methodist Church |year=1996 |location=Melbourne, Australia}}</ref> The [[Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia]] was founded on his work.

[[File:Wesleystatue.JPG|thumb|Statue of John Wesley outside [[Wesley Church, Melbourne|Wesley Church]] in [[Melbourne]], Australia]]
The Methodist Church of Australasia merged with the majority of the [[Presbyterian Church of Australia]] and the [[Congregational Union of Australia]] in 1977, becoming the [[Uniting Church in Australia|Uniting Church]]. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia and some independent congregations chose not to join the union.<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Glen |last2=Carey |first2=Hilary M. |title=Methodism in Australia: A History |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-09709-9 |page=268 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAmrCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA268 |access-date=7 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Wesley Mission]] in Pitt Street, [[Sydney]], the largest parish in the Uniting Church, remains strongly in the Wesleyan tradition.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Humphreys |first1=Robert |title=Religious Bodies in Australia |last2=Ward |first2=Rowland |publisher=Robert Humphreys and Rowland Ward |year=1986 |isbn=1-86252-709-1 |location=Melbourne, Australia |page=47 |language=en}}</ref> There are many local churches named after John Wesley.

From the mid-1980s a number of independent Methodist churches were founded by missionaries and other members from the Methodist Churches of Malaysia and Singapore. Some of these came together to form what is now known as the [[Chinese Methodist Church in Australia]] in 1993, and it held its first full Annual Conference in 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=Australia, Chinese Methodist Church |date=9 November 2019 |url=https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/member-churches/name/australia-chinese-methodist-church/ |publisher=World Methodist Council |access-date=7 June 2020}}</ref> Since the 2000s many independent Methodist churches have also been established or grown by [[Tongans|Tongan]] immigrants.<ref>For example {{cite web |title=Tongan Methodist Church |url=https://www.feca.org.au/tongan |website=Fellowship of Evangelical Churches of Australia |access-date=27 July 2021 |language=en |archive-date=27 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727123754/https://www.feca.org.au/tongan |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Fiji====
As a result of the early efforts of missionaries, most of the natives of the Fiji Islands were converted to Methodism in the 1840s and 1850s.<ref>World Council of Churches, [http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/pacific/fiji/methodist-church-in-fiji-and-rotuma.html Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208075047/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/pacific/fiji/methodist-church-in-fiji-and-rotuma.html|date=8 February 2013}}.</ref> According to the 2007 census, 34.6% of the population (including almost two-thirds of [[Fijians|ethnic Fijians]]),<ref>{{cite web |date=June 2012 |title=Population by Religion and Province of Enumeration |url=http://www.statsfiji.gov.fj/index.php/document-library/doc_download/426-population-by-religion-province |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909212947/http://www.statsfiji.gov.fj/index.php/document-library/doc_download/426-population-by-religion-province |archive-date=9 September 2015 |access-date=7 November 2015 |website=2007 Census of Population |publisher=Fiji Bureau of Statistics |ref=2007-Census-Religion}} – Percentages are derived from total population figures provided in the source.</ref> are adherents of Methodism, making Fiji one of the most Methodist nations. The [[Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma]], the largest religious denomination, is an important social force along with the traditional [[Ratu|chiefly system]]. In the past, the church once called for a [[theocracy]] and fueled [[Anti-Hinduism|anti-Hindu sentiment]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hafsite.org/pdf/hhr_2005_html/fijiislands.htm |title=Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A Survey of Human Rights 2005 |publisher=Hafsite.org |access-date=30 April 2013 |archive-date=12 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712231835/http://www.hafsite.org/pdf/hhr_2005_html/fijiislands.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====New Zealand====
[[File:Christchurch Chinese Methodist Church, Christchurch, New Zealand 12.jpg|thumb|Chinese Methodist Church, [[Christchurch]], New Zealand]]
In June 1823 Wesleydale, the first [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] mission in New Zealand, was established at [[Kaeo]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Wesleyan mission established|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/wesleyan-mission-established|publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|access-date=21 August 2017|date=21 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821085250/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/wesleyan-mission-established|archive-date=21 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Methodist Church of New Zealand]], which is directly descended from the 19th-century missionaries, was the fourth-most common Christian denomination recorded in the 2018 New Zealand census.<ref>{{cite web |title=Most common religious affiliations in New Zealand |url=https://figure.nz/chart/RfmHYb2IsMMrn9OC |website=Figure.NZ |publisher=Figure NZ Trust. |access-date=25 January 2022 |language=en-nz |via=2018 Census}}</ref>

Since the early 1990s, missionaries and other Methodists from Malaysia and Singapore established Methodist churches around major urban areas in New Zealand. These congregations came together to form the Chinese Methodist Church in New Zealand (CMCNZ) in 2003.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

====Samoan Islands====
The Methodist Church is the third largest denomination throughout the Samoan Islands, in both Samoa and American Samoa.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pearce |first1=Steve |title=Report on a visit to Samoa for the Methodist Consultative Council of the Pacific (MCCP) |url=https://www.methodist.org.uk/media/9289/report-on-visit-samoa-2015.pdf |publisher=Methodist Church in Britain |access-date=27 July 2021 |date=April 2015}}</ref> In 1868, [[Piula Theological College]] was established in [[Lufilufi]] on the north coast of [[Upolu]] island in Samoa and serves as the main headquarters of the Methodist church in the country.<ref name=bk1>{{Cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tckqy2TMjqoC&q=Piula+Theological+College%2C+Lufilufi&pg=PA127
|title=Samoan women: widening choices
|first=Peggy
|last=Fairbairn-Dunlop
|author-link=Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop
|page=127
|year=2003
|publisher=University of the South Pacific
|isbn=982-02-0360-0
|access-date=2 February 2010
}}</ref> The college includes the historic Piula Monastery as well as [[Piula Cave Pool]], a natural spring situated beneath the church by the sea.

====Tonga====
[[File:Saione.jpg|thumb|Saione, the church of the king – the main Free Wesleyan Church of [[Kolomotuʻa]], Tonga]]
Methodism had a particular resonance with the inhabitants of Tonga. In the 1830s Wesleyan missionaries converted paramount chief [[George Tupou I|Taufa'ahau Tupou]] who in turn converted fellow islanders. Today, Methodism is represented on the islands by the [[Free Church of Tonga]] and the [[Free Wesleyan Church]], which is the largest church in Tonga. {{As of|2011}} 48% of Tongans adhered to Methodist churches.<ref>{{cite book |title=Tonga 2011 Census of Population and Housing |url=https://tonga-data.sprep.org/system/files/2011_CensusReportVol_1rev.pdf |publisher=Statistics Department Tonga |page=xi |volume=1 |date=2011}}</ref> The royal family of the country are prominent members of the Free Wesleyan Church, and the late king was a lay preacher.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cummins |first1=H. G. |title=The Archives of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25168318 |journal=The Journal of Pacific History |pages=102–106 |date=1978|volume=13 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/00223347808572343 |jstor=25168318 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=‘Ahio |first1=Finau Pila |date=2007 |title=Christianity and Taufa'āhau in Tonga: 1800–1850 |url=https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/mjt/23-1_22.pdf |journal=Melanesian Journal of Theology |volume=23 |issue=1 |page=33}}</ref> Tongan Methodist minister [[Sione 'Amanaki Havea]] developed [[coconut theology]], which tailors theology to a Pacific Islands context.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Prior |first1=Randall |title=I Am the Cocconut of Life: An Evaluation of Coconut Theology |journal=Pacific Journal of Theology |date=1993 |volume=2 |issue=10 |pages=31–40 |publisher=South Pacific Association of Theological Schools |location=Suva, Fiji}}</ref>