Methodism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Contemporary Methodist denominations== {{See also|List of Methodist denominations}}Methodism is a worldwide movement and Methodist churches are present on all populated continents.<ref name="cambridge2005">Cracknell and White (2005), ''[http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/18490/frontmatter/9780521818490_frontmatter.pdf An Introduction to World Methodism]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130153713/http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/18490/frontmatter/9780521818490_frontmatter.pdf|date=30 November 2011}}'', p. 'i' (frontmatter).</ref> Although Methodism is declining in Great Britain and North America, it is growing in other places{{snd}}at a rapid pace in, for example, South Korea.<ref>{{cite web|title=Korean Methodist Church|date=January 1948 |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/korean-methodist-church|publisher=World Council of Churches|access-date=23 April 2013}}</ref> There is no single Methodist Church with universal juridical authority; Methodists belong to multiple independent denominations or "[[Connexionalism|connexions]]". The great majority of Methodists are members of denominations which are part of the [[World Methodist Council]], an international association of 80 Methodist, Wesleyan, and related [[united and uniting churches|uniting]] denominations,<ref>{{cite web|title=Who We Are|url=http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/about/|website=worldmethodistcouncil.org|publisher=World Methodist Council|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref> representing about 80 million people.<ref name="adherents"/> {{Blockquote|'''I look on all the world as my parish;''' thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.|John Wesley|Journal (11 June 1739)}} ===Europe=== [[File:Jerusalemskirken in Copenhagen 2.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Jerusalem's Church, Copenhagen]], the main Methodist church in Denmark]] Methodism is prevalent in the English-speaking world but it is also organized in mainland Europe, largely due to missionary activity of British and American Methodists. British missionaries were primarily responsible for establishing Methodism across Ireland and Italy.<ref name="Italy"/> Today the [[United Methodist Church]] (UMC){{snd}}a large denomination based in the United States{{snd}}has a presence in Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine. Collectively the European and Eurasian regions of the UMC constitute a little over 100,000 Methodists ({{as of|2017|lc=on}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Central and Southern Europe |url=http://www.umc-europe.org/ |access-date=20 January 2017 |website=www.umc-europe.org |publisher=United Methodist Church Europe UMC / Evangelisch-Methodistische Kirche Europa |quote=The United Methodist Church in Central and Southern Europe consists of about 33 500 members and friends living in 16 countries.}}</ref><ref name="Nordeuropa statistics">{{cite web|title=3.7.1 Statistical Reports, details|url=http://www.umc-northerneurope.org/fileadmin/sites/49/CC2016/3.7.1_Statistical_Reports_details.docx|publisher=The United Methodist Church – Northern Europe & Eurasia|access-date=20 January 2017|format=Word doc.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131194833/http://www.umc-northerneurope.org/fileadmin/sites/49/CC2016/3.7.1_Statistical_Reports_details.docx|archive-date=31 January 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Germany statistics">{{cite web|title=Statistische Zahlen|url=http://www.emk.de/emk-presseinformationen/statistische-zahlen/|website=Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche|language=de|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref>{{update inline|reason=Some of these countries' conferences have left the UMC|date=January 2023}} Other smaller Methodist denominations exist in Europe. ====Great Britain==== {{further|Methodist Church of Great Britain}} {{See also|Organisation of the Methodist Church of Great Britain}} The original body founded as a result of Wesley's work came to be known as the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]]. [[Schism]]s within the original church, and independent [[revival meeting|revivals]], led to the formation of a number of separate denominations calling themselves "Methodist". The largest of these were the [[Primitive Methodism in the United Kingdom|Primitive Methodists]], deriving from a revival at [[Mow Cop]] in [[Staffordshire]], the [[Bible Christian Church|Bible Christians]], and the [[Methodist New Connexion]]. The original church adopted the name "Wesleyan Methodist" to distinguish it from these bodies. In 1907, a union of smaller groups with the Methodist New Connexion and Bible Christian Church brought about the [[United Methodist Church (Great Britain)|United Methodist Church]]; then the three major streams of British Methodism [[Methodist Union|united in 1932]] to form the present [[Methodist Church of Great Britain]].<ref name="DoU">{{cite web|title=Deed of Union|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/633296/cpd-vol-2-0912.pdf|work=The Constitutional Practice and Discipline of the Methodist Church|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=5 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107104512/http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/633296/cpd-vol-2-0912.pdf|archive-date=7 November 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The fourth-largest denomination in the country, the Methodist Church of Great Britain has about 202,000 members in 4,650 congregations.<ref>{{cite web|title=Methodism in Numbers – Statistics at a Glance|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/1771003/Methodism_in_Numbers_2015.pdf|website=methodist.org.uk|publisher=The Methodist Conference|access-date=23 December 2015|date=July 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223190349/http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/1771003/Methodism_in_Numbers_2015.pdf|archive-date=23 December 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[File:Wesley's Chapel.jpg|thumb|left|[[Wesley's Chapel]] in [[London]] was established by John Wesley, whose statue stands in the courtyard.]] Early Methodism was particularly prominent in [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]], which were key centers of activity by the [[Bible Christian Church|Bible Christian]] faction of Methodists.<ref>{{cite book |author=Workman |first=H. B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQsl-dV2HUEC&pg=PA97 |title=Methodism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1107626584 |page=97}}</ref> The Bible Christians produced many preachers, and sent many missionaries to Australia.<ref>{{cite book|last1=O'Brien|first1=Glen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAmrCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA62|title=Methodism in Australia: A History|last2=Carey|first2=Hilary M.|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|isbn=978-1317097099|page=62|author-link2=Hilary Carey}}</ref> Methodism also grew rapidly in the old mill towns of [[Yorkshire]] and [[Lancashire]], where the preachers stressed that the working classes were equal to the upper classes in the eyes of God.<ref>S. J. D. Green, ''Religion in the Age of Decline: Organisation and Experience in Industrial Yorkshire, 1870–1920'' (1996).</ref> In Wales, three elements separately welcomed Methodism: Welsh-speaking, English-speaking, and [[Calvinistic Methodism|Calvinistic]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Yrigoyen Jr |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JE6vAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA502 |title=T&T Clark Companion to Methodism |publisher=A&C Black |year=2010 |isbn=978-0567290779 |page=502}}</ref> British Methodists, in particular the Primitive Methodists, took a leading role in the [[Temperance movement in the United Kingdom|temperance movement]] of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Methodists saw alcoholic beverages, and alcoholism, as the root of many social ills and tried to persuade people to abstain from these.<ref>{{cite web |title=Temperance |url=https://dmbi.online/index.php?do=app.entry&id=2704 |work=A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland |access-date=24 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Field |first1=Cive D. |date=2000 |title='The Devil in Solution': How temperate were the Methodists? |journal=Epworth Review |volume=27 |pages=78–93}}</ref> Temperance appealed strongly to the Methodist doctrines of sanctification and perfection. To this day, alcohol remains banned in Methodist premises, however this restriction no longer applies to domestic occasions in private homes (i.e. the minister may have a drink at home in the [[manse]]).<ref name=alcohol>{{cite web|title=Alcohol|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/views-of-the-church/alcohol|work=Views of the Church|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=20 April 2013}}</ref> The choice to consume alcohol is now a personal decision for any member.<ref name=alcohol /> [[File:2017 Methodist Central Hall.jpg|thumb|upright|The Central Hall in Westminster, London]] British Methodism does not have [[Bishops in Methodism|bishops]]; however, it has always been characterised by a strong central organisation, the [[Connexionalism|Connexion]], which holds an annual Conference (the church retains the 18th-century spelling ''connexion'' for many purposes). The Connexion is divided into Districts in the charge of the chairperson (who may be male or female). Methodist districts often correspond approximately, in geographical terms, to counties{{snd}}as do Church of England [[diocese]]s. The districts are divided into [[Methodist Circuit|circuits]] governed by the Circuit Meeting and led and administrated principally by a superintendent minister. [[Religious minister|Ministers]] are appointed to Circuits rather than to individual churches, although some large inner-city churches, known as "central halls", are designated as circuits in themselves{{snd}}of these [[Westminster Central Hall]], opposite [[Westminster Abbey]] in central London, is the best known. Most circuits have fewer ministers than churches, and the majority of services are led by lay [[local preacher]]s, or by supernumerary ministers (ministers who have retired, called supernumerary because they are not counted for official purposes in the numbers of ministers for the circuit in which they are listed). The superintendent and other ministers are assisted in the leadership and administration of the Circuit by circuit stewards – laypeople with particular skills who, who with the ministers, collectively form what is normally known as the Circuit Leadership Team.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} The Methodist Council also helps to run a number of schools, including two [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public school]]s in [[East Anglia]]: [[Culford School]] and [[the Leys School]]. The council promotes an all round education with a strong Christian [[ethos]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Schools|url=https://www.methodistschools.org.uk/find-a-school/schools|website=www.methodistschools.org.uk|publisher=Methodist Schools|access-date=29 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129080731/https://www.methodistschools.org.uk/find-a-school/schools|archive-date=29 January 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Other Methodist denominations in Britain include: the [[Free Methodist Church]], the [[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]], the [[Church of the Nazarene]], and [[The Salvation Army]], all of which are Methodist churches aligned with the [[holiness movement]], as well as the [[Wesleyan Reform Union]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thewru.com/ |title=Wesleyan Reform Union of Churches |publisher=Thewru.com |access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> an early secession from the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and the [[Independent Methodist Connexion]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imcgb.org.uk/|title=Welcome to IMCGB – Home page|access-date=15 September 2014}}</ref> ====Ireland==== [[File:Chapel-athlone.jpg|thumb|upright|A Methodist chapel in [[Athlone]], opened in 1865]] {{Main|Methodist Church in Ireland}} John Wesley visited Ireland on at least twenty-four occasions and established classes and societies.<ref>{{cite web|title=John Wesley in Ireland|url=http://www.irishhistorylinks.net/Historical_Documents/JohnWesley.html|publisher=Irish History Links|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> The [[Methodist Church in Ireland]] ({{lang-ir| Eaglais Mheitidisteach in Éirinn}}) today operates across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on an all-Ireland basis. {{As of|2013}}, there were around 50,000 Methodists across Ireland. The biggest concentration – 13,171 – was in [[Belfast]], with 2,614 in [[Dublin]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Going beyond the church buildings and into the community|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/going-beyond-the-church-buildings-and-into-the-community-1.1424798|access-date=20 January 2017|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=12 June 2013}}</ref> {{As of|2011}}, it is the fourth-largest denomination in Northern Ireland, with Methodists accounting for 3% of the population.<ref name=2011ks>{{cite web|title=Census 2011: Key Statistics for Northern Ireland|url=http://www.nisra.gov.uk/Census/key_stats_bulletin_2011.pdf|publisher=nisra.gov.uk|access-date=21 April 2013}}</ref> [[Eric Gallagher]] was the President of the Church in the 1970s, becoming a well-known figure in Irish politics.<ref>{{cite web|last=Taggart|first=Norman W.|title=Conflict, controversy and co-operation|url=http://www.catholicireland.net/conflict-controversy-and-co-operation/|publisher=Columba Press|access-date=21 April 2013|page=133|year=2004}}</ref> He was one of the group of Protestant churchmen who met with [[Provisional IRA]] officers in [[Feakle, County Clare]] to try to broker peace. The meeting was unsuccessful due to a [[Garda Síochána|Garda]] raid on the hotel.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} In 1973, the [[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]] (FIMC) was established as a number of theologically conservative congregations departed both the [[Methodist Church in Ireland]] and [[Free Methodist Church]] due to what they perceived as the rise of [[Liberal Christianity|Modernism]] in those denominations.<ref name="Matthews2003">{{cite book |last1=Matthews |first1=Rex Dale |title=Timetables of History for Students of Methodism |date=2007 |publisher=Abingdon Press |isbn=978-0-687-33387-5 |page=231 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Cooney2001">{{cite book |last1=Cooney |first1=Dudley Levistone |title=The Methodists in Ireland: A Short History |date=2001 |publisher=Columba Press |isbn=978-1-85607-335-6 |page=120 |language=en}}</ref> ====Italy==== [[File:Ponte - memoria Gavazzi e chiesa evangelica 1130333.JPG|thumb|The Methodist chapel in [[Rome]] houses Italian and English-speaking congregations]] The [[Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy|Italian Methodist Church]] ({{lang-it|Chiesa Metodista Italiana}}) is a small Protestant community in Italy,<ref>{{cite web |title=Opera per le Chiese Metodiste in Italia |url=http://www.metodisti.it/cms/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023053809/http://www.metodisti.it/cms/ |archive-date=23 October 2013 |access-date=22 April 2013 |publisher=Evangelical Methodist Church in Italy |language=it |df=dmy-all}}</ref> with around 7,000 members.<ref name="italy1">{{cite web|title=La diaspora Valdese |url=http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/storia/dove_viviamo.php |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724023747/http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/storia/dove_viviamo.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 July 2012 |publisher=Chiesa Evangelica Valdese |access-date=22 April 2013 |language=it }}</ref> Since 1975, it is in a formal covenant of [[Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches|partnership with the Waldensian Church]], with a total of 45,000 members.<ref name="italy1" /> [[Waldensians]] are a Protestant movement which started in [[Lyon]], France, in the late 1170s. Italian Methodism has its origins in the Italian Free Church, British [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] Missionary Society, and the [[American Methodist Episcopal Mission]]. These movements flowered in the second half of the 19th century in the new climate of political and religious freedom that was established with the end of the [[Papal States]] and unification of Italy in 1870.<ref name="Italy">{{cite web|title=Italian fact sheet|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/wc_italian_factsheet.doc|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=22 April 2013|format=Microsoft Word document}}</ref> [[Bertrand M. Tipple]], minister of the American Methodist Church in Rome, founded a college there in 1914.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/01/26/100671159.pdf | work=The New York Times | title=METHODISTS BUY ROME SITE; Will Build a College in Connection with Mission Work | date=26 January 1914}}</ref> In April 2016, the World Methodist Council opened an Ecumenical Office in Rome. Methodist leaders and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, [[Pope Francis]], jointly dedicated the new office.<ref>{{cite web|title=World Methodist Council opens new ecumenical office in Rome|url=http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/04/06/world_methodist_council_opens_new_ecumenical_office_in_rome/1220756|website=en.radiovaticana.va|publisher=Vatican Radio|access-date=21 May 2016|date=6 April 2016}}</ref> It helps facilitate Methodist relationships with the wider Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite web|title=About the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/relationships-with-other-denominations/ecumenism-in-europe/the-methodist-ecumenical-office-rome/about-the-methodist-ecumenical-office-rome|publisher=Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> ====Nordic and Baltic countries==== [[File:Methodist Church in Hammerfest.jpg|thumb|[[Hammerfest (town)|Hammerfest]] Methodist Church in Norway was the world's most northerly Methodist congregation when established in 1890.<ref name="Hassing1991">{{cite book |last=Hassing |first=Arne |title=Religion og makt: metodismen i norsk historie |journal=Relieff: Publications ed. By the Department of Religious Studies, University of Trondheim |publisher=Tapir |location=Trondheim |year=1991 |language=no |url=http://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/43894f7f8a336cb52f35d03cf42f376d |isbn=82-519-0954-6 |issn=0333-029X |pages=35, 56}}</ref>]] [[File:Methodist church, Tampere.jpg|thumb|left|Methodist church in [[Tampere]], Finland]] The "Nordic and Baltic Area" of the United Methodist Church covers the [[Nordic countries]] (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) and the [[Baltic countries]] (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Methodism was introduced to the Nordic countries in the late 19th century.<ref name="Hassing1991" /> Today the [[United Methodist Church in Norway]] ({{lang-no|Metodistkirken}}) is the largest annual meeting in the region with 10,684 members in total ({{as of|2013|lc=on}}).<ref name="Nordeuropa statistics" /> The [[United Methodist Church in Sweden]] ({{lang-sv|Metodistkyrkan}}) joined the [[Uniting Church in Sweden]] in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=Swedish Methodists join new denomination |url=https://www.umnews.org/en/news/swedish-methodists-join-new-denomination |website=United Methodist News Service |access-date=7 January 2022 |language=en |date=1 May 2012}}</ref> [[File:Pilviškių metodistų bažnyčia.JPG|thumb|Methodist church in [[Pilviškiai]], Lithuania]] In Finland, Methodism arrived through [[Ostrobothnians]] sailors in the 1860s, and Methodism spread especially in [[Swedish-speaking population of Finland|Swedish-speaking]] Ostrobothnia. The first Methodist congregation was founded in [[Vaasa]] in 1881 and the first Finnish-speaking congregation in [[Pori]] in 1887.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-01-19 |title=Metodistikirkon historia |trans-title=History of the Methodist Church |url=https://www.lappeenrannanmetodistiseurakunta.com/metodistikirkko/metodistikirkon-historia/ |access-date=2023-10-11 |website=Lappeenrannan metodistiseurakunta |language=fi}}</ref> At the turn of the century, the congregation in Vaasa became the largest and most active congregation in Methodism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Björklund |first=Leif-Göte |title=Rikssvenska metodistpredikanters betydelse för metodistkyrkans framväxt och utveckling i Finland 1880-1923 |trans-title=The significance of National Swedish Methodist preachers for the rise and development of the Methodist Church in Finland 1880-1923 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39937811.pdf |location=Turku |publisher=Åbo Akademis förlag |date=2005 |isbn=951-765-241-0 |language=sv}}</ref> ====France==== The French Methodist movement was founded in the 1820s by Charles Cook in the village of [[Congénies]] in [[Languedoc]] near [[Nîmes]] and [[Montpellier]]. The most important chapel of department was built in 1869, where there had been a [[Quaker]] community since the 18th century.<ref>{{cite web|title=Methodist influences in 19th century in France|url=https://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/pietist-and-methodist-influences-in-xixth-century-france/|publisher=Virtual Museum of Protestantism|access-date=2 February 2018}}</ref> Sixteen Methodist congregations voted to join the [[Reformed Church of France]] in 1938.<ref name="French UMC">{{cite web|title=France|url=http://www.umc-europe.org/france_e.php|website=www.umc-europe.org|publisher=United Methodist Church Europe UMC / Evangelisch-Methodistische Kirche Europa|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> In the 1980s, missionary work of a Methodist church in [[Agen]] led to new initiatives in [[Fleurance]] and [[Mont de Marsan]].<ref>{{cite web|title=France – General Board of Global Ministries|url=http://www.umcmission.org/Explore-Our-Work/Europe-and-Eurasia/France|website=www.umcmission.org|access-date=20 January 2017|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202071801/http://www.umcmission.org/Explore-Our-Work/Europe-and-Eurasia/France|url-status=dead}}</ref> Methodism exists today in France under various names. The best-known is the Union of Evangelical Methodist Churches ({{lang-fr|l'Union de l'Eglise Evangélique Méthodiste}}) or UEEM. It is an autonomous regional conference of the United Methodist Church and is the fruit of a fusion in 2005 between the "Methodist Church of France" and the "Union of Methodist Churches". {{As of|2014}}, the UEEM has around 1,200 members and 30 ministers.<ref name="French UMC" /> ====Germany==== {{Further interlanguage link|Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche|de|Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche}} [[File:Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche Eningen unter Achalm.jpg|thumb|Methodist chapel at the foot of the [[Achalm]] mountain, [[Baden-Württemberg]]]] In Germany, Switzerland and Austria, ''Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche'' is the name of the [[United Methodist Church]]. The German part of the church had about 52,031 members {{As of|2015|alt=in 2015}}.<ref name="Germany statistics" /> Members are organized into three annual conferences: north, east and south.<ref name="Germany statistics" /> All three annual conferences belong to the ''Germany Central Conference''.<ref name="WMC-Germany">{{cite web |title=Germany Central Conference |date=9 November 2019 |url=https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/europe/name/germany-central-conference/ |publisher=World Methodist Council |access-date=25 September 2021}}</ref> Methodism is most prevalent in southern [[Saxony]] and around [[Stuttgart]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} A Methodist missionary returning from Britain introduced (British) Methodism to Germany in 1830, initially in the region of [[Württemberg]]. Methodism was also spread in Germany through the missionary work of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] which began in 1849 in [[Bremen]], soon spreading to [[Saxony]] and other parts of Germany. Other Methodist missionaries of the [[Evangelical Association]] went near Stuttgart (Württemberg) in 1850.<ref name="WMC-Germany"/> Further Methodist missionaries of the [[Church of the United Brethren in Christ]] worked in [[Franconia]] and other parts of Germany from 1869 until 1905.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drury |first=A. W. |url=http://archive.org/details/UBwmHistoryOfTheChurchOfTheUBCByAWDrury |title=History Of The Church Of The United Brethren in Christ |date=1924 |language=En}}</ref> Therefore, Methodism has four roots in Germany. Early opposition towards Methodism was partly rooted in theological differences{{snd}}northern and eastern regions of Germany were predominantly Lutheran and Reformed, and Methodists were dismissed as fanatics. Methodism was also hindered by its unfamiliar church structure (Connectionalism), which was more centralised than the hierarchical polity in the Lutheran and Reformed churches. After [[World War I]], the 1919 [[Weimar Constitution]] allowed Methodists to worship freely and many new chapels were established. In 1936, German Methodists elected their first bishop.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of The United Methodist Church in Europe – The United Methodist Church|url=http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/history-of-the-united-methodist-church-in-europe|publisher=United Methodist Communications|language=en|access-date=20 January 2017|archive-date=30 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130141854/http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/history-of-the-united-methodist-church-in-europe|url-status=dead}}</ref> ====Hungary==== The first Methodist mission in Hungary was established in 1898 in [[Bácska]], in a then mostly German-speaking town of [[Verbász]] (since 1918 part of the Serbian province of [[Vojvodina]]).{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} In 1905 a Methodist mission was established also in [[Budapest]]. In 1974, a group later known as the [[Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship]] seceded from the Hungarian Methodist Church over the question of interference by the communist state. {{As of|2017}}, the United Methodist Church in Hungary, known locally as the Hungarian Methodist Church ({{lang-hu|[[:hu:Magyarországi Metodista Egyház|Magyarországi Metodista Egyház]]}}), had 453 professing members in 30 congregations.<ref>{{cite web|title=The EMF in Hungary|url=http://www.umc-europe.org/ungarn_d.php|publisher=United Methodist Church Europe UMC / Evangelisch-Methodistische Kirche Europa|access-date=20 January 2017|language=de}}</ref> It runs two student homes, two homes for the elderly, the Forray Methodist High School, the Wesley Scouts and the Methodist Library and Archives.<ref>{{Cite web |last=László |first=Khaled A. |date=2020-12-01 |title=Magyarországi Metodista Egyház |url=https://metodista.hu/ |access-date=2023-11-11 |language=hu}}</ref> The church has a special ministry among the [[Roma people|Roma]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Communications |first=United Methodist |title=UMTV: Ministry with the Roma |url=http://ee.umc.org/who-we-are/umtv-ministry-with-the-roma2 |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=The United Methodist Church |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Blagojevic |first=Gordana |title=G. Blagojevic, The Influence of Migrations on the Ethnic/National and Religious Identities: the Case of the United Methodist Church in Banat |url=https://www.academia.edu/11011913}}</ref> The seceding Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship ({{lang|hu|Magyarországi Evangéliumi Testvérközösség}}) also remains Methodist in its organisation and theology. It has eight full congregations and several mission groups, and runs a range of charitable organisations: hostels and soup kitchens for the homeless, a non-denominational theological college,<ref>John Wesley Theological College site: [https://archive.today/20130217174123/http://www.wesley.hu/wesley/foiskola/english Retrieved 26 March 2012.]</ref> a dozen schools of various kinds, and four old people's homes. Today there are a dozen Methodist/Wesleyan churches and mission organisations in Hungary, but all Methodist churches lost official church status under new legislation passed in 2011, when the number of officially recognized churches in the country fell to 14.<ref>Fellowship site: [http://www.metegyhaz.hu/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815122105/http://www.metegyhaz.hu/|date=15 August 2015}}. College site: {{cite web |title=Wesley Intézmények |url=http://www.wesley.hu/index/altalanos |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402144829/http://www.wesley.hu/index/altalanos |archive-date=2 April 2012 |access-date=2011-09-18}}. Both in Hungarian. Retrieved 18 September 2011. {{cite web |title=Főoldal – Híreink – MET |url=http://www.metegyhaz.hu/ |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815122105/http://www.metegyhaz.hu/ |archive-date=15 August 2015 |access-date=2012-02-19}}</ref> However, the list of recognized churches was lengthened to 32 at the end of February 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-09-07 |title=Neues Gesetz: Ungarns Kirche von Viktor Orbáns Gnaden abhängig – WELT |url=https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article13936759/Ungarns-Kirche-von-Viktor-Orbans-Gnaden-abhaengig.html |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=DIE WELT |language=de}}</ref> This gave recognition to the Hungarian Methodist Church and the [[Salvation Army]], which was banned in Hungary in 1949 but had returned in 1990, but not to the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship. The legislation has been strongly criticised by the [[Venice Commission]] of the [[Council of Europe]] as discriminatory.<ref>Opinion on Act CCVI/2011: [http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2012/CDL-AD(2012)004-e.pdf Retrieved 26 March 2012.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117013635/http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2012/CDL-AD%282012%29004-e.pdf|date=17 January 2013}}.</ref> The Hungarian Methodist Church, the Salvation Army and the Church of the Nazarene and other Wesleyan groups formed the Wesley Theological Alliance for theological and publishing purposes in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Üdvhadsereg Szabadegyház Magyarország |url=https://www.udvhadsereg.hu/ |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=www.udvhadsereg.hu |language=hu}}</ref> Today the Alliance has 10 Wesleyan member churches and organisations. The Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship does not belong to it and has its own publishing arm.<ref>Wesley Kiadó site (in Hungarian): [https://archive.today/20130217183709/http://www.wesley.hu/wesley/foiskola/szervezeti_egysegek/egyeb_szolgaltatasok/kiadvanyok_jegyzetek/ Retrieved 26 March 2012.]</ref> ====Russia==== The Methodist Church established several strongholds in Russia{{snd}}[[Saint Petersburg]] in the west and the [[Vladivostok]] region in the east, with large Methodist centres in [[Moscow]] and [[Yekaterinburg|Ekaterinburg (former Sverdlovsk)]]. Methodists began their work in the west among Swedish immigrants in 1881 and started their work in the east in 1910.<ref name="UMC-Centennial in Russia">{{cite web|url = http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=1723955&ct=7160023|title = Centennial of Methodism in Russia observed|publisher = United Methodist Church|access-date = 29 December 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110515000925/http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=1723955&ct=7160023|archive-date = 15 May 2011|url-status = dead|df = dmy-all}}</ref> On 26 June 2009, Methodists celebrated the 120th year since Methodism arrived in Czarist Russia by erecting a new Methodist centre in Saint Petersburg.<ref name="UMC-Centennial in Russia"/> A Methodist presence was continued in Russia for 14 years after the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution of 1917]] through the efforts of [[Deaconess Anna Eklund]].<ref name="UMC-Methodist Centre in St. Petersburg">{{cite web|url=http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=5032 |title=Develop United Methodist Center in St. Petersburg |publisher=United Methodist Church |access-date=29 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615225409/https://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=5032 |archive-date=15 June 2010 |df=dmy }}</ref> In 1939, political antagonism stymied the work of the Church and Deaconess Anna Eklund was coerced to return to her native Finland.<ref name="UMC-Centennial in Russia"/> After 1989, the Soviet Union allowed greatly increased religious freedoms<ref name="Soviets OK New Religious Freedoms">{{cite web|url = http://www.deseretnews.com/article/124148/SOVIETS-OK-NEW-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOMS.html| title = Soviets OK New Religious Freedoms |publisher = deseretnews|access-date = 11 May 2011}}</ref> and this continued after the USSR's collapse in 1991. During the 1990s, Methodism experienced a powerful wave of revival in the nation.<ref name="UMC-Centennial in Russia" /> Three sites in particular carried the torch{{snd}}Samara, Moscow and Ekaterinburg. {{As of|2011}}, the United Methodist Church in Eurasia comprised 116 congregations, each with a native pastor. There are currently 48 students enrolled in residential and extension degree programs at the United Methodist Seminary in Moscow.<ref name="UMC-Centennial in Russia" /> ===Caribbean=== Methodism came to the Caribbean in 1760 when the planter, lawyer and Speaker of the Antiguan House of Assembly, [[Nathaniel Gilbert]] (c. 1719–1774), returned to his sugar estate home in Antigua.<ref name="blackman_300">Blackman, Francis 'Woodie'. ''John Wesley 300: Pioneers, Preachers and Practitioners'' (Barbados: Dalkeith Methodist Church, 2003, {{ISBN|976-8080-61-2}}).</ref> A Methodist revival spread in the [[British West Indies]] due to the work of British missionaries.<ref name="caribbean" /> Missionaries established societies which would later become the [[Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas]] (MCCA). The MCCA has about 62,000 members in over 700 congregations, ministered by 168 pastors.<ref name="caribbean">{{cite web|title=Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/methodist-church-in-the-caribbean-and-the-americas|website=oikoumene.org|date=January 1967 |publisher=World Council of Churches|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> There are smaller Methodist denominations that have seceded from the parent church.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} ====Antigua==== [[File:Baxter Memorial Methodist Church - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Baxter Memorial Church in [[English Harbour]]]] The story is often told that in 1755, Nathaniel Gilbert, while convalescing, read a treatise of John Wesley, ''An Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion'' sent to him by his brother Francis. As a result of having read this book Gilbert, two years later, journeyed to England with three of his slaves and there in a drawing room meeting arranged in Wandsworth on 15 January 1759, met the preacher John Wesley. He returned to the Caribbean that same year and on his subsequent return began to preach to his slaves in Antigua.<ref name="blackman_300"/> When Gilbert died in 1774 his work in Antigua was continued by his brother Francis Gilbert to approximately 200 Methodists. However, within a year Francis took ill and returned to Britain and the work was carried on by Sophia Campbell ("a Negress") and Mary Alley ("a Mulatto"), two devoted women who kept the flock together with class and [[prayer meeting]]s as best as they could.<ref name="caribbean" /> On 2 April 1778, John Baxter, <!--(born, died)--> a local preacher and skilled shipwright from [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]] in [[Kent]], England, landed at [[English Harbour]] in Antigua (now called Nelson's Dockyard) where he was offered a post at the naval dockyard. Baxter was a Methodist and had heard of the work of the Gilberts and their need for a new preacher. He began preaching and meeting with the Methodist leaders, and within a year the Methodist community had grown to 600 persons. By 1783, the first Methodist chapel was built in Antigua, with John Baxter as the local preacher, its wooden structure seating some 2,000 people.<ref>{{cite web|title=Baxter Memorial|url=http://methodistchurchantigua.org/new/congregations/baxter-memorial/|website=methodistchurchantigua.org|publisher=Methodist Church of Antigua & Barbuda|access-date=20 January 2017|archive-date=28 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128233540/http://methodistchurchantigua.org/new/congregations/baxter-memorial/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ====St. Bart's==== In 1785, William Turton (1761–1817) a Barbadian son of a planter, met John Baxter in Antigua, and later, as layman, assisted in the Methodist work in the Swedish colony of St. Bartholomew from 1796.<ref name="blackman_300"/> In 1786, the missionary endeavour in the Caribbean was officially recognized by the Methodist Conference in England, and that same year [[Thomas Coke (bishop)|Thomas Coke]], having been made Superintendent of the church two years previously in America by Wesley, was travelling to [[Nova Scotia]], but weather forced his ship to Antigua.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} ====Jamaica==== In 1818 Edward Fraser (1798 – aft. 1850), a privileged Barbadian slave, moved to Bermuda and subsequently met the new minister James Dunbar. The Nova Scotia Methodist Minister noted young Fraser's sincerity and commitment to his congregation and encouraged him by appointing him as assistant. By 1827 Fraser assisted in building a new chapel. He was later freed and admitted to the Methodist Ministry to serve in Antigua and Jamaica.<ref name="blackman_300"/> ====Barbados==== Following [[William Shrewsbury|William J. Shrewsbury's]] preaching in the 1820s, [[Sarah Ann Gill]] (1779–1866), a free-born black woman, used [[civil disobedience]] in an attempt to thwart magistrate rulings that prevented parishioners holding prayer meetings. In hopes of building a new chapel, she paid an extraordinary £1,700-0s–0d and ended up having militia appointed by the Governor to protect her home from demolition.<ref name="blackman_gill">Blackman, Francis. ''National heroine of Barbados: Sarah Ann Gill'' (Barbados: Methodist Church, 1998, 27 pp.).</ref> In 1884 an attempt was made at autonomy with the formation of two West Indian Conferences, however by 1903 the venture had failed. It was not until the 1960s that another attempt was made at autonomy. This second attempt resulted in the emergence of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas in May 1967.<ref name="caribbean" /> [[Francis George Godson|Francis Godson]] (1864–1953), a Methodist minister, who having served briefly in several of the Caribbean islands, eventually immersed himself in helping those in hardship of the [[First World War]] in Barbados. He was later appointed to the [[Legislative Council of Barbados]], and fought for the rights of [[pensioner]]s. He was later followed by renowned Barbadian [[Augustus Rawle Parkinson]] (1864–1932),<ref>Clarke, S., [http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/13182/black-history-augustus-rawle-parkinson Black History Month: Augustus Rawle Parkinson ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517105937/http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/13182/black-history-augustus-rawle-parkinson |date=17 May 2016 }}, Nation News (Barbados), 24 February 2014, accessed 17 June 2016</ref> who also was the first principal of the Wesley Hall School, [[Bridgetown, Barbados|Bridgetown]] in Barbados (which celebrated its 125th anniversary in September 2009).<ref name="blackman_300"/> In more recent times in Barbados, Victor Alphonso Cooke (born 1930) and Lawrence Vernon Harcourt Lewis (born 1932) are strong influences on the Methodist Church on the island.<ref name="blackman_300"/> Their contemporary and late member of the Dalkeith Methodist Church, was the former secretary of the [[University of the West Indies]], consultant of the ''Canadian Training Aid Programme'' and a man of letters – Francis Woodbine Blackman (1922–2010). It was his research and published works that enlightened much of this information on Caribbean Methodism.<ref>Blackman, Francis. ''Methodism: 200 Years in British Virgin Islands'' (British Virgin Islands: Methodist Church, 1989, 151 pp., {{ISBN|976-8001-36-4}}).</ref><ref>Blackman, Francis. ''Methodism, 200 years in Barbados'' (Barbados: Caribbean Contact, 1988).</ref> ===Africa=== Most Methodist denominations in Africa follow the British Methodist tradition and see the [[Methodist Church of Great Britain]] as their mother church. Originally modelled on the British structure, since independence most of these churches have adopted an [[Episcopal polity|episcopal model]] of church governance. ====Nigeria==== The Nigerian Methodist Church is one of the largest Methodist denominations in the world and one of the largest Christian churches in Nigeria, with around two million members in 2000 congregations.<ref name="Nigeria">{{cite web|title=Methodist Church Nigeria|date=January 1963 |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/methodist-church-nigeria|publisher=World Council of Churches|access-date=25 March 2014}}</ref> It has seen exponential growth since the turn of the millennium.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lifecoalition.com/index_files/Page472.htm|title=Life Coalition International – Jesus Is The Standard|access-date=15 September 2014}}</ref> Christianity was established in Nigeria with the arrival in 1842 of a [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] missionary.<ref name="Nigeria" /> He had come in response to the request for missionaries by the [[Saro people|ex-slaves who returned to Nigeria from Sierra Leone]]. From the mission stations established in [[Badagry]] and [[Abeokuta]], the Methodist church spread to various parts of the country west of the River Niger and part of the north. In 1893 missionaries of the [[Primitive Methodism|Primitive Methodist Church]] arrived from Fernando Po, an island off the southern coast of Nigeria. From there the Methodist Church spread to other parts of the country, east of the River Niger and also to parts of the north. The church west of the River Niger and part of the north was known as the Western Nigeria District and east of the Niger and another part of the north as the Eastern Nigeria District. Both existed independently of each other until 1962 when they constituted the Conference of Methodist Church Nigeria. The conference is composed of seven districts. The church has continued to spread into new areas and has established a department for evangelism and appointed a director of evangelism. An [[episcopal polity|episcopal system]] of church governance adopted in 1976 was not fully accepted by all sections of the church until the two sides came together and resolved to end the disagreement. A new constitution was ratified in 1990. The system is still episcopal but the points which caused discontent were amended to be acceptable to both sides. Today, the Nigerian Methodist Church has a prelate, eight archbishops and 44 bishops.<ref name="Nigeria" /> ====Ghana==== {{Main|Methodist Church Ghana}} [[File:Kow Egyir and MCG College of Bishops.JPG|thumb|[[Bishops in Methodism|Methodist bishops]] at a church conference in [[Winneba]], 2008]] Methodist Church Ghana is one of the largest Methodist denominations, with around 800,000 members in 2,905 congregations, ministered by 700 pastors.<ref name="Ghana">{{cite web|title=Methodist Church Ghana|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/methodist-church-ghana|website=oikoumene.org|date=January 1960 |publisher=World Council of Churches|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> It has fraternal links with the British Methodist and United Methodist churches worldwide. Methodism in Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]], inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] in 1835.<ref>F. L. Bartels. The Roots of Ghana Methodism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965, pp. 12–18.</ref> Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Protestant background. Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century. A school was established in Cape Coast by the Anglicans during the time of Philip Quaque, a Ghanaian priest. Those who came out of this school had Bible copies and study supplied by the [[Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge]]. A member of the resulting Bible study groups, William De-Graft, requested Bibles through Captain Potter of the ship ''Congo''. Not only were Bibles sent, but also a Methodist missionary. In the first eight years of the Church's life, 11 out of 21 missionaries who worked in the Gold Coast died. [[Thomas Birch Freeman]], who arrived at the Gold Coast in 1838 was a pioneer of missionary expansion. Between 1838 and 1857 he carried Methodism from the coastal areas to [[Kumasi]] in the [[Ashanti people|Asante]] hinterland of the Gold Coast. He also established Methodist Societies in Badagry and AbeoKuta in Nigeria with the assistance of William De-Graft.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} By 1854, the church was organized into circuits constituting a district with T. B. Freeman as chairman. Freeman was replaced in 1856 by William West. The district was divided and extended to include areas in the then Gold Coast and Nigeria by the synod in 1878, a move confirmed at the British Conference. The districts were Gold Coast District, with T. R. Picot as chairman and Yoruba and Popo District, with John Milum as chairman. Methodist evangelisation of northern Gold Coast began in 1910. After a long period of conflict with the colonial government, missionary work was established in 1955. Paul Adu was the first indigenous missionary to northern Gold Coast.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} In July 1961, the Methodist Church in Ghana became autonomous, and was called the Methodist Church Ghana, based on a deed of foundation, part of the church's ''Constitution and Standing Orders''.<ref name="Ghana" /> ====Southern Africa==== {{Main|Methodist Church of Southern Africa}} [[File:Methodist Mission Church, Leliefontein.jpg|thumb|right|A Methodist chapel in [[Leliefontein, Northern Cape]], South Africa]] The [[Methodist Church of Southern Africa|Methodist Church]] operates across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, with a limited presence in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It is a member church of the [[World Methodist Council]]. Methodism in [[Southern Africa]] began as a result of lay Christian work by an Irish soldier of the English Regiment, John Irwin, who was stationed at the Cape and began to hold prayer meetings as early as 1795.<ref>Millard-Jackson, J. "Who called the tune? Methodist Missionary policy in South Africa during the 19th century" in Forster, D. and Bentley, W. ''Methodism in Southern Africa: A celebration of Wesleyan Mission''. Kempton Park. AcadSA publishers (2008), p. 31.</ref> The first Methodist lay preacher at the Cape, George Middlemiss, was a soldier of the 72nd Regiment of the British Army stationed at the Cape in 1805.<ref>Forster, D. "God's mission in our context, healing and transforming responses" in Forster, D and Bentley, W. ''Methodism in Southern Africa: A celebration of Wesleyan Mission''. Kempton Park. AcadSA publishers (2008), pp. 79–80.</ref> This foundation paved the way for missionary work by Methodist missionary societies from Great Britain, many of whom sent missionaries with the 1820 English settlers to the Western and Eastern Cape. Among the most notable of the early missionaries were Barnabas Shaw and William Shaw.<ref>Millard-Jackson, J. "Who called the tune? Methodist Missionary policy in South Africa during the 19th century" in Forster, D. and Bentley, W. ''Methodism in Southern Africa: A celebration of Wesleyan Mission''. Kempton Park. AcadSA publishers (2008), pp. 34–37.</ref><ref>Forster, D. "God's mission in our context, healing and transforming responses" in Forster, D. and Bentley, W. ''Methodism in Southern Africa: A celebration of Wesleyan Mission''. Kempton Park. AcadSA publishers (2008), p. 80.</ref><ref>Grassow, P. "William Shaw" in Forster, D. and Bentley, W. ''Methodism in Southern Africa: A celebration of Wesleyan Mission''. Kempton Park. AcadSA publishers (2008), pp. 13–25.</ref> The largest group was the Wesleyan Methodist Church, but there were a number of others that joined to form the Methodist Church of South Africa, later known as the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.methodist.org.za |title=Official website of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa |publisher=Methodist.org.za |access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> The Methodist Church of Southern Africa is the largest [[mainline Protestant]] denomination in South Africa{{snd}}7.3% of the South African population recorded their religious affiliation as 'Methodist' in the last national census.<ref>For a discussion of Church membership statistics in South Africa see Forster, D. "God's mission in our context, healing and transforming responses" in Forster, D. and Bentley, W. ''Methodism in Southern Africa: A celebration of Wesleyan Mission''. Kempton Park. AcadSA publishers (2008), pp. 97–98.</ref> ===Asia=== ====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. ====Hong Kong==== {{See also|:yue:%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E5%9F%BA%E7%9D%A3%E6%95%99%E5%BE%AA%E9%81%93%E8%A1%9E%E7%90%86%E8%81%AF%E5%90%88%E6%95%99%E6%9C%83{{!}}The Methodist Church, Hong Kong}} ====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> ====Malaysia and Singapore==== {{Main|Methodist Church in Malaysia|Methodist Church in Singapore}} Missionaries from Britain, North America, and Australia founded Methodist churches in many [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries. These are now independent from their former "mother" churches. In addition to the churches, these missionaries often also founded schools to serve the local community. A good example of such schools are the [[Methodist Boys' School (Kuala Lumpur)|Methodist Boys' School in Kuala Lumpur]], [[Methodist Boys' School (Penang)|Methodist Girls' School and Methodist Boys' School]] in [[George Town, Penang|George Town]], and [[Anglo-Chinese School]], [[Methodist Girls' School, Singapore|Methodist Girls' School]], [[Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Secondary)|Paya Lebar Methodist Girls School]] and [[Fairfield Methodist Secondary School|Fairfield Methodist Schools]] in Singapore.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Admin |first1=M. C. S. |title=The Methodist Church in Singapore – Methodist Schools |url=https://methodist.org.sg/index.php/ministries/methodist-schools |website=methodist.org.sg |access-date=23 July 2021 |language=en-gb}}</ref> ====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> ====South Korea==== {{Main|Korean Methodist Church}} The Korean Methodist Church (KMC) is one of the largest churches in South Korea with around 1.5 million members and 8,306 ministers.<ref name="KMC">{{cite web|title=Korean Methodist Church|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/korean-methodist-church|website=oikoumene.org|date=January 1948 |publisher=World Council of Churches|access-date=23 January 2017|language=en}}</ref> Methodism in Korea grew out of British and American mission work which began in the late 19th century. The first missionary was [[Robert Samuel Maclay]] of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]], who sailed from Japan in 1884 and was given the authority of medical and schooling permission from emperor [[Gojong of the Korean Empire|Gojong]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kim|first1=Sebastian C. H.|author-link=Sebastian Kim|last2=Kim|first2=Kirsteen|author2-link=Kirsteen Kim|title=A History of Korean Christianity|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1316123140|page=100|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4FIBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT100|language=en|year=2014}}</ref> The Korean church became fully autonomous in 1930, retaining affiliation with Methodist churches in America and later the United Methodist Church.<ref name="KMC" /> The church experienced rapid growth in membership throughout most of the 20th century{{snd}}in spite of the [[Korean War]]{{snd}}before stabilizing in the 1990s.<ref name="KMC" /> The KMC is a member of the World Methodist Council and hosted the first Asia Methodist Convention in 2001.<ref name="KMC" /> There are many [[Korean-language]] Methodist churches in North America catering to Korean-speaking immigrants, not all of which are named as Methodist. ====Taiwan==== 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. On 21 June 1953, Taipei Methodist Church was erected, then local churches and chapels with a baptized membership numbering over 2,500. Various types of educational, medical and social services are provided (including [[Tunghai University]]). In 1972, the Methodist Church in the Republic of China became autonomous, and the first bishop was installed in 1986.<ref>{{cite web |title=Asia – World Methodist Council |date=9 November 2019 |url=https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/asia/ |access-date=29 April 2021}}</ref> ===Americas=== ====Brazil==== The [[Methodist Church in Brazil]] was founded by American missionaries in 1867 after an initial unsuccessful founding in 1835. It has grown steadily since, becoming autonomous in 1930. In the 1970s it ordained its first woman minister. In 1975 it also founded the first Methodist university in Latin America, the [[Methodist University of Piracicaba]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Conheça a Unimep – Histórico |url=http://unimep.edu.br/a-unimep/conheca-a-unimep |website=Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba |access-date=9 January 2021}}</ref> {{As of|2011}}, the Brazilian Methodist Church is divided into eight annual conferences with 162,000 members.<ref name="Yrigoyen">{{cite book|last1=Yrigoyen|first1=Charles|last2=Warrick|first2=Susan E.|title=Historical Dictionary of Methodism|date=2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0810878945|page=219|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWUYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA219|language=en}}</ref> ====Canada==== {{Further|Methodist Church, Canada|United Church of Canada}} [[File:Metropolitan United.JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|right|[[Metropolitan United Church]], Toronto]] The father of Methodism in Canada was Rev. Coughlan, who arrived in Newfoundland in 1763, where he opened a school and travelled widely. The second was [[William Black (Methodist)|William Black]] (1760–1834) who began preaching in settlements along the [[Petitcodiac River]] of [[New Brunswick]] in 1781.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography – BLACK, WILLIAM (1760–1834) – Volume VI (1821–1835) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=2757 |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=www.biographi.ca}}</ref> A few years afterwards, Methodist Episcopal circuit riders from the [[U.S. state]] of [[New York (state)|New York]] began to arrive in [[Canada West]] at Niagara, and the north shore of [[Lake Erie]] in 1786, and at the [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]] region on the northeast shore of [[Lake Ontario]] in the early 1790s. At the time the region was part of [[British North America]] and became part of Upper Canada after the [[Constitutional Act of 1791]]. [[Upper Canada|Upper]] and [[Lower Canada]] were both parts of the New York Episcopal Methodist Conference until 1810 when they were transferred to the newly formed Genesee Conference. Reverend Major George Neal began to preach in Niagara in October 1786 and was ordained in 1810 by Bishop Philip Asbury, at the Lyons, New York Methodist Conference. He was Canada's first saddlebag preacher and travelled from Lake Ontario to Detroit for 50 years preaching the gospel.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} The spread of Methodism in the Canadas was seriously disrupted by the [[War of 1812]] but quickly gained lost ground after the [[Treaty of Ghent]] was signed in 1815. In 1817, the British Wesleyans arrived in the Canadas from the Maritimes but by 1820 had agreed, with the Episcopal Methodists, to confine their work to Lower Canada (present-day [[Quebec]]) while the latter would confine themselves to Upper Canada (present-day [[Ontario]]). In the summer of 1818, the first place of public worship was erected for the Wesleyan Methodists in [[York, Upper Canada|York]], later Toronto. The chapel for the First Methodist Church was built on the corner of King Street and Jordan Street, the entire cost of the building was $250, an amount that took the congregation three years to raise.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Peppiatt|first1=Liam|title=Chapter 48: The First Methodist Church|url=http://www.landmarksoftoronto.com/the-first-methodist-church|website=Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto Revisited}}</ref> In 1828, Upper Canadian Methodists were permitted by the General Conference in the United States to form an independent Canadian Conference and, in 1833, the Canadian Conference merged with the British Wesleyans to form the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. In 1884, most Canadian Methodists were brought under the umbrella of the [[Methodist Church, Canada]].{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} In 1925, the Methodist Church, Canada and most [[Presbyterian Church in Canada|Presbyterian]] congregations (then by far the largest Protestant communion in Canada), most Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec congregations, Union Churches in Western Canada, and the American Presbyterian Church in [[Montreal]] merged to form the [[United Church of Canada]]. In 1968, the [[Evangelical United Brethren]] Church's Canadian congregations joined after their American counterparts joined the United Methodist Church.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} ====Mexico==== [[File:MetodistaEpiscopalApizaco.JPG|thumb|A Methodist church in [[Apizaco, Tlaxcala]]]] The Methodist Church came to [[History of Mexico|Mexico]] in 1872, with the arrival of two Methodist commissioners from the United States to observe the possibilities of evangelistic work in México. In December 1872, Bishop Gilbert Haven arrived in [[Mexico City]]. He was ordered by M. D. William Butler to go to México. Bishop John C. Keener arrived from the [[Methodist Episcopal Church, South]] in January 1873.<ref>John Wesley Butler, ''History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Mexico'' (Theclassics Us, 2013).</ref><ref>Karl M. Schmitt, "American Protestant Missionaries and the Diaz Regime in Mexico: 1876–1911." ''Journal of Church & State'' 25 (1983), p. 253.</ref> In 1874, M. D. William Butler established the first Protestant Methodist school of México, in [[Puebla]]. The school was founded under the name "Instituto Metodista Mexicano". Today the school is called "Instituto Mexicano Madero". It is still a Methodist school, and it is one of the most elite, selective, expensive and prestigious private schools in the country,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imm.edu.mx/toledo/ |title=Instituto Mexicano Madero Plantel Centro |publisher=Imm.edu.mx |access-date=19 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523190309/http://www.imm.edu.mx/toledo/ |archive-date=23 May 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> with two campuses in Puebla State, and one in [[Oaxaca]]. A few years later the principal of the school created a Methodist university.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umad.edu.mx |title=Universidad Madero de Puebla |publisher=Umad.edu.mx |access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> On 18 January 1885, the first Annual Conference of the United Episcopal Church of México was established.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Yrigoyen| first=Charles Jr. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/863824633|title=Historical Dictionary of Methodism.|date=2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|others=Susan E. Warrick|isbn=978-0-8108-7894-5|edition=3rd|location=Lanham|oclc=863824633}}</ref> ====United States==== {{Main|History of Methodism in the United States}} [[File:Old Barratt's Chapel (Methodist), Route 113, Frederica vicinity (Kent County, Delaware).jpg|thumb|[[Barratt's Chapel]], built in 1780, is the oldest Methodist church in the United States built for that purpose. The church was a meeting place of [[Francis Asbury|Asbury]] and [[Thomas Coke (bishop)|Coke]].]] Wesley came to believe that the New Testament evidence did not leave the power of ordination to the priesthood in the hands of [[bishops]] but that other priests could ordain. In 1784, he ordained preachers for Scotland, England, and America, with power to administer the sacraments (this was a major reason for Methodism's final split from the Church of England after Wesley's death). At that time, Wesley sent [[Thomas Coke (bishop)|Thomas Coke]] to America. [[Francis Asbury]] founded the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784; Coke (already ordained in the Church of England) ordained Asbury deacon, elder, and bishop each on three successive days.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Jesse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=94wuAAAAYAAJ |title=A Short History of the Methodists in the United States of America |publisher=Magill and Clime |year=1810 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |pages=128–129 |language=en-us |access-date=28 July 2021}}</ref> Circuit riders, many of whom were laymen, travelled by horseback to preach the gospel and establish churches in many places. One of the most famous circuit riders was Robert Strawbridge who lived in the vicinity of Carroll County, Maryland, soon after arriving in the Colonies around 1760.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} The [[First Great Awakening]] was a religious movement in the 1730s and 1740s, beginning in [[New Jersey]], then spreading to [[New England]], and eventually south into [[Virginia]] and [[North Carolina]]. George Whitefield played a major role, traveling across the colonies and preaching in a dramatic and emotional style, accepting everyone as his audience.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-20 |title=Great Awakening |url=https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/great-awakening |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> The new style of sermons and the way people practiced their faith breathed new life into religion in America. People became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner. People began to study the Bible at home. The effect was akin to the individualistic trends present in Europe during the Protestant Reformation.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} [[File:Growth of Denominations in America 1780 to 1860.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|In the US, the number of local Methodist churches (blue) grew steadily; it was the largest denomination in the US by 1820.<ref>Data from Edwin Scott Gaustad, ''Historical Atlas of Religion in America'' (2nd ed. 1976).</ref>]] The [[Second Great Awakening]] was a nationwide wave of revivals, from 1790 to 1840. In [[New England]], the renewed interest in religion inspired a wave of social activism among Yankees; Methodism grew and established several colleges, notably [[Boston University]]. In the "burned over district" of western New York, the spirit of revival burned brightly. Methodism saw the emergence of a [[Holiness movement]]. In the west, especially at [[Cane Ridge, Kentucky]], and in [[Tennessee]], the revival strengthened the Methodists and the [[Baptists]]. Methodism grew rapidly in the [[Second Great Awakening]], becoming the nation's largest denomination by 1820. From 58,000 members in 1790, it reached 258,000 in 1820 and 1,661,000 in 1860, growing by a factor of 28.6 in 70 years, while the total American population grew by a factor of eight.<ref>U.S. Bureau of the Census, ''Historical Statistics of the United States: From: the Colonial Times to the Present'' (1976), pp. 8, 392.</ref> Other denominations also used revivals, but the Methodists grew fastest of all because "they combined popular appeal with efficient organization under the command of missionary bishops."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bratt |first=James D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9u6VVAMwsCMC&pg=PR15 |title=Antirevivalism in Antebellum America: A Collection of Religious Voices |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0813536934 |page=15 |language=en-us}}</ref> Methodism attracted German immigrants, and the first [[Nast Trinity United Methodist Church|German Methodist Church]] was erected in [[Cincinnati, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite book|title=A Forgotten Heritage: The German Methodist Church|last1=Dixon|first1=Barbara|publisher=Little Miami Publishing Company|year=2011|isbn=978-1932250961}}</ref> [[File:Grace Wesleyan Methodist Church.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Grace Wesleyan Methodist Church is a parish church of the [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]], one of the largest denominations in the [[conservative holiness movement]], and is located in [[Akron, Ohio]].]] Disputes over slavery placed the church in difficulty in the first half of the 19th century, with the northern church leaders fearful of a split with the South, and reluctant to take a stand. The [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (United States)|Wesleyan Methodist Connexion]] (later renamed the Wesleyan Methodist Church) and the [[Free Methodist Church]] were formed by staunch abolitionists, and the Free Methodists were especially active in the [[Underground Railroad]], which helped to free slaves. In 1962, the [[Evangelical Wesleyan Church]] separated from the Free Methodist Church.<ref name="KurianDay2017">{{cite book |last1=Kurian |first1=George Thomas |last2=Day |first2=Sarah Claudine |title=The Essential Handbook of Denominations and Ministries |date=2017 |publisher=Baker Books |isbn=978-1493406401 |language=en}}</ref> In 1968 the Wesleyan Methodist Church and [[Pilgrim Holiness Church]] merged to form the [[Wesleyan Church]]; a significant amount dissented from this decision resulting in the independence of the [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]] and the formation of the [[Bible Methodist Connection of Churches]], both of which fall within the [[conservative holiness movement]].<ref name="Lewis2002">{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=James R.|title=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions|year=2002|publisher=Prometheus Books, Publishers|language=en|isbn=978-1615927388|page=356|quote=The Bible Methodist Connection of Tennessee, the Bible Holiness Church, and the Bible Methodist Connection of Churches were formed as a result of the opposition to the merger of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church into the Wesleyan Church (1968).}}</ref> In a much larger split, in 1845 at Louisville, Kentucky, the churches of the slaveholding states left the Methodist Episcopal Church and formed the [[Methodist Episcopal Church, South]]. The northern and southern branches were reunited in 1939, when slavery was no longer an issue. In this merger also joined the [[Methodist Protestant Church]]. Some southerners, more conservative in theology, opposed the merger, and formed the [[Southern Methodist Church]] in 1940. The [[Third Great Awakening]] from 1858 to 1908 saw enormous growth in Methodist membership, and a proliferation of institutions such as colleges (e.g., [[Morningside University|Morningside College]]). Methodists were often involved in the ''Missionary Awakening'' and the [[Social Gospel]] Movement. The awakening in so many cities in 1858 started the movement, but in the North it was interrupted by the Civil War. In the South, on the other hand, the Civil War stimulated revivals, especially in Lee's army.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Prim |first=G. Clinton |date=1984 |title=Born Again in the Trenches: Revivals in the Army of Tennessee |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42626463 |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=250–272 |jstor=42626463 |issn=0040-3261}}</ref> In 1914–1917 many Methodist ministers made strong pleas for world peace. President [[Woodrow Wilson]] (a Presbyterian), promised "a war to end all wars," using language of a future peace that had been a watchword for the postmillennial movement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jewett |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XecPAQAAIAAJ |title=Mission and Menace: Four Centuries of American Religious Zeal |last2=Wangerin |first2=Ole |publisher=Fortress Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0800662837 |page=213}}</ref> In the 1930s many Methodists favored isolationist policies. Thus in 1936, Methodist Bishop James Baker, of the San Francisco Conference, released a poll of ministers showing 56% opposed warfare. However, the Methodist Federation called for a boycott of Japan, which had invaded China and was disrupting missionary activity there.<ref>Meyer 200, 354.</ref> In Chicago, 62 local African Methodist Episcopal churches voted their support for the Roosevelt administration's policy, while opposing any plan to send American troops overseas to fight. When war came in 1941, the vast majority of Methodists supported the national war effort, but there were also a few (673)<ref>Methodist World Peace Commission administered [[Civilian Public Service]] units at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina and Cherokee State (Psychiatric) Hospital in Cherokee, Iowa. [http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/CPScampsList.htm List of CPS Camps]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060404222410/http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/conscientiousobjection/CPScampsList.htm|date=4 April 2006}}.</ref> [[conscientious objectors]]. [[File:Logo of the United Methodist Church.svg|thumb|upright=0.55|The "[[cross and flame]]" logo of the [[United Methodist Church]]]] The [[United Methodist Church]] (UMC) was formed in 1968 as a result of a merger between the [[Evangelical United Brethren Church]] (EUB) and the [[Methodist Church (USA)|Methodist Church]]. The former church had resulted from mergers of several groups of German Methodist heritage; however, there was no longer any need or desire to worship in the German language. The latter church was a result of union between the Methodist Protestant Church and the northern and southern factions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The merged church had approximately nine million members as of the late 1990s. While United Methodist Church in America membership has been declining, associated groups in developing countries are growing rapidly.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.methodistreview.org/index.php/mr/article/view/48|title=World Growth of the United Methodist Church in Comparative Perspective: A Brief Statistical Analysis – Robert|journal=Methodist Review |date=21 April 2011 |volume=3 |pages=37–54 |access-date=15 September 2014|last1=Robert |first1=Dana L. |last2=Scott |first2=David W. }}</ref> Prior to the merger that led to the formation of the United Methodist Church, the [[Evangelical Methodist Church]] entered into a [[schism]] with the Methodist Church, citing modernism in its parent body as the reason for the departure in 1946.<ref name="GarrettHinson1983">{{cite book|last1=Garrett|first1=James Leo|last2=Hinson|first2=E. Glenn|last3=Tull|first3=James E.|title=Are Southern Baptists 'Evangelicals'?|year=1983|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0865540330|page=47}}</ref> [[File:Glide Memorial Church.jpg|thumb|left|Founded as a Methodist congregation, [[Glide Memorial Church]] has served as a [[counter-culture]] rallying point and has been identified as a [[liberal Christianity|liberal church]].]] American Methodist churches are generally organized on a [[Connexionalism|''connectional'' model]], related, but not identical to that used in Britain. Pastors are assigned to congregations by [[Bishops in Methodism|bishops]], distinguishing it from [[presbyterian]] government. Methodist denominations typically give lay members representation at regional and national Conferences at which the business of the church is conducted, making it different from most [[Episcopal polity|episcopal government]]. This connectional organizational model differs further from the [[Congregationalist polity|congregational]] model, for example of [[Baptist]], and [[Congregational church|Congregationalist Churches]], among others.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} In addition to the United Methodist Church, there are over 40 other denominations that descend from John Wesley's Methodist movement. Some, such as the [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]], the Free Methodists and the Wesleyan Church (formerly Wesleyan Methodist), are explicitly Methodist. There are also independent Methodist churches, many of which are affiliated with the [[Association of Independent Methodists]].<ref name="Crespino2007">{{cite book|last=Crespino|first=Joseph|title=In Search of Another Country: Mississippi and the Conservative Counterrevolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DdCApZN4xjwC&pg=PA169|access-date=30 May 2017|year=2007|publisher=Princeton University Press|language=en|isbn=978-0691122090|page=169}}</ref> The Salvation Army and the Church of the Nazarene adhere to Methodist theology.<ref name="O'BrienCarey2016">{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Glen |title=Methodism in Australia: A History |last2=Carey |first2=Hilary M. |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-09709-9 |page=268 |language=English |quote=Identifying with the Church of the Nazarene, 846 of these in Queensland. The Church began to advertise itself as 'a church in the Methodist tradition' in order to make its theological orientation clear to the public.}}</ref> The [[Holiness movement|Holiness Revival]] was primarily among people of Methodist persuasion, who felt that the church had once again become apathetic, losing the Wesleyan zeal.<ref>{{cite web |title=Holiness movement {{!}} American history |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Holiness-movement |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=27 July 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Some important events of this revival were the writings of [[Phoebe Palmer]] during the mid-1800s,<ref>{{cite web |title=Phoebe Palmer: The Mother of the Holiness Movement |url=https://margmowczko.com/phoebe-palmer/ |website=Marg Mowczko |access-date=27 July 2021 |language=en-AU |date=10 June 2011}}</ref> the establishment of the first of many holiness [[camp meeting]]s at Vineland, New Jersey in 1867, and the founding of Asbury College, (1890), and other similar institutions in the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century. In 2020, United Methodists announced a plan to [[Schism|split the denomination]] over the issue of same-sex marriage,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Robertson |first1=Campbell |last2=Dias |first2=Elizabeth |title=United Methodists Announce Plan to Split Over Same-Sex Marriage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/us/methodist-split-gay-marriage.html?campaign_id=60&instance_id=0&segment_id=20032&user_id=579ae23cfcbd75c9aac87cb571cc201c®i_id=72995439 |website=The New York Times |access-date=3 January 2020 |date=3 January 2020}}</ref> which resulted in traditionalist clergy, laity and theologians forming the [[Global Methodist Church]], a traditionalist Methodist denomination that came into being on 1 May 2022.<ref>{{cite news |title=United Methodist Church breaking up in schism over LGBT acceptance |url=https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/nation-world/umc-breaking-up/507-c429f569-6c74-4a10-a3ef-0cf13f84484f |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=ksdk.com |date=29 April 2022}}</ref><ref name="Tooley2022">{{cite web |last1=Tooley |first1=Mark |title=Traditional Methodists Search for New Path Forward |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/methodists-path/ |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |access-date=14 December 2022 |language=English |date=17 August 2022 |quote=The 13-million-member United Methodist Church is shattering, and traditionalists are building a new Global Methodist Church committed to theological and ethical Christian orthodoxy.}}</ref><ref name="Hodges2021">{{cite web |last1=Hodges |first1=Sam |title=Planned traditionalist Methodist denomination gets name |url=https://www.christiancentury.org/article/news/planned-traditionalist-methodist-denomination-gets-name |publisher=[[The Christian Century]] |access-date=14 December 2022 |language=en |date=22 March 2021 |quote=Traditionalists committed to leaving the United Methodist Church have chosen “Global Methodist Church” as the name for the denomination they plan to launch. ... The name “Global Methodist Church” is in the spirit of Methodism founder John Wesley's statement, “The world is my parish,” a press release said.}}</ref> ===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> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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