Methodism is a worldwide movement and Methodist churches are present on all populated continents. Although Methodism is declining in Great Britain and North America, it is growing in other placesat a rapid pace in, for example, South Korea. There is no single Methodist Church with universal juridical authority; Methodists belong to multiple independent denominations or "
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
uniting denominations, representing about 80 million people. Other smaller Methodist denominations exist in Europe.
Great Britain The original body founded as a result of Wesley's work came to be known as the
Wesleyan Methodist Church.
Schisms within the original church, and independent
revivals, led to the formation of a number of separate denominations calling themselves "Methodist". The largest of these were the
Primitive Methodists, deriving from a revival at
Mow Cop in
Staffordshire, the
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; then the three major streams of British Methodism
united in 1932 to form the present
Methodist Church of Great Britain. The fourth-largest denomination in the country, the Methodist Church of Great Britain has about 202,000 members in 4,650 congregations. 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 faction of Methodists. The Bible Christians produced many preachers, and sent many missionaries to Australia. 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. In Wales, three elements separately welcomed Methodism: Welsh-speaking, English-speaking, and
Calvinistic. British Methodists, in particular the Primitive Methodists, took a leading role in the
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. 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). The choice to consume alcohol is now a personal decision for any member. The Methodist Council also helps to run a number of schools, including two
public schools in
East Anglia:
Culford School and
the Leys School. The council promotes an all round education with a strong Christian
ethos. 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, an early secession from the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and the
Independent Methodist Connexion.
Ireland , opened in 1865 John Wesley visited Ireland on at least twenty-four occasions and established classes and societies. The
Methodist Church in Ireland () today operates across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on an all-Ireland basis. , there were around 50,000 Methodists across Ireland. In 2013, the biggest concentration – 13,171 – was in
Belfast, with 2,614 in
Dublin. , it is the fourth-largest denomination in Northern Ireland, with Methodists accounting for 2.3% of the population, compared to 3% in 2011.
Eric Gallagher was the President of the Church in the 1970s, becoming a well-known figure in Irish politics. 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 raid on the hotel. 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
Modernism in those denominations.
Italy houses Italian and English-speaking congregations The
Italian Methodist Church () is a small Protestant community in Italy, with around 7,000 members. Since 1975, it is in a formal covenant of
partnership with the Waldensian Church, with a total of 45,000 members.
Bertrand M. Tipple, minister of the American Methodist Church in Rome, founded a college there in 1914. 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. It helps facilitate Methodist relationships with the wider Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.
Nordic and Baltic countries Methodist Church in Norway was the world's most northerly Methodist congregation when established in 1890. , 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. , Lithuania
Methodism arrived in Finland through
Ostrobothnians sailors in the 1860s, and Methodism spread especially in
Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia. The first Methodist congregation was founded in
Vaasa in 1881 and the first Finnish-speaking congregation in
Pori in 1887. At the turn of the century, the congregation in Vaasa became the largest and most active congregation in Methodism.
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. Sixteen Methodist congregations voted to join the
Reformed Church of France in 1938. In the 1980s, missionary work of a Methodist church in
Agen led to new initiatives in
Fleurance and
Mont de Marsan. Methodism exists today in France under various names. The best-known is the Union of Evangelical Methodist Churches () 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". , the UEEM has around 1,200 members and 30 ministers. Methodism is most prevalent in southern
Saxony and around
Stuttgart. 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. Therefore, Methodism has four roots in Germany. Early opposition towards Methodism was partly rooted in theological differencesnorthern 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.
Hungary The first Methodist mission in Hungary was established in November of 1898 in
Bácska by Robert Möller, a Methodist pastor from Vienna. 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. , the United Methodist Church in Hungary, known locally as the Hungarian Methodist Church (), had 453 professing members in 30 congregations. It runs two student homes, two homes for the elderly, the Forray Methodist High School, the Wesley Scouts and the Methodist Library and Archives. The church has a special ministry among the
Roma. The seceding Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship () 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, 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. However, the list of recognized churches was lengthened to 32 at the end of February 2012. 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. 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. 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.
Russia The Methodist Church established several strongholds in Russia
Saint Petersburg in the west and the
Vladivostok region in the east, with large Methodist centres in
Moscow and
Ekaterinburg (former Sverdlovsk). Methodists began their work in the west among Swedish immigrants in 1881 and started their work in the east in 1910. On 26 June 2009, Methodists celebrated the 120th year since Methodism arrived in Czarist Russia by erecting a new Methodist centre in Saint Petersburg. In 1939, political antagonism stymied the work of the Church and Deaconess Anna Eklund was coerced to return to her native Finland. and this continued after the USSR's collapse in 1991. During the 1990s, Methodism experienced a powerful wave of revival in the nation. A Methodist revival spread in the
British West Indies due to the work of British missionaries. There are smaller Methodist denominations that have seceded from the parent church.
Antigua 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.
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.
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. 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. who also was the first principal of the Wesley Hall School,
Bridgetown in Barbados (which celebrated its 125th anniversary in September 2009).
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 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. It has seen exponential growth since the turn of the millennium. Christianity was established in Nigeria with the arrival in 1842 of a
Wesleyan Methodist missionary. 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, inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the
Gold Coast in 1835. 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
Asante hinterland of the Gold Coast. He also established Methodist Societies in Badagry and AbeoKuta in Nigeria with the assistance of William De-Graft. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The Methodist Church of Southern Africa is the largest
mainline Protestant denomination in South Africa7.3% of the South African population recorded their religious affiliation as 'Methodist' in the last national census.
Asia China is the first Methodist church erected in downtown
Fuzhou. (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" (), 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, was finished and dedicated, called the "
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. Hok Chau (; also known as Lai-Tong Chau, ) 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 ().
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. 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
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. 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 India 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. 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. 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. This church was rebuilt in 1844 since the earlier structure was collapsing. 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. In 1857, the Methodist Episcopal Church started its work in India, and with prominent evangelists like
William Taylor of the Emmanuel Methodist Church,
Vepery, born in 1874. Taylor and the evangelist
James Mills Thoburn established the Thoburn Memorial Church in Calcutta in 1873 and the Calcutta Boys' School in 1877. 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.
Malaysia and Singapore Missionaries from Britain, North America, and Australia founded Methodist churches in many
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 in Kuala Lumpur,
Methodist Girls' School and Methodist Boys' School in
George Town, and
Anglo-Chinese School,
Methodist Girls' School,
Paya Lebar Methodist Girls School and
Fairfield Methodist Schools in Singapore.
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, 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). , Philippines Methodist and Wesleyan traditions in the Philippines are shared by three of the largest mainline Protestant churches in the country:
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. 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, and the
Church of the Nazarene. There are also the IEMELIF Reform Movement (IRM), The Wesleyan (Pilgrim Holiness) Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Bible Methodist Church, Incorporated, 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 areas of the United Methodist Church in the Philippines: the Baguio Episcopal Area, Davao Episcopal Area and Manila Episcopal Area. 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, led by Bishop
Lito C. Tangonan, George Buenaventura, Chita Milan and Joe Frank E. Zuñiga. The group finally declared full autonomy and legal incorporation with the
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,
Aurora,
Nueva Ecija, as well as parts of
Pampanga and
Cavite. Tangonan was consecrated as the denomination's first Presiding Bishop on 17 March 2012.
South Korea The Korean Methodist Church (KMC) is one of the largest churches in South Korea with around 1.5 million members and 8,306 ministers. 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. The Korean church became fully autonomous in 1930, retaining affiliation with Methodist churches in America and later the United Methodist Church.
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.
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. , the Brazilian Methodist Church is divided into eight annual conferences with 162,000 members.
Canada 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 (1760–1834) who began preaching in settlements along the
Petitcodiac River of
New Brunswick in 1781. A few years afterwards, Methodist Episcopal circuit riders from the
U.S. state of
New York began to arrive in
Canada West at Niagara, and the north shore of
Lake Erie in 1786, and at the
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 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. 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, 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. 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. In the fall of 1873 and winter of 1874, General Superintendent
B. T. Roberts of the
Free Methodist Church visited
Scarborough on the invitation of Robert Loveless, a Primitive Methodist layman. Later, in 1876 while presiding over the very young North Michigan Conference, he read conference appointments that assigned C.H. Sage his field of labour—Canada. This led to the expansion of the Free Methodist Church in Canada. In 1925, the Methodist Church, Canada and most
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 the United Church of Canada. The
Free Methodist Church in Canada is the largest Methodist denomination in the country at present. A smaller denomination, the
British Methodist Episcopal Church, remains active today as well.
Mexico , Tlaxcala The Methodist Church came to
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. 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, with two campuses in Puebla State, and one in
Oaxaca. A few years later the principal of the school created a Methodist university. On 18 January 1885, the first Annual Conference of the United Episcopal Church of México was established.
United States , built in 1780, is the oldest Methodist church in the United States built for that purpose. The church was a meeting place of
Asbury and
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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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." Methodism attracted German immigrants, and the first
German Methodist Church was erected in
Cincinnati, Ohio. , 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 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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)
conscientious objectors. " 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. 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. 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. has served as a
counter-culture rallying point and has been identified as a
liberal church. American Methodist churches are generally organized on a
connectional model, related, but not identical to that used in Britain. Pastors are assigned to congregations by
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 government. This connectional organizational model differs further from the
congregational model, for example of
Baptist, and
Congregationalist Churches, among others. 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. The Salvation Army and the Church of the Nazarene adhere to Methodist theology. The
Holiness Revival was primarily among people of Methodist persuasion, who felt that the church had once again become apathetic, losing the Wesleyan zeal. Some important events of this revival were the writings of
Phoebe Palmer during the mid-1800s, the establishment of the first of many holiness
camp meetings 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
split the denomination over the issue of same-sex marriage, which resulted in traditionalist clergy, laity and theologians forming the
Global Methodist Church, an evangelical Methodist denomination that came into being on 1 May 2022.
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, the
Primitive Methodists, the
Bible Christian Church, the
United Methodist Free and the
Methodist New Connexion Churches merged. 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. The
Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia was founded on his work. 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. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia and some independent congregations chose not to join the union.
Wesley Mission in Pitt Street,
Sydney, the largest parish in the Uniting Church, remains strongly in the Wesleyan tradition. 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. Since the 2000s many independent Methodist churches have also been established or grown by
Tongan immigrants.
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. According to the 2007 census, 34.6% of the population (including almost two-thirds of
ethnic Fijians), 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
chiefly system. In the past, the church once called for a
theocracy and fueled
anti-Hindu sentiment.
New Zealand , New Zealand In June 1823
Wesleydale, the first
Wesleyan Methodist mission in New Zealand, was established at
Kaeo. 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. 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.{
Samoan Islands The Methodist Church is the third largest denomination throughout the Samoan Islands, in both Samoa and American Samoa. 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. The college includes the historic Piula Monastery as well as
Piula Cave Pool, a natural spring situated beneath the church by the sea.
Tonga , Tonga Methodism had a particular resonance with the inhabitants of Tonga. In the 1830s Wesleyan missionaries converted paramount chief
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. 48% of Tongans adhered to Methodist churches. The royal family of the country are prominent members of the Free Wesleyan Church, and the late king was a lay preacher. Tongan Methodist minister
Sione 'Amanaki Havea developed
coconut theology, which tailors theology to a Pacific Islands context. ==Ecumenical relations==