Methodism

====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>