The Fundamental Methodist Conference was instituted at
Ash Grove, Missouri, in 1942 under the name Independent Fundamental Methodist Church. The title was changed to Fundamental Methodist Church, Inc., when the first annual conference was held in 1944. The Fundamental Methodist Conference traces its origins through the
Methodist Protestant Church to the
Anglican reformation and
evangelical awakening of the Wesley brothers, John and Charles. The three major Methodist conferences in the United States – the
Methodist Episcopal Church,
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant churches – united under the name
The Methodist Church in 1939. The union was attended with dissatisfaction among certain people in all three groups. The John's Chapel Church (formerly part of the Methodist Protestant Church) of
Lawrence County, Missouri, withdrew from The Methodist Church on August 27, 1942, and elected a committee to draw up a constitution and by-laws for fundamental Methodists. On August 23, 1944, the first annual conference was held in
Greene County, Missouri, with three churches representing. The denomination was chartered on February 27, 1948. Unlike most other Methodists, the churches of the Fundamental Methodist Conference do not baptize infants, though the
dedication of children is retained. They only observe the mode of
immersion for baptism. Since they do not regard baptism as initiation to the universal church, they will receive members from other churches who have been baptized by sprinkling or pouring. Government is more congregational and less connectional than generally practiced by other Methodists (though some other Methodist denominations, such as the
Congregational Methodist Church, have a congregational polity). Each congregation owns its property and calls its pastors. The church has no bishops; the
Annual Conference elects a
District Superintendent and a Secretary-Treasurer. ==References==