Methodist Church History

A Brief History of the Methodist Denomination

By Mary Fairchild
Christianity Expert
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The Methodist branch of Protestant religion traces its roots back to 1739 where it developed in
England as a result of the teachings of John Wesley. While studying at Oxford, Wesley, his
brother Charles, and several other students formed a group devoted to study, prayer and helping
the underprivileged..
The beginning of Methodism as a popular movement began in 1738, when both of the Wesley
brothers, influenced by contact with the Moravians, undertook evangelistic preaching with an
emphasis on conversion and holiness. Though both Wesley brothers were ordained ministers of
the Church of England, they were barred from speaking in most of its pulpits because of their
evangelistic methods. They preached in homes, farm houses, barns, open fields, and wherever
they found an audience.
Wesley did not set out to create a new church, but instead began several small faith-restoration
groups within the Anglican church called the "United Societies." Soon however, Methodism

spread and eventually became its own separate religion when the first conference was held in
1744.
George Whitefield (1714-1770) was a minister in the Church of England and also one of the
leaders of the Methodist movement.
This 7.7 million member church prospered on its own for the next twenty-nine years, as did the
newly reunited Evangelical United Brethren Church. In 1968, bishops of the two churches took
the necessary steps to combine their churches into what has become the second largest Protestant
denomination in America, The United Methodist Church.
(Sources: ReligiousTolerance.org, ReligionFacts.com, AllRefer.com, and the Religious
Movements Web site of the University of Virginia.)

Methodism represents a branch of Protestant Christianity that traces its heritage back to
John Wesley and his attempts to bring revival within the Church of England in the early
18th century C.E. Methodism holds many of the basic Protestant Christian beliefs, including
the inspiration and authority of scripture for faith and practice, the doctrines of the Trinity
and the divinity of Jesus, and the necessity of grace to save humans from the consequences

of sin. The two sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper are also practiced. Wesley
taught that Christians should strive to obtain holiness of life (called "perfect love") with the
assistance of the Holy Spirit. He established a system of small group meetings that were
designed to encourage and support fellow Christians in lives of faith. Methodism spread
rapidly throughout the United States in the late 18 th and early 19thcenturies through itinerant
preachers. Since then, Methodist missionaries, focusing on both evangelism and service,
have taken Methodism throughout the world.

Our History and Heritage

The Beginnings
It is generally accepted that the founders of the Methodist movement were John and Charles
Wesley. John Wesley (1703-91) and his brother Charles (1707-88) were part of a large family,
and were born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, where their father was a vicar. Their parents, Samuel
and Susanna Wesley, both came of Puritan stock, but had moved to High Church beliefs:
influences from both traditions may be found in their sons.

Both John and Charles went to Oxford University. John became Fellow of Lincoln College in 1726,
and was ordained a priest in the Church of England (Anglican Church) in 1728. Charles, still a
student began to meet with a group of friends for reading and religious study. John became
involved as the group's senior member, and its activities expanded to include charitable work
among the poor and the imprisoned. Their concern for disciplined spirituality earned them the
nickname "The Holy Club" or "Methodists" for their methodical approach.
John Wesley's quest for holiness and peace with God took him to the new colony of Georgia, in
1735, to work among the settlers and the Native Americans. After a disappointing ministry in
Georgia he returned to England three (3) years later, but during his time there he made contact
with a group of Moravian Christians whose vibrant faith and assurance made a deep impression
on him.
Religious renewal was to spread in Britain in the late 1730's, sometimes in churches, sometimes
through open air preaching, often through voluntary religious societies like the Oxford
Methodists. The Wesleys were drawn into this movement, and in May 1738 both experienced a
sense of assurance of God's love for them. The following year they joined the ranks of those
clergy and lay people who were preaching the Gospel in the open air.
The Wesley's Methodism was only one element in the eighteenth century Revival, and there were
tensions within other groups over theology and organization. Gradually John Wesley built up a
network ("Connexion") of preachers and groups bound together by shared beliefs, a common
structure and loyalty to him. Although property was acquired for Methodist services, the
movement remained a voluntary organization within the Church of England, and calls for
separation were firmly resisted. The Methodists were expected to attend services in their parish
church, as well as the meetings of the Methodist societies'. As the societies grew they were
subdivided in to groups called classes' which were made up of up to a twelve (12) members for
pastoral oversight.
John Wesley's long lifetime saw Methodism evolve slowly into a movement with a distinctive
organization and ethos. The movement was dominated by Wesley, who determined its structure
and defined its doctrine through several volumes of published sermons and Notes on the New
Testament. The preachers some ordained and laymen, appointed by Wesley were summoned to
meet with him at the annual Conference. The preachers were assigned to different areas of the
country to work and they travelled round their circuit' of Methodist societies, administered by
stewards and had their own preaching houses. As Wesley grew older, the personal connexion'
was given legal identity, as power after his death was vested in the Conference and limited to
one hundred named preachers.
As may be imagined, this developing structure did not sit comfortably within the established
patterns of the Church of England. Bishops disapproved of Wesley's freelance activities, local
incumbents resented the invasion of their parishes by Methodist preachers, and pressure was
built up within Methodism for greater independence. There was no formal breach during
Wesley's lifetime, although some of his actions, like ordaining people for service in America
(1794), allowing Methodist services to take place at the same time as services in the parish
Church, and registering Methodist property under the Conventicle Act (1788) pointed to a
separation. The disengagement of Methodism from the Church of England took place in the
decades after Wesley's death (1791), but the speed of separation depended considerably on local
conditions.

After 1791 the leadership of Methodism was placed in the Conference and a scheme for a
Methodist episcopate (bishops) was rejected in favour of an annually elected President. Tensions
over theology, church government, mission strategy and personalities led to a whole series of
splits in the movement over the next sixty years. A bewildering number of Methodist groups
came into being, emphasizing different parts of the Wesleyan heritage. From the late nineteenth
century onwards most of the groups re-united, with the three largest blocs coming together on
1932. Differences in emphases, represented by various uniting strands, still appear in
Methodism.
From its history, Methodism inherited a Connexional structure rather than a congregational one.
Congregations are not autonomous and cannot act without regard to the rest of the Connexion.

Methodism in the Caribbean

It is generally accepted that Methodism came to the Caribbean in 1760 when a planter from
Antigua, named Nathaniel Gilbert. Gilbert was a lawyer, the owner of two sugar estates returned
to Antigua and the Speaker of the Antiguan House of Assembly. He was, prior to his religious
experience, very suspicious of and averse to anything that savoured of "enthusiasm".
Sometime in 1755, Nathaniel Gilbert was sill and sent his daughter Mary, who was five years old
to fetch a certain book from another room. While we do not know what book he wanted, the
book that Mary brought to him was a treatise of John Wesley, "An Appeal to men of Reason and
Religion." This had been sent to him by his brother Francis and was in fact not the book he had
wanted at the time. However, with time on his hands, the ill Nathaniel Gilbert read it and was
never the same man again.
As a result of this Gilbert two years latter journeyed to England, with three of his slaves. A
drawing room meeting was arranged in Wandsworth on January 15, 1759, with John Wesley as
the preacher. Nathaniel Gilbert and two of his slaves were converted. He returned to the West
Indies in 1759. With his return Gilbert began to preach to his slaves in Antigua.
.
On April 2, 1778, John Baxter landed at English harbour in Antigua. He was a skilled shipwright
from Chatham in England. He was offered a post at the naval dockyard at English Harbour (now
called Nelson's Dockyard). Baxter was a Methodist Local Preacher, and he had heard of the work
of the Gilberts, and had heard of the flock that was awaiting a new shepherd. When he arrived
in Antigua he began preaching and meeting the leaders of the island Methodists. 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. The chapel was a wooden structure and
seated about 2,000 people.
In 1786 Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke, arrived (by providence) in Antigua. He was travelling to Nova
Scotia but his ship was blown off course. Coke was made Superintendent of the Church in
America by Wesley in 1784. It was in 1786 that the missionary endeavour to Caribbean was
officially recognized by the Conference in England.
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 1960's that another attempt was

made at autonomy. This second attempt resulted in the emergence of the Methodist Church in
the Caribbean and the Americas (MCCA) in May 1967.

The MCCA
The MCCA has eight Districts and has its headquarters in Antigua. The eight Districts are
Bahamas/Turks and Caicos Islands, Belize/Honduras, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Islands,
Panama/Costa Rica and South Caribbean.
Up to 1996 the Conference of the MCCA met annually in May. In 1997 the MCCA made some
changes to its structure. The Conference was renamed the Connexional Conference and now
meets every three years. In between the meetings of the Connexional Conference its executive
body, the Connexional Council acts on its behalf.
Also in 1997 Districts were given greater responsibility to make decisions affecting their work.
Consequently the District Synod was renamed the District Conference, and the title Chairman of
the District is now called District President.

The Methodist revival began with a group of men, including John Wesley (17031791) and his
younger brother Charles (17071788), as a movement within the Church of England in the 18th
century.[7][8][9] The Wesley brothers founded the Holy Club while they were at Oxford, where John was
a fellow and later a lecturer at Lincoln College.[10] The Holy Club met weekly and they systematically
set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving communion every week, fasting
regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury and frequently visited the sick and
the poor, as well as prisoners. The fellowship were branded as "Methodist" by their fellow students
because of the way they used "rule" and "method" to go about their religious affairs. [11] Wesley took
the attempted mockery and turned it into a title of honour.
Initially the Methodists merely sought reform, by way of a return to the gospel, within the Church of
England, but the movement spread with revival and soon a significant number of Anglicanclergy
became affiliated with the movement in the mid-18th century.[12] The early movement acted against
perceived apathy in the Church of England, preaching in the open air and establishing Methodist
societies wherever they went. These societies were divided into groups called classes intimate
meetings where individuals were encouraged to confess their sins to one another and to build each
other up. They also took part in love feasts which allowed for the sharing of testimony, a key feature
of early Methodists. Three teachings they saw as the foundation of Christian faith were:
1. People are all, by nature, "dead in sin," and, consequently, "children of wrath."
2. They are "justified by faith alone."
3. Faith produces inward and outward holiness.
Methodist preachers were notorious for their enthusiastic sermons and often accused of fanaticism.
In those days, many members of England's established church feared that new doctrines
promulgated by the Methodists, such as the necessity of a new birth for salvation, ofjustification by
faith, and of the constant and sustained action of the Holy Spirit upon the believer's soul, would
produce ill effects upon weak minds. Theophilus Evans, an early critic of the movement, even wrote
that it was "the natural Tendency of their Behaviour, in Voice and Gesture and horrid Expressions, to
make People mad." In one of his prints, William Hogarthlikewise attacked Methodists as
"enthusiasts" full of "Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism." But the Methodist movement thrived
among the working class despite the attacksmostly verbal, but sometimes violentagainst it.
John Wesley came under the influence of the Moravian Church and of the Dutch theologianJacobus
Arminius (15601609). Arminius (the Latinized form of the name JakobHarmaens) denied that God
had pre-ordained an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally.
[b]

Conversely, George Whitefield, Howell Harris,[13] and Selina Hastings, Countess of

Huntingdon were notable for being Calvinistic Methodists. Whitefield, who had been one of the
Wesley brothers' fellow students at Oxford, became well known for his unorthodox ministry of

itinerant open-air preaching and inspired Wesley to likewise preach to those excluded from the
Anglican Church. Differences in theology put serious strains on the relationship between Whitefield
and Wesley, with Wesley becoming quite hostile toward Whitefield in what had been previously very
close relations. Whitefield consistently begged Wesley not to let these differences sever their
friendship and, in time their friendship was restored, though this was seen by many of Whitefield's
followers to be a doctrinal compromise.[14] As a final testimony of their friendship, John Wesley's
sermon on Whitefield's death is full of praise and affection. [15]

Separation from the Anglican Church[edit]

Further information: History of Methodism in the United States and John Wesley Persecutions and
lay preaching
As his societies multiplied, and elements of an ecclesiastical system were, one after another,
adopted, the breach between Wesley and the Church of England (Anglicanism) gradually widened.
In 1784, Wesley responded to the shortage of priests in the American colonies due to the American
Revolutionary War by ordaining preachers for 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.
This split created a separate, eventually worldwide, series of church denominations. The influence of
Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon on the Church of England was a factor in the founding of the Free
Church of England in 1844.
Through vigorous missionary activity Methodism spread throughout the British Empire and, mostly
through Whitefield's preaching during what historians call the First Great Awakening, in colonial
America. After Whitefield's death in 1770, however, American Methodism entered a more
lasting Wesleyan and Arminian phase of development.

Theology[edit]
Further information: Wesleyanism
Part of a series on

Arminianism

Jacobus Arminius

Background

Protestantism
Reformation
Five Articles of Remonstrance

CalvinistArminian debate

Arminianism in the Anglican Church

People

Jacobus Arminius

Simon Episcopius

Hugo Grotius
The Remonstrants

Synod of Dort participants

John Wesley
Doctrine

Total depravity

Conditional election

Unlimited atonement

Prevenient grace

Conditional preservation
Arminianism portal

Most Methodists identify with the Arminian conception of free will, through God'sprevenient grace, as
opposed to the theological determinism of absolutepredestination. This distinguishes Methodism
from the Calvinist tradition prevalent in Reformed churches. In strongly Reformed areas such as
Wales, however, Calvinistic Methodists remain, also called the Presbyterian Church of Wales. The
Calvinist Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion was also strongly associated with the Methodist
revival.
John Wesley is studied by Methodist ministerial students and trainee local preachers for his
interpretation of Church practice and doctrine. At its heart, the theology of John Wesley stressed the
life of Christian holiness: to love God with all one's heart, mind, soul and strength and to love one's
neighbour as oneself. One popular expression of Methodist doctrine is in the hymns of Charles
Wesley. Since enthusiastic congregational singing was a part of the early evangelicalmovement,
Wesleyan theology took root and spread through this channel. [16][17]
Methodism affirms the traditional Christian belief in the triune Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
as well as the orthodox understanding of the consubstantialhumanity and divinity of Jesus.
Methodists also affirm the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.[18] In devotional terms, these
confessions are said to embrace the biblical witness to God's activity in creation, encompass God's
gracious self-involvement in the dramas of history, and anticipate the consummation of God's reign.
Sacramental theology within Methodism tends to follow the historical interpretations and liturgies of
Anglicanism. This stems from the origin of much Methodist theology and practice within the
teachings of John and Charles Wesley, both of whom were priests of the Church of England. As
affirmed by theArticles of Religion, Methodists recognize two Sacraments as being ordained of
Christ: Baptism and Holy Communion.[19] Without defining the mode or method (i.e. the "how"),
Methodists believe that they receive "the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the
body of Christ, redeemed by his blood" in Holy Communion.[20] Methodism also affirms that there are
many other Means of Grace which often function in a sacramental manner, but most Methodists do
not recognize them as being Dominical sacraments.
Methodists, stemming from John Wesley's own practices of theological reflection, make use of
tradition, drawing primarily from the teachings of the Church fathers, as a source of authority.
Though not infallible like holy Scripture, tradition may serve as a lens through which Scripture is

interpreted (see also Prima scriptura and the Wesleyan Quadrilateral). Theological discourse for
Methodists almost always makes use of Scripture read inside the great theological tradition of
Christendom.[21]
It is a historical position of the church that any disciplined theological work calls for the careful use
of reason. By reason, it is said, one reads and is able to interpret the Bible coherently and
consistently. By reason one asks questions of faith and seeks to understand God's action and will.
Methodism insists that personal salvation always implies Christian mission and service to the
world. Scriptural holiness entails more than personal piety; love of God is always linked with love of
neighbours and a passion for justice and renewal in the life of the world.

Worship and liturgy[edit]

A United Methodist minister consecrating communion

In America, United Methodism has a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high
church tolow church in liturgical usage. When the Methodists in America were separated from the
Church of England because of the American Revolution, John Wesley himself provided a revised
version of the Book of Common Prayer called the Sunday Service of the Methodists in North
America(1784).[22] Today, the primary liturgical books of the United Methodist Church are The United
Methodist Hymnal and The United Methodist Book of Worship. Congregations employ the liturgy and
rituals therein as optional resources, but their use is not mandatory. These books contain the
liturgies of the church that are generally derived from Wesley's Sunday Service and from the 20th
Century liturgical renewal movement.
The British Methodist Church tend to be less liturgical in worship, but makes use of the Methodist
Worship Book (similar to the Church of England's Common Worship), containing worship services
(or liturgies) and rubrics for the celebration of other rites, such as marriage. The Worship Book is
also ultimately derived from Wesley's Sunday Service.[23]
A unique feature of American Methodism is the observance of the season of Kingdomtide, which
encompasses the last 13 weeks before Advent, thus dividing the long season after Pentecost into
two discrete segments. During Kingdomtide, Methodist liturgy emphasizes charitable work and
alleviating the suffering of the poor.

A second distinctive liturgical feature of Methodism is the use of Covenant services. Although
practice varies between different national churches, most Methodist churches annually follow the call
of John Wesley for a renewal of their covenant with God. It is common, at least in British Methodism,
for each congregation to normally hold an annual Covenant Service on the first convenient Sunday
of the year, and Wesley's Covenant Prayer is still used, with minor modification, in the order of
service. It is a striking and sobering piece of liturgical writing, as the following excerpts illustrate:
Christ has many services to be done. Some are easy, others are difficult. Some bring honour, others
bring reproach. Some are suitable to our natural inclinations and temporal interests, others are
contrary to both... Yet the power to do all these things is given to us in Christ, who strengthens us. ...I
am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to
doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or
brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing; I
freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.
Covenant Prayer

Contemporary Methodism[edit]

World Methodist Council at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina a consultive body linking most Methodist groups
of the world. The headquarters contains a museum of Methodism and a small park the Susannah Wesley
Herb Garden

Today, millions belong to Methodist churches, which are present on all populated continents.
[24]

Although Methodism is declining in Great Britain and North America, it is growing in other places;

at a rapid pace in, for example, South Korea.[25] In these new places, it often takes shapes that
diverge from its roots. For example, the Arminian heritage is ignored or simply unknown, and an
exclusive, Neo-Calvinist emphasis is played up. Many such denominations highlight Methodism's
traditional emphasis uponholiness.
Almost all Methodist denominations are members of a consultative body called theWorld Methodist
Council, which is headquartered at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, in the United States.

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[edit]
Great Britain[edit]
Further information: Methodist Church of Great Britain

Methodist Central Hall Westminster, erected to mark the centenary of John Wesley's death.

The original body founded as a result of Wesley's work was later known as theWesleyan Methodist
Church. Schisms within the original Church, and independentrevivals, led to the formation of a
number of separate denominations calling themselves "Methodist". The largest of these were
the Primitive Methodist church, deriving from a revival at Mow Cop in Staffordshire, the Bible
Christians and theMethodist New Connexion. The original church became known as the Wesleyan
Methodist Church 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 British "United Methodist
Church", then the three major streams of British Methodism united in 1932 to form the
current Methodist Church of Great Britain.[18]The Wesleyan Reform Union[26] and the Independent
Methodist Connexion[27] still remain separate. The Primitive Methodist Church had branches in the
USA which still continue.
British Methodists, in particular the Primitive Methodists, took a leading role in thetemperance
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.
[28]

Temperance appealed strongly to the Methodist doctrines ofsanctification and perfection. To this

day, alcohol remains banned in Methodist premises,[29] however, the choice to consume alcohol is
now a personal decision for any member.[29]
Traditionally, Methodism was particularly prominent in Cornwall and, in its Calvinistic form, in Wales,
[citation needed]

both regions noted for their non-conformism and distrust of the Church of England. [citation needed] It

was also very strong in the old mill townsof Yorkshire and Lancashire, where the Methodists
stressed that the working classes were equal to the upper classes in the eyes of God. [citation needed]
British Methodism does not have bishops; however, it has always been characterized by a strong
central organization, theConnexion, which holds an annual Conference (note that the Church retains
the 18th century spelling "connexion" for many purposes). The Connexion is divided into Districts in
the charge of the Chair (who may be male or female). Methodist districts often correspond
approximately, in geographical terms, to counties as do Church of England dioceses. The districts
are divided into circuits governed by the Circuit Meeting and led and administrated principally by a
superintendent 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 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 preachers, 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, lay people who may have particular
skills who collectively with the ministers form what is normally known as the Circuit Leadership
Team.
The Methodist Council also helps to run a number of schools, including two leading Public Schools
in East Anglia: Culford School and The Leys. It helps to promote an all round education with a strong
Christian ethos.
Other Methodist denominations in Britain include: The Salvation Army, founded by Methodist
minister William Booth in 1865; the Free Methodist Church, a holiness church; and the Church of the
Nazarene.
Ireland[edit]
Main article: Methodist Church in Ireland
The Irish Methodist Church operates across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on an
all-Ireland basis. As of 2011 it is the fourth largest denomination in Northern Ireland, with Methodists
accounting for 3% of the population.[30]

Donegall Square East Methodist Church,Belfast

Eric Gallagher was the President of the Church in the 1970s, becoming a well-known figure in Irish
politics.[31] 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.
France[edit]
In France, the Methodist movement was founded in the 1820s by Charles Cook
near Nmes and Montpellier, for example in the village of Congnies inLanguedoc with the most
important chapel of department built in 1869, where there had been a Quaker community since the
18th century.[citation needed] Several sections of the Methodist Church joined the Reformed Church of
France in 1938. The Methodist Church exists today in France under various names. The best-known
is the "UEEM" (l'Union de l'EgliseEvangliqueMthodiste de France), the Union of Evangelical
Methodist Churches of France. It is the fruit of a fusion in 2005 between the Methodist Church of
France and the Union of Methodist Churches (in France). The UEEM is a part of the world
organization, the United Methodist Church. The Reverend Emmanuel Briglia.[32] founded in 1998 an
independent conservative, low-church Anglican/Methodist mission in South-East France named
the Mission MthodisteEpiscopale du Var.[33] and commonly named "Mission anglicanemthodiste du
Christ-Roi" (Anglican Methodist mission of Christ the King). This small community seeks to retain the
original link between Methodism and Anglicanism in a perspective of reconciliation between those
branches of the Church.
Hungary[edit]
The first Methodist mission in Hungary was established in 1898 in Bcska, in a then mostly Germanspeaking town of Verbsz(since 1918 part of the Serbian province of Vojvodina). In 1905 a Methodist
mission was established also in Budapest. In 1974 the Methodist church in Hungary split over the
question of interference by the communist state.
Today, the Hungarian Methodist Church has 40 congregations in 11 districts.[34] The
seceding Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship also considers itself a Methodist church. It has 8 full
congregations and several mission groups, and runs a range of charitable organizations: hostels and
soup kitchens for the homeless, a non-denominational theological college, [35] a dozen schools of

various kinds, and four old people's homes. The Fellowship was granted official church status by the
state in 1981. Both Methodist churches lost official church status under discriminatory legislation
passed in 2011, limiting the number of recognized churches to 14. [36] However, the list of recognized
churches was lengthened to 32 at the end of February 2012. [37]This gave recognition to the
Hungarian Methodist Church and to two other Methodist-derived denominations the Salvation
Army, which was banned in Hungary in 1949 but returned in 1990, and currently has four
congregations, and the Church of the Nazarene, which entered Hungary in 1996 but not to the
Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship. The legislation has been strongly criticized by the Venice
Commission of the Council of Europe as discriminatory.[38]
The Hungarian Methodist Church, the Salvation Army, and the Church of the Nazarene have formed
an association mainly for publishing purposes.[39] The Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship also has a
publishing arm.[40]
Italy[edit]
Main article: Italian Methodist Church
The Italian Methodist Church (Italian: Opera per le Chiese Metodiste in Italia;[41] Entity for Methodist
Churches in Italy) is a small Protestant community in Italy, with around 7,000 members. [42] Since 1975
it is in a formal covenant of partnership with the Waldensian Church, with a total of 45,000 members.
[42]

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 Missionary
Society, and the American Methodist Episcopal Mission. These movements flowered in the second
half of the nineteenth 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.[43]
Bertrand Tipple, pastor of the American Methodist Church in Rome, founded a college there. [44]
Russia[edit]
The Methodist Church established several strongholds in Russia Saint Petersburg in the west and
the Vladivostok region in the east, with big Methodist centers right in the middle,
in Moscow and Ekaterinburg (former Sverdlovsk). Methodists began their work in the west amongst
Swedish immigrants in 1881 and started their work in the east in 1910. [45] On 26 June 2009,
Methodists celebrated the 120th year since Methodism arrived in Czarist Russia by erecting a new
Methodist centre in Saint Petersburg.[45] A Methodist presence was continued in Russia for 14 years
after the Russian Revolution of 1917 through the efforts of Deaconess Anna Eklund.[46] In 1939,
political antagonism stymied the work of the Church and Deaconess Anna Eklund was coerced to
return to her native Finland.[45] After 1989, the Soviet Union allowed greatly increased religious
freedoms[47] and this continued after the USSR's collapse in 1991. During the 1990s, Methodism
experienced a powerful wave of revival in the nation. [45] Three sites in particular carried the torch Samara, Moscow and Ekaterinburg. Today, The United Methodist Church in Eurasia has 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.[45]

Latin America[edit]
Mexico[edit]
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 Mxico. In December 1872,
Bishop Gilbert Haven arrived to Mexico City, and he was ordered by M.D William Butler to go to
Mxico. Bishop John C. Keener arrived from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in January
1873.[48][49]
In 1874, M.D. William Butler established the first Protestant Methodist school of Mxico, in Puebla.
The school was founded under the name "InstitutoMetodistaMexicano." Today the school is called
"InstitutoMexicano Madero." It is still a Methodist school, and it is one of the most elite, selective,
expensive and prestigious private schools in the country,[50] with two campuses in Puebla State, and
one in Oaxaca. A few years later the principal of the school created a Methodist university,[51]the first
and only Protestant university in Mexico.
On 18 January 1885, the first Annual Conference of The United Episcopal Church of Mxico was
established.
Caribbean[edit]
Methodism came to the Caribbean in 1760 when the planter, lawyer and Speaker of the Antiguan
House of Assembly Nathaniel Gilbert III (~17191774) returned to his sugar estate home in
Antigua.[52]
Antigua[edit]
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 at drawing room meeting arranged in Wandsworth on 15 January 1759, met the preacher
John Wesley. He returned to the West Indies that same year and on his subsequent return began to
preach to his slaves in Antigua.[52]
When Nathaniel 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 had to return to
England 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 meetings as best
as they could.

On 2 April 1778, John Baxter , a local preacher and skilled shipwright from Chatham in 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 Methodists 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, where its wooden structure now seated some 2,000
people.
St. Barts[edit]
It was at this time, in 1785, that William Turton (17611817) 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.[52]
In 1786 the missionary endeavour in the Caribbean was officially recognised by the Conference in
England, and that same year Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke, having been made Superintendent of the
Church two years previously in America by Wesley, was travelling to Nova Scotia, but providence
forced his ship to Antigua.
Jamaica[edit]
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.[52]
Barbados[edit]
Following Rev. William J. Shrewsbury's 1820s preaching, Sarah Ann Gill (17791866), a free-born
coloured woman of reasonable comfort, 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 1700.00 and ended up having militia appointed by the Governor to protect
her home from demolition.[53]
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 (MCCA) in May 1967.
In the island of Barbados, Francis Godson (18641953) became a Methodist 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 and later was appointed to the Legislative Council there and fought
for the Pensioners. He was later followed by renowned Barbadian Augustus Rawle Parkinson

(186419??) who also was the first principal of the Wesley Hall School in Barbados (which
celebrated its 125 anniversary back in September 2009). [52]
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. [52] 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 Programmeand a man of
letters Francis Woodbine Blackman (19222010). It was his research and published works that
enlightened much of this information on Caribbean Methodism. [54][55]

Africa[edit]
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 anepiscopal model.
Nigeria[edit]
The Nigerian Methodist Church has around two million members in 2000 congregations. [56] It has
seen exponential growth since the turn of the millennium. [57]
The church was founded in 1842 by British Wesleyan Methodist missionaries. 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 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 outreach/evan-gelism and appointed a director
of evangelism.[56]
An episcopal system 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.[56] Today, the church has a prelate, eight archbishops and 44 bishops.[56]
Ghana[edit]
Main article: Methodist Church Ghana
Methodism in Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the Wesleyan
Methodist Church, inaugurated w