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{{Short description|Denominations of Protestant Christianity}}
{{Redirect2|Methodist|Methodist Church|other uses|Methodism (disambiguation)|and|Methodist Church (disambiguation)}}
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{{Methodism}}
{{Protestantism| expanded = Major branches}}

'''Methodism''', also called the '''Methodist movement''', is a [[Protestant]] [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Christian tradition|tradition]] whose origins, [[doctrine]] and practice derive from the life and teachings of [[John Wesley]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Strong |first=Douglas M. |title=The Cambridge Companion to American Protestantism |chapter=Wesleyan-Methodist and Holiness Traditions |date=2022 |pages=435–460 |doi=10.1017/9781108756297.024 |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-american-protestantism/wesleyanmethodist-and-holiness-traditions/CABD49951AA714BEC7C7AAE121416947 |access-date=2024-04-11 |isbn=978-1-108-48532-6}}. "Methodism – the Christian tradition that traces its heritage to John Wesley"</ref> [[George Whitefield]] and John's brother [[Charles Wesley]] were also significant early leaders in the movement. They were named ''Methodists'' for "the methodical way in which they carried out their Christian faith".<ref name="BBC">{{cite web|title=Methodist Church|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/methodist_1.shtml|publisher=BBC|date=12 July 2011|access-date=4 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="Garrison1908">{{cite book |first1=Stephen O. |last1= Garrison |author1link=Stephen O. Garrison |title=Probationer's Handbook |date=1908 |publisher=Eaton and Mains |pages=21, 41 |language=English}}</ref> Methodism originated as a [[Christian revival|revival]] movement within [[Anglicanism]] with roots in the [[Church of England]] in the 18th century and became a separate denomination after Wesley's death. The movement spread throughout the [[British Empire]], the [[United States]] and beyond because of vigorous [[Christian mission|missionary work]],<ref name="Missionary Work">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/americanmethodi00scudgoog |title=American Methodism |publisher=S. S. Scranton & Company |year=1867 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanmethodi00scudgoog/page/n42 29] |quote=But the most-noticeable feature of British Methodism is its missionary spirit, and its organized, effective missionary work. It takes the lead of all other denominations in missionary movements. From its origin, Methodism has been characterized by its zeal for propagandism. It has always been missionary. |access-date=18 October 2007}}</ref> and today has about 80&nbsp;million adherents worldwide.{{#tag:ref|This figure {{As of|2013|alt=reported in 2013}} is an estimate by the [[World Methodist Council]] and includes members of [[united and uniting churches]] with Methodist participation. It represents approximately 60 million committed members and a further 20&nbsp;million adherents.|group="nb"}}<ref name="adherents">{{cite web |title=Member Churches |url=http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/about/member-churches/ |publisher=World Methodist Council |access-date=17 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303123750/http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/about/member-churches/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=3 March 2013}}</ref>

[[Wesleyan theology]], which is upheld by the [[List of Methodist denominations|Methodist denominations]], focuses on [[Sanctification in Christianity#Methodist|sanctification]] and the transforming effect of faith on the character of a [[Christians|Christian]]. Distinguishing doctrines include the [[born again#Methodism|new birth]],<ref name="Stokes1998">{{cite book|last=Stokes|first=Mack B.|title=Major United Methodist Beliefs|year=1998|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en|isbn=978-0687082124|page=95}}</ref> [[assurance (theology)|assurance]],<ref name="AbrahamKirby">{{cite book |last1=Abraham |first1=William J. |last2=Kirby |first2=James E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0191607431 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishmethodist.org/sites/default/files/pdf/news/distinctive_emphases_of_methodist_belief.pdf|title=Distinctive Emphases of Methodist Belief|website=The Methodist Church in Ireland|access-date=2019-11-01|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804011740/https://www.irishmethodist.org/sites/default/files/pdf/news/distinctive_emphases_of_methodist_belief.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[imparted righteousness]], and obedience to God manifested in performing [[works of piety]]. John Wesley held that [[entire sanctification]] was "the grand depositum", or foundational doctrine, of the Methodist faith, and its propagation was the reason God brought Methodists into existence.<ref name="DaviesGeorge2017"/><ref name="Gibson"/> [[Bible|Scripture]] is considered the [[Prima scriptura#Methodism|primary authority]], but Methodists also look to [[Christian tradition]], including the historic [[creed]]s. Most Methodists teach that [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus Christ]], the [[Son of God (Christianity)|Son of God]], [[Unlimited atonement|died for all of humanity]] and that [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] is achievable for all.<ref name="StanglinMcCall2012">{{cite book |last1=Stanglin |first1=Keith D. |last2=McCall |first2=Thomas H. |title=Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace |date=2012 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0199755677 |page=153 |language=en}}</ref> This is the [[Arminian]] doctrine,{{#tag:ref||group="nb"|name="Arminianism"}} as opposed to the [[Reformed Christianity|Calvinist]] position that God has [[predestination|pre-ordained]] the salvation of a [[Election in Christianity|select group]] of people. However, Whitefield and several other early leaders of the movement were considered [[Calvinistic Methodists]] and held to the Calvinist position.

The movement has a wide variety of forms of [[Christian worship|worship]], ranging from [[high church]] to [[low church]] in [[Christian liturgy|liturgical]] usage, in addition to [[tent revival]]s and [[camp meeting]]s held at certain times of the year.<ref name="Iovino2018">{{cite web |last1=Iovino |first1=Joe |date=4 September 2018 |title="Fishing with a large net": United Methodist camp meetings |url=https://www.umc.org/en/content/fishing-with-a-large-net-united-methodist-camp-meetings |access-date=4 June 2021 |publisher=[[The United Methodist Church]] |language=En-us}}</ref> Denominations that descend from the British Methodist tradition are generally less ritualistic, while worship in American Methodism varies depending on the [[List of Methodist denominations#North America|Methodist denomination]] and congregation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tucker|first1=Karen B. Westerfield|title=American Methodist Worship|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0198029267|pages=11–12}}</ref> Methodist worship distinctiveness includes the observance of the quarterly [[lovefeast]], the [[watchnight service]] on New Year's Eve, as well as [[altar call]]s in which people are invited to experience the new birth and entire sanctification.<ref name="Tovey2016">{{cite book |last=Tovey |first=Phillip |title=The Theory and Practice of Extended Communion |date=24 February 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317014201|pages=40–49}}</ref><ref name="Eckett">{{cite book |last1=Eckett |first1=Robert |title=Methodism |date=1865 |publisher=Hamilton, Adams, & Co. |page=129 |language=en}}</ref> Its emphasis on [[Sanctification in Christianity#Methodist|growing in grace]] after the new birth (and after being entirely sanctified) led to the creation of [[class meeting]]s for encouragement in the Christian life.<ref name="Thomas2018">{{cite journal|last=Thomas|first=Louisa|date=August 2018|title=The Relevance of the 18th Century Wesleyan Class Meeting in the 21st Century Church|journal=The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|volume=80|issue=8|pages=8–9|language=en}}</ref> Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition, and Charles Wesley was instrumental in writing much of the [[hymn]]ody of Methodism.<ref name="Methodist Hymnbody">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/acollectionhymn03weslgoog |title=A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the people called Methodists |publisher=T. Blanshard |year=1820 |isbn=978-0-19-812529-7 |quote= |access-date=31 December 2007}}</ref>

In addition to [[evangelism]], Methodism is known for its [[charity (Christian virtue)|charity]], as well as support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through [[works of mercy]] that "flow from the love of God and neighbor" evidenced in the entirely sanctified believer.<ref name="Heitzenrater2002">{{cite book |last1=Heitzenrater |first1=Richard P. |title=The Poor and the People Called Methodists |date=2002 |publisher=Abingdon Press |isbn=978-0-687-05155-7 |language=en|pages=70–71}}</ref><ref name="Wilson2005">{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Charles Reagan |title=Encyclopedia of Religion in the South |date=2005 |publisher=Mercer University Press |isbn=978-0865547582 |language=en |quote=Both Southern Baptist and Methodist organizations engaged in evangelism and social service missions in the United States and abroad. ... However, despite their similarities in evangelism and social services, by the dawn of the 20th century the two denominational women's movements had already diverged from each other because the Methodist organizations had embraced the Social Gospel. They had embarked not only on social service in addition to evangelism but on social reform.}}</ref><ref name="Social_holiness">{{cite web|title=Wesley on Social Holiness|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/wc_Eur_John_Mcmaster_Wesley_on_Social_Holiness.pdf|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=18 October 2016}}</ref> These ideals, the [[Social Gospel]], are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, and schools to follow Christ's command to spread [[the gospel]] and serve all people.<ref name="2009AbrahamKirby">{{cite book |last1=Abraham |first1=William J. |last2=Kirby |first2=James E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies |date=2009 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0191607431 |language=en |quote=First, it is clear that 'evangelism' is primarily concerned with the evangel, the gospel, or the good news we bear in the world.}}</ref><ref name="Establishments">{{cite book|url = https://archive.org/details/modelsforchristi0000unse|url-access = registration|page = [https://archive.org/details/modelsforchristi0000unse/page/n301 290]|title =Models for Christian Higher Education: Strategies for Survival and Success in the Twenty-First Century|editor-last1=Hughes|editor-first1=Richard T. |editor-last2=Adrian|editor-first2=William B. |publisher = [[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]]|quote=Wesleyan institutions, whether hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens or schools, historically were begun with the spirit to serve all people and to transform society.|access-date = 18 October 2007|isbn =978-0802841216|year =1997}}</ref><ref name="Wilson2005"/> Methodists are historically known for their adherence to the doctrine of [[nonconformity to the world]], reflected by their traditional standards of a commitment to sobriety, prohibition of gambling, regular attendance at class meetings, and weekly observance of the [[Friday fast]].<ref name="Scott2016"/><ref name="McKnight2010"/>

Early Methodists were drawn from all levels of society, including the aristocracy,{{#tag:ref|This social analysis is a summary of a wide variety of books on Methodist history, articles in ''The Methodist Magazine'', etc. Most of the Methodist [[aristocracy]] were associated with [[Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon]], who invited Methodist preachers to gatherings that she hosted. Methodists were leaders among Christians at that time who reached out to the poorest of the working classes. A number of soldiers were also Methodists.<ref>J A Clapperton, "Romance and Heroism in Early Methodism", (1901)</ref>|group="nb"|name="class"}} but the Methodist preachers took the message to labourers and criminals who tended to be left outside organized religion at that time. In Britain, the Methodist Church had a major effect in the early decades of the developing [[Social class in the United Kingdom|working class]] (1760–1820).<ref name="Swatos1998">{{cite book|last=Swatos|first=William H.|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Society|year=1998|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield|Rowman Altamira]]|language=en|isbn=978-0761989561|page=385}}</ref> In the United States, it became the religion of many slaves, who later formed [[black church]]es in the Methodist tradition.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Montgomery |first1=William E. |title=Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree: The African-American Church in the South, 1865–1900 |date=1993 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |isbn=0-8071-1745-5 |location=Baton Rouge, Louisiana |language=en-us}}</ref>
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==Origins==
{{For|a detailed history of Methodism in Britain|Methodist Church of Great Britain#History}}
{{Further|History of Methodism in the United States|John Wesley#Persecutions and lay preaching}}
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The Methodist revival began in England with a group of men, including [[John Wesley]] (1703–1791) and his younger brother [[Charles Wesley|Charles]] (1707–1788), as a movement within the Church of England in the 18th century.<ref name="UMCofWB">{{cite web|url=http://www.umcwfb.org/_ABOUTUS/about_us_ourstory.htm |title=What We Believe – Founder of the United Methodist Church |publisher=United Methodist Church of Whitefish Bay |access-date=1 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325213036/http://www.umcwfb.org/_aboutus/about_us_ourstory.htm |archive-date=25 March 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Methodism-John Wesley">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aLzLqGPrPUC&q=books+on+methodism |title=An Introduction to World Methodism |date=5 May 2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521818490 |access-date=31 December 2007}}</ref> The Wesley brothers founded the "[[Holy Club]]" at the [[University of Oxford]], where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at [[Lincoln College, Oxford|Lincoln College]].<ref name="John Wesley, Fellow, Lincoln College">{{cite web|url = http://www.linc.ox.ac.uk/index.php?page=famous+alumni%3Ajohn+wesley+%281703+-+1791%29|title = Lincoln College, Oxford, Famous Alumni, John Wesley (1703–1791)|publisher = Lincoln College, Oxford University|access-date = 24 May 2011|archive-date = 22 June 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110622170413/http://www.linc.ox.ac.uk/index.php?page=Famous+Alumni%3AJohn+Wesley+%281703+-+1791%29|url-status = dead}}</ref> The club met weekly and they systematically set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving [[Eucharist|Communion]] every week, fasting regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury, and frequently visiting the sick and the poor and 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.<ref name="Fairchild">{{cite web|url=http://christianity.about.com/od/methodistdenomination/a/methodishistory.htm|title=Methodist Church History: A Brief History of the Methodist Denomination|last=Fairchild|first=Mary|work=About.com:Christianity|access-date=26 April 2013|archive-date=13 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513190404/http://christianity.about.com/od/methodistdenomination/a/methodishistory.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> John, who was leader of the club, took the attempted mockery and [[Reappropriation|turned it into a title of honour]].<ref name="Fairchild" /><ref name="holy_club">{{cite web|title=The Holy Club|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/history/the-holy-club|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=20 October 2016}}</ref>

In 1735, at the invitation of the founder of the [[Georgia Colony]], General [[James Oglethorpe]], both John and Charles Wesley set out for America to be [[Minister (Christianity)|ministers]] to the colonists and missionaries to the Native Americans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sip.armstrong.edu/Methodism/wesley.html |title=John Wesley and Savannah |last1=Ross |first1=Kathy W. |last2=Stacey |first2=Rosemary |access-date=1 January 2017 |archive-date=19 January 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000119090526/http://www.sip.armstrong.edu/Methodism/wesley.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Unsuccessful in their work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith. They looked for help from [[Peter Boehler]] and other members of the [[Moravian Church]]. At a Moravian [[church service|service]] in [[Aldersgate]] on 24 May 1738, John experienced what has come to be called his [[evangelical]] conversion, when he felt his "heart strangely warmed".<ref>[https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/john-wesleys-heart-strangely-warmed-11630227.html John Wesley's Heart Strangely Warmed], [http://www.christianity.com/ www.christianity.com].</ref> He records in his journal: "I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Genesis of Methodism |last=Dreyer |first=Frederick A. |page=27 |isbn=0-934223-56-4 |year=1999 |publisher=Lehigh University Press}}</ref> Charles had reported a similar experience a few days previously. Considering this a pivotal moment, Daniel L. Burnett writes: "The significance of [John] Wesley's Aldersgate Experience is monumental ... Without it the names of Wesley and Methodism would likely be nothing more than obscure footnotes in the pages of church history."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burnett |first1=Daniel L. |title=In the Shadow of Aldersgate: An Introduction to the Heritage and Faith of the Wesleyan Tradition |date=2006 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |isbn=978-1-59752-573-2 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZdLAwAAQBAJ&q=The+significance+of+Wesley%E2%80%99s+Aldersgate+Experience+is+monumental.+It+is+the+pivotal+point+in+his+life+and+the+Methodist+movement.+Without+it+the+names+of+Wesley+and+Methodism+would+likely+be+nothing+more+than+obscure+footnotes+in+the+pages+of+church+history&pg=PA36}}</ref>

The Wesley brothers immediately began to preach salvation by faith to individuals and groups, in houses, in religious [[voluntary association|societies]], and in the few churches which had not closed their doors to evangelical preachers.<ref name="Hylson-Smith">{{cite book|last1=Hylson-Smith|first1=Kenneth|title=Evangelicals in the Church of England 1734–1984|publisher=Bloomsbury|pages=17–21|date=1992}}</ref> John Wesley came under the influence of the Dutch theologian [[Jacobus Arminius]] (1560–1609). Arminius had rejected the [[Calvinist]] teaching that God had [[predestination|pre-ordained]] an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally. Conversely, [[George Whitefield]] (1714–1770), [[Howell Harris]] (1714–1773),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Richard |title=Howell Harris and the Dawn of Revival |date=1962 |publisher=[[Evangelical Press of Wales]] |isbn=1-85049-035-X |language=English |orig-year=1909}}</ref> and [[Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon]] (1707–1791)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schlenther |first1=Boyd Stanley |title=Queen of the Methodists: The Countess of Huntingdon and the Eighteenth-Century Crisis of Faith and Society |date=1997 |publisher=Durham Academic Press |isbn=978-1900838085 |location=Bishop Auckland}}</ref> were notable for being [[Presbyterian Church of Wales#History|Calvinistic Methodists]].

[[File:George Whitefield (head).jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|right|George Whitefield]]
Returning from his mission in Georgia, George Whitefield joined the Wesley brothers in what was rapidly becoming a national crusade.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> Whitefield, who had been a fellow student of the Wesleys and prominent member of the Holy Club at Oxford, became well known for his unorthodox, [[itinerant preacher|itinerant]] ministry, in which he was dedicated to [[open-air preaching]]{{snd}}reaching crowds of thousands.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> A key step in the development of John Wesley's ministry was, like Whitefield, to preach in fields, collieries, and churchyards to those who did not regularly attend [[parish church]] services.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> Accordingly, many Methodist converts were those disconnected from the Church of England; Wesley remained a cleric of the Established Church and insisted that Methodists attend their local parish church as well as Methodist meetings because only an ordained minister could perform the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.<ref name="BBC"/>

Faced with growing evangelistic and [[pastoral care|pastoral]] responsibilities, Wesley and Whitefield appointed [[laity|lay]] preachers and leaders.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> Methodist preachers focused particularly on evangelising people who had been "neglected" by the established Church of England. Wesley and his assistant preachers organized the new converts into Methodist societies.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> These societies were divided into groups called ''[[cell group|classes]]''{{snd}}intimate meetings where individuals were encouraged to confess their sins to one another and to build up each other. They also took part in [[love feast]]s which allowed for the sharing of [[testimony]], a key feature of early Methodism.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stutzman|first1=Paul Fike|title=Recovering the Love Feast: Broadening Our Eucharistic Celebrations|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1498273176|page=159|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7zjsCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA159|access-date=4 January 2017|language=en|date=January 2011}}</ref> Growth in numbers and increasing hostility impressed upon the revival converts a deep sense of their corporate identity.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> Three teachings that Methodists saw as the foundation of Christian faith were:
# People are all, by nature, "[[total depravity|dead in sin]]".
# They are [[sola fide|justified by faith alone]].
# Faith produces inward and [[outward holiness]].<ref>Wesley, John. [http://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/The-Wesleys-and-Their-Times/Short-History-of-Methodism ''The Works of the Reverend John Wesley, A. M.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401181504/https://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/The-Wesleys-and-Their-Times/Short-History-of-Methodism|date=1 April 2019}}. "A Short History of Methodism", II.1. 1831. Retrieved on 21 October 2016.</ref>

Wesley's organisational skills soon established him as the primary leader of the movement. Whitefield was a Calvinist, whereas Wesley was an outspoken opponent of the doctrine of [[predestination in Calvinism|predestination]].<ref name="CT">{{cite magazine |date= |title=John Wesley: Methodical Pietist |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/john-wesley.html |access-date=4 January 2017 |magazine=Christianity Today}}</ref> Wesley argued (against Calvinist doctrine) that Christians could enjoy a [[second blessing]]{{snd}}entire sanctification ([[Christian perfection]]) in this life: loving God and their neighbours, meekness and lowliness of heart and abstaining from all appearance of evil.<ref name="Stokes1998"/><ref>{{cite web|title=The Wesley Center Online: A Plain Account of Christian Perfection|url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/a-plain-account-of-christian-perfection/|website=wesley.nnu.edu|publisher=Northwest Nazarene University|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> These differences put strains on the alliance between Whitefield and Wesley,<ref name="CT" /> with Wesley becoming hostile toward Whitefield in what had been previously close relations. Whitefield consistently begged Wesley not to let theological 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.<ref name="Dallimore. George Whitefield">Dallimore. ''George Whitefield''.</ref>

Many [[clergy]] in the established church feared that new doctrines promulgated by the Methodists, such as the necessity of a [[Born again#Methodism|new birth]] for salvation{{snd}}the first work of grace, of [[justification by faith]] and of the constant and sustained action of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] upon the believer's soul, would produce ill effects upon weak minds.<ref name="Glen">Glen, Robert (1989). "Methodism, Religious Dissent and Revolution in the English Satiric Prints, 1780–1815", ''Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, 1750–1850: Proceedings'' 19: 173–188.</ref> [[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 Hogarth]] likewise attacked Methodists as "enthusiasts" full of "[[Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism]]".<ref name="Glen" /> Other attacks against the Methodists were physically violent{{snd}}Wesley was nearly murdered by a mob at [[Wednesbury]] in 1743.<ref>Goodwin, Charles H. (2015). "Vile or Reviled? The Causes of the anti-Methodist Riots at Wednesbury between May, 1743 and April, 1744 in the Light of New England Revivalism". ''Methodist History'' 35(1): 14–28.</ref> The Methodists responded vigorously to their critics and thrived despite the attacks against them.<ref>On anti-Methodist literary attacks see Brett C. McInelly, "Writing the Revival: The Intersections of Methodism and Literature in the Long 18th Century". ''Literature Compass'' 12.1 (2015): 12–21; McInelly, ''Textual Warfare and the Making of Methodism'' (Oxford University Press, 2014).</ref>

[[File:The First Methodist chapel called "The Foundry" - Capel Cyntaf y Methodistiaid Wesleyaidd a Adnabyddid Wrth "Y Foundry".jpeg|thumb|The first Methodist chapel, "[[The Foundery]]", London ]]
Initially, the Methodists merely sought reform within the Church of England ([[Anglicanism]]), but the movement gradually [[English Dissenters|departed from that Church]]. George Whitefield's preference for extemporaneous prayer rather than the fixed forms of prayer in the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'', in addition to his insistence on the necessity of the new birth, set him at odds with Anglican clergy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prichard |first1=Robert |title=History of The Episcopal Church |edition=Third Revised |author-link=Robert Prichard}}</ref>

As Methodist societies multiplied, and elements of an [[Ecclesiastical polity|ecclesiastical system]] were, one after another, adopted, the breach between John Wesley and the Church of England 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 the power to administer the [[sacrament]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Christmas Gift: A New Church |publisher=The United Methodist Church of Indiana |date=2019 |url=http://archive.inumc.org/thechristmasgiftanewchurch |access-date=11 December 2019 |archive-date=11 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211194206/http://archive.inumc.org/thechristmasgiftanewchurch |url-status=dead }}</ref> Wesley's actions precipitated the split between American Methodists and the Church of England (which held that only bishops could ordain people to ministry).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mullin|first1=Robert Bruce|title=A Short World History of Christianity|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0664236649|page=170|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2nWP0_6gkiYC&pg=PA170|language=en|year=2006}}</ref>

With regard to the position of Methodism within [[Christendom]], "John Wesley once noted that what God had achieved in the development of Methodism was no mere human endeavor but the work of God. As such it would be preserved by God so long as history remained."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://peopleneedjesus.net/2016/08/25/the-birth-pangs-of-united-methodism-as-a-unique-global-orthodox-denomination/|first=William J.|last=Abraham|title=The Birth Pangs of United Methodism as a Unique, Global, Orthodox Denomination|date=25 August 2016|language=en|access-date=30 April 2017|author-link=William J. Abraham}}</ref> Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, Wesley specifically taught that the propagation of the doctrine of [[entire sanctification]] was the reason that God raised up the Methodists in the world.<ref name="DaviesGeorge2017">{{cite book|last1=Davies|first1=Rupert E.|last2=George|first2=A. Raymond|last3=Rupp|first3=Gordon|title=A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume Three|date=2017|publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers|language=en|isbn=978-1532630507|page=225}}</ref><ref name="Gibson"/> In light of this, Methodists traditionally promote the motto "Holiness unto the Lord".<ref name="Garrison1908"/>

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. At the time of Wesley's death, there were over 500 Methodist preachers in British colonies and the United States.<ref name="Hylson-Smith" /> Total membership of the Methodist societies in Britain was recorded as 56,000 in 1791, rising to 360,000 in 1836 and 1,463,000 by the national census of 1851.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vL8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT1040 |title=The Oxford Companion to British History |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0191044816 |editor1-last=Cannon |editor1-first=John |page=1040 |language=en-uk |editor2-last=Crowcroft |editor2-first=Robert}}</ref>

Early Methodism experienced a radical and spiritual phase that allowed [[Women in Christianity|women authority in church leadership]]. The role of the woman preacher emerged from the sense that the home should be a place of community care and should foster personal growth. Methodist women formed a community that cared for the vulnerable, extending the role of mothering beyond physical care. Women were encouraged to [[Testimony|testify]] their faith. However, the centrality of women's role sharply diminished after 1790 as Methodist churches became more structured and more male-dominated.<ref>Broyles, Kathryn A. (2008), "Mothering, Catechesis, and Ecclesial Leadership: The Women of Early Methodism and Their Call to Witness to the Gospel of Christ". ''Methodist History'' 46(3): 141–156.</ref>

The Wesleyan Education Committee, which existed from 1838 to 1902, has documented the Methodist Church's involvement in the education of children. At first, most effort was placed in creating Sunday Schools. Still, in 1836 the British Methodist Conference gave its blessing to the creation of "Weekday schools".<ref>{{cite web|title=A historical perspective on Methodist involvement in school education after Wesley|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/education-ahistoricalperspective-270312.pdf|publisher=The Methodist Church in Britain|access-date=6 June 2015}}</ref><ref>Pritchard, Frank Cyril (1949) ''Methodist Secondary Education: A History of the Contribution of Methodism to Secondary Education in the United Kingdom.'' Epworth.</ref>

Methodism spread throughout the British Empire and, mostly through Whitefield's preaching during what historians call the [[First Great Awakening]], in colonial America. However, after Whitefield's death in 1770, American Methodism entered a more lasting [[Wesleyan]] and Arminian development phase.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kidd |first1=Thomas S. |title=George Whitefield: America's Spiritual Founding Father |date=2014 |isbn=978-0300181623 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |page=260 |language=en-us}}</ref> Revival services and camp meetings were used "for spreading the Methodist message", with [[Francis Asbury]] stating that they were "our harvest seasons".<ref name="Black2003"/> [[Henry Boehm]] reported that at a camp meeting in [[Dover, Delaware|Dover]] in 1805, 1100 persons received the [[Born again#Methodism|New Birth]] and 600 believers were [[Christian perfection#Wesleyan teaching|entirely sanctified]].<ref name="Black2003"/> Around the time of [[John Swanel Inskip]]'s leadership of the [[Christian Holiness Partnership|National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Christian Holiness]] in the mid to latter 1800s, 80 percent of the membership of the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South professed being entirely sanctified.<ref name="Black2003">{{cite book |last1=Black |first1=Brian |title=The Holiness Heritage |date=2003 |publisher=Allegheny Publications |pages=31, 45}}</ref>

==Theology==
{{Main|Wesleyan theology}}
{{quote box
|title=A traditional summary of Methodist teaching
|quote=All need to be [[salvation in Christianity|saved]].<br />[[Unlimited atonement|All may be saved]].<br />All may [[Assurance (theology)|know themselves saved]].<br />All may be [[Christian perfection|saved to the uttermost]].
|source=''Catechism for the Use of the People Called Methodists''.<ref name="Catechism">{{cite book|title=A Catechism for the Use of the People Called Methodists|date=2000|publisher=Methodist Publishing House|location=Peterborough [England]|isbn=978-1858521824}}</ref>{{rp|40}}
|width  = 25%
|align  = right
}}

Many Methodist bodies, such as the [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]] and the [[United Methodist Church]], base their doctrinal standards on the [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]],<ref name="Vickers2016">{{cite book|last=Vickers|first=Jason|title=A Wesleyan Theology of the Eucharist: The Presence of God for Christian Life and Ministry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBRrDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT350|access-date=11 March 2017|date=2016|publisher=BookBaby|language=en|isbn=978-0938162513|page=350}}</ref> John Wesley's abridgment of the [[Thirty-nine Articles]] of the Church of England that excised its Calvinist features.<ref name="Melton2005">{{cite book|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism|date=2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|language=en |isbn=978-0816069835|page=48|quote=Among the items deleted by Wesley as unnecessary for Methodists were articles on of Works Before Justification, which in Calvinism are largely discounted, but in Methodism lauded; Of Predestination and Election, which Wesley felt would be understood in a Calvinist manner that the Methodists rejected; and of the Traditions of the Church, which Wesley felt to be no longer at issue.}}</ref> Some Methodist denominations also publish [[catechism]]s, which concisely summarise Christian [[doctrine]].<ref name="Catechism" /> Methodists generally accept the [[Apostles' Creed]] and the [[Nicene Creed]] as declarations of shared Christian faith.<ref name="Catechism" />{{rp|30–33}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Why do we say creeds?|url=http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/why-do-we-say-creeds|publisher=The United Methodist Church|access-date=16 October 2016}}</ref> Methodism affirms the traditional Christian belief in the [[Holy Trinity|triune Godhead]] (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as well as the [[Christian orthodoxy|orthodox]] understanding of the person of Jesus Christ as [[Incarnation (Christianity)|God incarnate]] who is both [[Hypostatic union|fully divine and fully human]].<ref name="articles">{{cite web|last1=Communications|first1=United Methodist|title=The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church|url=http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/the-articles-of-religion-of-the-methodist-church|website=United Methodist Communications|publisher=The United Methodist Church|access-date=7 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928045447/http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/the-articles-of-religion-of-the-methodist-church|archive-date=28 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Methodism also emphasizes doctrines that indicate the power of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] to strengthen the faith of believers and to transform their personal lives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Methodism {{!}} History, Beliefs, & Organization |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Methodism |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=5 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

Methodism is broadly [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] in doctrine and is characterized by Wesleyan theology;<ref name="Tillett1907">{{cite book |last=Tillett |first=Wilbur Fisk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQ_QULVJ8qIC&pg=PA12 |title=A Statement of the Faith of World-Wide Methodism |publisher=Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South |year=1907 |page=12 |language=en-us |access-date=11 March 2017}}</ref> John Wesley is studied by Methodists for his interpretation of church practice and doctrine.<ref name="Catechism" />{{rp|38}} At its heart, the theology of John Wesley stressed the life of [[sanctification in Christianity|Christian holiness]]: to love God with all one's heart, mind, soul and strength and to [[Golden Rule|love one's neighbour as oneself]].<ref>See {{Bibleverse|Mark|12:31|NRSV}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Communications|first1=United Methodist|title=Our Wesleyan Heritage|url=http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/our-wesleyan-heritage|website=The United Methodist Church|access-date=18 October 2016}}</ref> One popular expression of Methodist doctrine is in the [[hymn]]s of Charles Wesley.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chilcote |first1=Paul |title=Methodist Theology |url=https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/MethodistTheology#section1.4 |journal=St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology |date=2022}}</ref> Since enthusiastic [[congregational singing]] was a part of the early evangelical movement, Wesleyan theology took root and spread through this channel.<ref>Preface to ''The Methodist Hymn Book'', December 1933.</ref><ref>John Wesley. "Preface to ''A collection of Hymns for use of the People called Methodists''", 20 October 1779.</ref> Martin V. Clarke, who documented the history of Methodist hymnody, states:

<blockquote>Theologically and doctrinally, the content of the hymns has traditionally been a primary vehicle for expressing Methodism's emphasis on salvation for all, social holiness, and personal commitment, while particular hymns and the communal act of participating in hymn singing have been key elements in the spiritual lives of Methodists.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clarke |first1=Martin V. |title=British Methodist Hymnody: Theology, Heritage, and Experience |date= 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-17179-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkYrDwAAQBAJ |access-date=22 January 2021 |page=1 |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

===Salvation===
[[File:Sankt Georgen am Laengsee Launsdorf Kreisverkehr Bildstock Kreuzigung Christi 02122015 2428.jpg|thumb|Methodists believe Jesus Christ died for all humanity, not a limited few: the doctrine of [[unlimited atonement]].]]

Wesleyan Methodists identify with the [[Arminian]] conception of [[free will]], as opposed to the [[theological determinism]] of absolute [[predestination]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Roger E. |last=Olson|title=Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5P0oPZraEQsC&pg=PA33|year=2009|publisher=InterVarsity Press|page=33|isbn=978-0830874439}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|''Arminianism'' is named after [[Jacobus Arminius]], a Dutch theologian who was trained to preach [[Calvinism]] but concluded that ''some'' aspects of Calvinism had to be modified in the light of Scripture.<ref>Parkyns, Edgar (1996). ''His Waiting Bride'', pp&nbsp;169–170, {{ISBN|0-9526800-0-9}}</ref> Arminians as well as Calvinists appeal to Scripture and the early [[Church Father]]s to support their respective views, however the differences remain{{snd}}Arminianism holds to the role of [[Free will in theology#Christianity|free will]] in salvation and rejects the doctrines of [[predestination]] and [[unconditional election]].<ref>Ashby, Stephen "Reformed Arminianism" ''Four Views on Eternal Security'' (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 137</ref> John Wesley was perhaps the clearest English proponent of Arminian theology.<ref>John Wesley, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/sermons.toc.html Sermons on Several Occasions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140131051225/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/sermons.toc.html |date=31 January 2014 }} for further detail.</ref>|group="nb"|name="Arminianism"}} Methodism teaches that [[Salvation in Christianity#Arminianism|salvation]] is initiated when one chooses to respond to God, who draws the individual near to him (the Wesleyan doctrine of [[prevenient grace]]), thus teaching [[synergism]].<ref name="Olson2002">{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Roger E.|title=The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity|date=2002|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0830826957|page=281|quote=Two examples of Christian synergism are the Catholic reformer Erasmus, who was roughly contemporary with Luther, and the 17th-century Dutch theologian Arminius. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist tradition, was also a synergist with regard to salvation.}}</ref><ref name="2002Olson">{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Roger E.|title=The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity|date= 2002|publisher=InterVarsity Press|language=en|isbn=978-0830826957|page=281|quote=About one hundred and twenty-five years later, the English revivalist and Methodist founder Wesley taught the same basic syneristic view of salvation based on belief in God's prevenient grace enabling fallen sinners to respond freely to God's offer of saving grace.}}</ref> Methodists interpret Scripture as teaching that the [[atonement in Christianity|saving work]] of Jesus Christ is for all people ([[unlimited atonement]]) but effective only to those who respond and believe, in accordance with the [[Reformation]] principles of ''[[sola gratia]]'' (grace alone) and ''[[sola fide]]'' (faith alone).<ref>Davies, Gwyn (2002). "A Light in the Land" (2002). p. 46. {{ISBN|1-85049-181-X}}.</ref> John Wesley taught four key points fundamental to Methodism:
# A person is free not only to reject salvation but also to accept it by an act of free will.
# All people who are obedient to [[the gospel]] according to the measure of knowledge given them will be saved.
# The Holy Spirit assures a Christian that they are [[Justification (theology)|justified]] by faith in Jesus ([[assurance (theology)|assurance of faith]]).<ref name="AbrahamKirby"/><ref name="Yates2015">{{cite book |last1=Yates |first1=Arthur S. |title=The Doctrine of Assurance: With Special Reference to John Wesley |date=2015 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1498205047 |language=en |quote=Writing to Arthur Bedford on 4th August 1738, Wesley says: 'That assurance of which alone I speak, I should not choose to call an assurance of salvation, but rather (with the Scriptures) the assurance of faith.}}</ref>
# Christians in this life are capable of [[Christian perfection#Wesleyan teaching|Christian perfection]] and are commanded by God to pursue it.<ref name="Harper">Harper, J. Steven (1983). ''The Way to Heaven: The Gospel According to John Wesley'', {{ISBN|0-310-25260-1}}.</ref>

After the [[first work of grace]] (the new birth),<ref name="Stokes1998"/> Methodist [[soteriology]] emphasizes the importance of the pursuit of holiness in salvation,<ref name="Joyner2007">{{cite book|last=Joyner|first=F. Belton|title=United Methodist Answers|year=2007|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0664230395|page=80|quote=Jacob Albright, founder of the movement that led to the Evangelical Church flow in The United Methodist Church, got into trouble with some of his Lutheran, Reformed, and Mennonite neighbors because he insisted that salvation not only involved ritual but meant a change of heart, a different way of living.}}</ref> a concept best summarized in a quote by Methodist evangelist [[Phoebe Palmer]] who stated that "justification would have ended with me had I refused to be holy."<ref name="Sawyer2016">{{cite book|last=Sawyer|first=M. James|title=The Survivor's Guide to Theology|year=2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|language=en|isbn=978-1498294058|page=363}}</ref> Thus, for Methodists, "true faith ... cannot subsist without works."<ref name="Knight2013">{{cite web|url=http://www.catalystresources.org/wesley-on-faith-and-good-works/|title=Wesley on Faith and Good Works|last=Knight III|first=Henry H.|date=9 July 2013|publisher=AFTE|language=en|access-date=21 May 2018}}</ref> Methodism, inclusive of the [[holiness movement]], thus teaches that "justification [is made] conditional on obedience and progress in [[Sanctification in Christianity#Methodist|sanctification]]",<ref name="Sawyer2016"/> emphasizing "a deep reliance upon Christ not only in coming to faith, but in remaining in the faith."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timothytennent.com/2011/07/09/means-of-grace-why-i-am-a-methodist-and-an-evangelical-part-3/|title=Means of Grace: Why I am a Methodist and an Evangelical|last=Tennent|first=Timothy|date=9 July 2011|publisher=[[Asbury Theological Seminary]]|language=en|access-date=21 May 2018}}</ref> John Wesley taught that the keeping of the moral law contained in the [[Ten Commandments]],<ref name="Campbell2011">{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Ted A.|title=Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials|edition=2nd|date=2011|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en|isbn=978-1426753473|pages=40, 68–69}}</ref> as well as engaging in the [[works of piety]] and the [[works of mercy]], were "indispensable for our sanctification".<ref name="Knight2013"/> In its categorization of sin, Methodist doctrine distinguishes between (1) "sin, properly so called" and (2) "involuntary transgression of a divine law, known or unknown"; the former category includes voluntary transgression against God, while the second category includes infirmities (such as "immaturity, ignorance, physical handicaps, forgetfulness, lack of discernment, and poor communication skills").<ref name="Newman2024">{{cite journal |last1=Newman |first1=Rocky |title=What Holiness is Not |journal=The Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist |date=2024 |volume=86 |issue=7 |pages=11–12}}</ref><ref name="Olson2022"/>
{{blockquote|Wesley explains that those born of God do not sin ''habitually'' since to do so means that sin still reigns, which is a mark of an unbeliever. Neither does the Christian sin ''willfully'' since the believer's will is now set on living for Christ. He further claims that believers do not sin by desire because the heart has been thoroughly transformed to desire only God's perfect will. Wesley then addresses "sin by infirmities". Since infirmities involve no "concurrence of (the) will", such deviations, whether in thought, word, or deed, are not "properly" sin. He therefore concludes that those born of God do not commit sin, having been saved from "all their sins" (II.2, 7).<ref name="Olson2022">{{cite web |last1=Olson |first1=Mark K. |title=John Wesley on Sin and Holiness |url=https://wesleyscholar.com/john-wesley-on-sin-and-holiness/ |publisher=Wesley Scholar |access-date=23 May 2024 |language=English |date=4 June 2022}}</ref>}}
This is reflected in the Articles of Religion of the [[Free Methodist Church]] (emphasis added in italics), which uses the wording of John Wesley:<ref name="McClintockStrong2024"/>
{{blockquote|''Justified persons, while they do not outwardly commit sin'', are nevertheless conscious of sin still remaining in the heart. They feel a natural tendency to evil, a proneness to depart from God, and cleave to the things of earth. Those that are sanctified wholly are saved from all inward sin-from evil thoughts and evil tempers. No wrong temper, none contrary to love remains in the soul. All their thoughts, words, and actions are governed by pure love. Entire sanctification takes place subsequently to justification, and is the work of God wrought instantaneously upon the consecrated, believing soul. After a soul is cleansed from all sin, it is then fully prepared to grow in grace" (''Discipline'', "Articles of Religion", ch. i, § 1, p. 23).<ref name="McClintockStrong2024">{{cite web |title=Methodists, Free |url=https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/M/methodists-free.html |publisher=McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia Online |access-date=23 May 2024 |language=en |date=2024}}</ref>}}

Methodists also believe in the [[second work of grace]]{{snd}}Christian perfection, also known as entire sanctification, which removes [[original sin]], makes the believer holy and empowers him/her with power to wholly serve God.<ref name="Stokes1998"/><ref name="Buschart2009">{{Cite book |last=Buschart |first=W. David |title=Exploring Protestant Traditions |date=August 20, 2009 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=9780830875146 |page=194 }}</ref> John Wesley explained, "entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, is neither more nor less than pure love; love expelling sin, and governing both the heart and life of a child of God. The Refiner's fire purges out all that is contrary to love."<ref>Wesley, John. ''The Works of John Wesley'', Third Edition., vol. 12 (London, England: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872), p. 432.</ref><ref name="Whidden2005">{{cite web |last1=Whidden |first1=Woodrow W. |title=Adventist Theology: The Wesleyan Connection |url=https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/es/node/203 |publisher=Biblical Research Institute |access-date=30 June 2019 |language=English |date=18 April 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630044749/https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/es/node/203|archive-date=30 June 2019}}</ref>

Methodist churches teach that [[Apostasy in Christianity|apostasy]] can occur through a loss of faith or through [[Christian views on sin#Methodist views|sinning]].<ref name="Pinson2002">{{cite book |last1=Pinson |first1=J. Matthew |title=Four Views on Eternal Security |date=2002 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0310234395 |page=18 |language=English |quote=While for Arminius loss of salvation came only through ceasing to believe in Christ, Wesleyans held that it could result from either unbelief or unconfessed sin. ... Anabaptists (e.g., Mennonites, Brethren) and Restorationists (e.g., the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, Disciples of Christ) have traditionally tended towards doctrines of salvation{{snd}}similar to that of Wesleyan Arminianism without affirming a "second blessing" and entire sanctification. There have always been some in these groups, however, who has espoused a view more akin to Reformed Arminianism. Many traditional Lutherans also affirm the possibility of apostasy and reconversion.}}</ref><ref name="Robinson2016">{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=Jeff |title=Meet a Reformed Arminian |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/meet-a-reformed-arminian/ |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |access-date=16 June 2019 |language=English |date=25 August 2016 |quote=Reformed Arminianism's understanding of apostasy veers from the Wesleyan notion that individuals may repeatedly fall from grace by committing individual sins and may be repeatedly restored to a state of grace through penitence.}}</ref> If a person [[backsliding|backslides]] but later decides to return to God, he or she must [[repentance in Christianity|repent]] for sins and be entirely sanctified again (the Arminian doctrine of [[conditional security]]).<ref name="Robinson">{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=Jeff |title=Meet a Reformed Arminian |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/meet-a-reformed-arminian/ |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |access-date=16 June 2019 |language=en |date=25 August 2016 |quote=Reformed Arminianism's understanding of apostasy veers from the Wesleyan notion that individuals may repeatedly fall from grace by committing individual sins and may be repeatedly restored to a state of grace through penitence.}}</ref><ref name="CaugheyAllen1850">{{cite book |last1=Caughey |first1=James |last2=Allen |first2=Ralph William |title=Methodism in Earnest |url=https://archive.org/details/methodisminearn00wisegoog |date=1850 |publisher=Charles H. Peirce |language=en |quote=She had lost the blessing of entire sanctification; but a few days after this she obtained it again.}}</ref>
{{See also|Baptism with the Holy Spirit}}

===Sacraments===
Methodists hold that [[sacrament]]s are sacred acts of divine institution. Methodism has inherited its liturgy from [[Anglicanism]], although Wesleyan theology tends to have a stronger "sacramental emphasis" than that held by [[Evangelical Anglicanism|evangelical Anglicans]].<ref name="Kennedy2016">{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=David J.|title=Eucharistic Sacramentality in an Ecumenical Context: The Anglican Epiclesis |access-date=16 March 2017 |date=2016|publisher=Routledge|language=en |isbn=978-1317140115|page=75|quote=Evangelical Anglicans in the main did not follow the sacramental emphasis of the Wesleys but tended to be Cranmerian in their eucharistic theology, rejecting any notion of an objective presence of Christ in the elements.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6twuk5c8OSYC}}</ref>

In common with most Protestants, Methodists recognize two sacraments as being instituted by Christ: [[Baptism]] and [[Holy Communion]] (also called the Lord's Supper).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=David Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9xyaPnbtYkC |title=Protestant Nonconformist Texts: The twentieth century |last2=Dix |first2=Kenneth |last3=Ruston |first3=Alan |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Limited |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7546-4013-4 |page=98 |language=en |access-date=21 April 2021}}</ref> Most Methodist churches practice [[infant baptism]], in anticipation of a response to be made later ([[confirmation]]), as well as [[believer's baptism|baptism of believing adults]].<ref>{{cite web |title=FAQs about Baptism, Membership, and Salvation |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/faqs-about-baptism-membership-and-salvation |website=Discipleship Ministries |publisher=United Methodist Church |access-date=23 January 2021}}</ref> The ''Catechism for the Use of the People Called Methodists'' states that, "[in Holy Communion] Jesus Christ is [[Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist|present]] with his worshipping people and gives himself to them as their Lord and Saviour."<ref name="Catechism"/>{{rp|26}} In the United Methodist Church, the explanation of how [[Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist|Christ's presence is made manifest]] in the elements (bread and wine) is described as a "Holy Mystery".<ref>{{cite web|title=This Holy Mystery|url=http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=4951419&ct=11623561|publisher=The United Methodist Church|access-date=23 June 2013|year=2004}}</ref>

Methodist churches generally recognize sacraments to be a [[means of grace]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Means of Grace|url=http://www.irishmethodist.org/sites/default/files/pdf/manualoflaws/Chapter%2003.pdf|publisher=Methodist Church in Ireland|access-date=20 October 2016|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002407/http://www.irishmethodist.org/sites/default/files/pdf/manualoflaws/Chapter%2003.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> John Wesley held that God also imparted [[Grace in Christianity|grace]] by other established means such as public and private [[prayer]], Scripture reading, [[Bible study (Christian)|study]] and [[preaching]], [[Christian worship|public worship]], and [[fasting]]; these constitute the works of piety.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Wesleyan Means of Grace |url=https://www.umc.org/en/content/the-wesleyan-means-of-grace |publisher=United Methodist Church|access-date=30 April 2022}}</ref> Wesley considered means of grace to be "outward signs, words, or actions ... to be the ordinary channels whereby [God] might convey to men, preventing [i.e., preparing], justifying or sanctifying grace."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Wesley Center Online: Sermon 16 – The Means Of Grace |url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-16-the-means-of-grace/ |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=wesley.nnu.edu}}</ref> Specifically Methodist means, such as the [[cell group|class meetings]], provided his chief examples for these prudential means of grace.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Phillips |first1=L. Edward |date=2014 |title=The Holy Communion as a Means of Grace and the Question of On-line Communion |url=http://www.gbhem.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/online_communion/Means-of-Grace-and-the-Question-of-Online-Communion.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202001700/http://www.gbhem.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/online_communion/Means-of-Grace-and-the-Question-of-Online-Communion.pdf |archive-date=2 February 2017 |access-date=20 October 2016 |publisher=United Methodist Church General Board of Higher Education and Ministry}}</ref>

===Sources of teaching===
{{Further|Wesleyan Quadrilateral|Prima scriptura}}
American Methodist theologian [[Albert Outler]], in assessing John Wesley's own practices of theological reflection, proposes a methodology termed the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral".<ref name="Outler1985">{{cite web |first=Albert C. |last=Outler |author-link=Albert C. Outler |url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/fileadmin/imported_site/wesleyjournal/1985-wtj-20-1.pdf |title=The Wesleyan Quadrilateral in John Wesley |editor=Jason Gingerich |publisher=Wesley Center for Applied Theology |year=1985 |access-date=10 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329052011/http://wesley.nnu.edu/fileadmin/imported_site/wesleyjournal/1985-wtj-20-1.pdf |archive-date=29 March 2017 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Wesley's Quadrilateral is referred to in Methodism as "our theological guidelines" and is taught to its [[Minister (Christianity)|ministers]] (clergy) in [[seminary]] as the primary approach to interpreting Scripture and gaining guidance for moral questions and dilemmas faced in daily living.<ref name="Patterson">{{cite book |last=Patterson |first=Ronald |title=The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church |date=1984 |publisher=United Methodist Publishing House |location=Nashville, Tennessee |language=en-us}}</ref>{{rp|76–88}}

Traditionally, Methodists declare the [[Bible]] ([[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s) to be the only divinely inspired Scripture and the primary source of authority for Christians.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chilcote |first1=Paul |title=Methodist Theology |url=https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/MethodistTheology#section1.2.4 |journal=St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology |date=2022}}</ref> The historic Methodist understanding of Scripture is based on the superstructure of [[Wesleyan covenant theology]].<ref name="Rodes2014">{{cite book |last=Rodes |first=Stanley J. |title=From Faith to Faith: John Wesley's Covenant Theology and the Way of Salvation |date=2014 |publisher=James Clarke & Company |isbn=978-0227902202 |language=en}}</ref> Methodists also make use of [[Christian tradition|tradition]], drawing primarily from the teachings of the [[Church Fathers]], as a secondary source of authority. Tradition may serve as a lens through which Scripture is interpreted. Theological discourse for Methodists almost always makes use of Scripture read inside the wider theological tradition of Christianity.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wesleyan Quadrilateral, the |url=http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/glossary-wesleyan-quadrilateral-the |work=Glossary |publisher=United Methodist Church |access-date=13 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boaheng |first1=Isaac |title=The Wesleyan Quadrilateral and Contemporary Biblical Exegesis |journal=Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology |date=2 September 2020 |pages=87–95|volume=2|issue=3 |doi=10.38159/motbit.2020091|doi-access=free }}</ref>

John Wesley contended that a part of the theological method would involve experiential faith.<ref name="Outler1985"/> In other words, truth would be vivified in personal experience of Christians (overall, not individually), if it were really truth. And every doctrine must be able to be defended rationally. He did not divorce [[faith]] from [[reason]]. By reason, one asks questions of faith and seeks to understand God's action and will. Tradition, experience and reason, however, were subject always to Scripture, Wesley argued, because only there is the Word of God [[Revelation|revealed]] "so far as it is necessary for our salvation."<ref name="Patterson"/>{{rp|77}}

{{Anchor|Worship}}<!--Do not change. Templates redirect here.-->

==Prayer, worship, and liturgy==
[[File:Wesley's Chapel during Wikimania 2014 by-RaBoe 68.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|[[Communion table]] behind the [[Communion rail|rail]] in [[Wesley's Chapel]], London. The [[reredos]] depicts the [[Ten Commandments]].]]
With respect to public worship, Methodism was endowed by the Wesley brothers with worship characterised by a twofold practice: the ritual liturgy of the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' on the one hand and the non-ritualistic preaching service on the other.<ref name="Firth">{{cite web|last1=Firth|first1=Richard|title=Methodist Worship|url=http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/4416/1/Firth13PhD.pdf|publisher=University of Birmingham|date=2013|access-date=7 February 2016}}</ref> This twofold practice became distinctive of Methodism because worship in the Church of England was based, by law, solely on the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and worship in the [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] churches was almost exclusively that of "services of the word", i.e. preaching services, with [[Holy Communion]] being observed infrequently. John Wesley's influence meant that, in Methodism, the two practices were combined, a situation which remains characteristic of the tradition.<ref name="Firth" /><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Westerfield Tucker |editor-first=Karen B. |title=The Sunday Service of the Methodists: Twentieth-Century Worship in Worldwide Methodism |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |chapter=Form and Freedom: John Wesley's Legacy for Methodist Worship|isbn=978-0687011346}}</ref> Methodism has heavily emphasized "offerings of [[Extemporaneous|extempore]] and spontaneous prayer".<ref name="Nichols2012">{{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Bridget |title=The Collect in the Churches of the Reformation |date=12 May 2012 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-04207-5 |page=85 |language=en}}</ref> To this end, Methodist [[Revival meeting|revival service]]s and [[camp meetings]] have been characterized by groaning and shouting, as people sought the fullness of salvation that Methodists taught to be embodied by the experience of [[Christian perfection|entire sanctification]].<ref name="Richey2015">{{cite book |last1=Richey |first1=Russell E. |title=Methodism in the American Forest |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-935962-2 |page=155 |language=en |quote=Cookman described this one and three other camp meetings in a longish article for Methodism's ''Christian Advocate''. "Two leading facts met myobservation at all these meetings," he insisted. "First, the interest in the mind of the Church respecting the experience of personal holiness. Every where ministers and people were groaning for full redemption in the blood of the Lamb. I have seen hundreds at the same moment prostrated before God in the spirit of entire consecration, and concerned to appropriate Jesus as their full and perfect Saviour."}}</ref><ref name="Synan1997">{{cite book |last1=Synan |first1=Vinson |title=The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century |date=25 August 1997 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-4103-2 |page=9 |language=en |quote=At times the emotions of the sanctified Methodists would exceed the limits of control. "Some would be seized with a trembling, and in a few moments drop on the floor as if they were dead; while others were embracing each other with streaming eyes, and all were lose in wonder, love and praise," wrote one observer. Another noted that some wept for grief while others shouted for joy "so that it was hard to distinguish one from the other." At times the congregations would "raise a great shout" that could be heard for miles around.}}</ref> To outsiders, Wesleyans were labeled as "Shouting Methodists" due to their free expression during worship.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Lillian C. |last2=Beasley |first2=Erin |last3=Coleman |first3=Justin |last4=Caldwell-Gross |first4=Jevon |last5=Lightsey |first5=Pamela R. |last6=Johnson |first6=F. Willis |last7=Ross |first7=Vance P. |last8=Graves |first8=Rodney Lorenzo |last9=Butler |first9=Tori C. |last10=Rasmus |first10=Rev Rudy |title=I'm Black. I'm Christian. I'm Methodist. |date=3 November 2020 |publisher=Abingdon Press |isbn=978-1-7910-1710-1 |language=en |quote=In the earliest days of Methodism, God's Spirit moved mightily. In John Wesley's lifetime, it was reported that when he preached, conviction of the Holy Spirit would manifest mightily and people would subsequently fall out, experience the shakes, and experience a holy laughter. Many people were reportedly "slain in the Spirit." In one instance, John Wesley recounts the following incident in his journal on Thursday, April 25, 1739, "Immediately one, and another, and another sunk to the earth: they dropped as if they were thunderstruck. One of them cried aloud." His journals also record him praying to expel demons. The openness to free expression in worship may have been an additional reason that free and enslaved Africans were attracted to the Methodists in America. That free expression continued into the next century. In the 1800s, Methodists were derided with the label "Shouting Methodists". Methodists were initially known for their enthusiasm. American evangelist, pastor, and teacher R.A. Torrey (1856-1928) wrote the following to describe an encounter he had with the Holy Spirit: "Sometime after this experience (I do not recall just how long after), while sitting in my room one day...suddenly...I found myself shouting (I was not brought up to shout and I'm not of a shouting temperament, but I shouted like the loudest shouting Methodist), Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God,' and I could not stop."}}</ref>
[[File:Methodistcommunion2.jpg|upright|thumb|United Methodist minister breaking bread during a Communion service]]
Historically, Methodist churches have devoutly observed the [[Lord's Day]] (Sunday) with a morning [[Church service|service of worship]], along with an evening service of worship (with the evening service being aimed at seekers and focusing on "singing, prayer, and preaching"); the holding of a midweek prayer meeting on Wednesday evenings has been customary.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Karen B. Westerfield |title=American Methodist Worship |date=27 April 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-045420-3 |pages=24–25 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="WFMC2024"/>  18th-century Methodist church services were characterized by the following pattern: "preliminaries (e.g., singing, prayers, testimonies), to a 'message,' followed by an invitation to commitment", the latter of which took the form [[altar call]]—a practice that a remains "a vital part" of worship.<ref name="Tucker2011"/><ref name="Coleman">{{cite web |last1=Coleman |first1=Robert E. |title=The Origin of the Altar Call in American Methodism |url=https://place.asburyseminary.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2132&context=asburyjournal |publisher=[[Asbury Theological Seminary]] |access-date=22 May 2024 |language=English}}</ref> A number of Methodist congregations devote a portion of their Sunday evening service and mid-week Wednesday evening prayer meeting to having congregants share their prayer requests, in addition to hearing personal [[Testimony#Religion|testimonies]] about their faith and experiences in living the Christian life.<ref name="POF1948">{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Pillar of Fire Church |date=1948 |publisher=Pillar of Fire Church |pages=39–40}}</ref> After listening to various members of the congregation voice their prayer requests, congregants may kneel for [[Intercession#Christianity|intercessory prayer]].<ref name="WFMC2024">{{cite web |title=Prayer |url=https://wilmorefmc.org/worship/prayer/ |publisher=Wilmore Free Methodist Church |language=English |date=2024 |quote=We gather each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. for singing, joyful thanksgiving, sharing, and prayer. Anyone is welcome to come and share a burden for us to bear together or a blessing for us to celebrate together.}}</ref> The [[Lovefeast]], traditionally practiced quarterly, was another practice that characterized early Methodism as John Wesley taught that it was an apostolic [[Ordinance (Christianity)|ordinance]].<ref name="Tovey2016"/> Worship, hymnology, devotional and liturgical practices in Methodism were also influenced by [[Pietism|Pietistic Lutheranism]] and, in turn, Methodist worship became influential in the [[Holiness movement]].<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Ruth |author-first=Lester |title=The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies |date=2011 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0199696116 |editor1-last=Kirby |editor1-first=James E. |location=[[Oxford]], England and [[New York City]] |pages=324–329 |chapter=Worship: Sacraments, Liturgy, Hymnody, Preaching – Liturgical Revolutions |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696116.013.0018 |lccn=2009926748 |editor2-last=Abraham |editor2-first=William J. |editor2-link=William J. Abraham |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5AOZwZ8n_oC&pg=PA324 |s2cid=152440716}}</ref>

Early Methodism was known for its "almost monastic rigors, its living by rule, [and] its canonical hours of prayer".<ref name="Hurst1902">{{cite book|last=Hurst|first=John Fletcher|title=The History of Methodism|year=1902|publisher=Eaton & Mains|pages=310}}</ref> It inherited from its [[Daily Office (Anglican)|Anglican patrimony]] the practice of reciting the [[Daily Office]], which Methodist Christians were expected to [[Christian prayer|pray]].<ref name="Jones2019">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Susan H. |title=Everyday Public Worship |year=2019 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-05757-4 |language=en}}</ref> The first prayer book of Methodism, ''[[The Sunday Service of the Methodists|The Sunday Service of the Methodists with other occasional Services]]'' thus included the canonical hours of both Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer; these services were observed everyday in [[early Christianity]], though on the [[Lord's Day]], worship included the Eucharist.<ref name="Bercot2021">{{cite book |last1=Bercot |first1=David W. |title=Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More Than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers |date=28 December 2021 |publisher=Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. |isbn=978-1-61970-168-7 |language=English |quote=Morning and Evening Prayer were liturgical services held each day at the local church, during which psalms were sung and prayers were offered to God.}}</ref><ref name="Jones2019"/><ref name="Beckwith2005">{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Roger T.|author-link1=Roger T. Beckwith |title=Calendar, Chronology And Worship: Studies in Ancient Judaism And Early Christianity |date=2005 |publisher=[[Brill Academic Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-14603-7 |page=193 |language=en}}</ref> Later Methodist liturgical books, such as the ''Methodist Worship Book'' (1999) provide for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer to be prayed daily; the [[United Methodist Church]] encourages its communicants to pray the canonical hours as "one of the essential practices" of being a disciple of Jesus.<ref name="MWB"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Praying the Hours of the Day: Recovering Daily Prayer |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/praying-the-hours-of-the-day-recovering-daily-prayer |publisher=[[General Board of Discipleship]] |access-date=6 September 2020 |date=6 May 2007}}</ref> Some Methodist religious orders publish the Daily Office to be used for that community, for example, ''The Book of Offices and Services of The Order of Saint Luke'' contains the canonical hours to be prayed traditionally at [[fixed prayer times|seven fixed prayer times]]: [[Lauds]] (6 am), [[Terce]] (9 am), [[Sext]] (12 pm), [[Nones (liturgy)|None]] (3 pm), [[Vespers]] (6 pm), [[Compline]] (9 pm) and [[Vigil]] (12 am).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Book of Offices and Services|date=6 September 2012|publisher=[[Order of St. Luke]]}}</ref> Some Methodist congregations offer daily Morning Prayer.<ref>{{cite web |title=Philosophy of St. Paul's |url=http://www.stpaulsfmc.org/guiding-philosophies.html |publisher=St Paul's Free Methodist Church |access-date=17 May 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

In America, the United Methodist Church and [[Free Methodist Church]], as well as the [[Primitive Methodist Church]] and [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection|Wesleyan Methodist Church]], have a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from [[high church]] to [[low church]] in [[Christian liturgy|liturgical]] usage. When the Methodists in America were separated from the Church of England because of the American Revolution, John Wesley provided a revised version of the ''Book of Common Prayer'' called ''[[The Sunday Service of the Methodists; With Other Occasional Services]]'' (1784).<ref name="Coe1996">{{cite book|last=Coe|first=Bufford W.|title=John Wesley and Marriage|year=1996|publisher=[[Lehigh University Press]]|language=en|isbn=978-0934223393|page=11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=James F. (introduction) |title=John Wesley's Sunday service of the Methodists in North America |publisher=Quarterly Review |year=1984 |isbn=978-0687406326 |location=Nashville, Tennessee |language=en-us}}</ref> Today, the primary [[liturgical book]]s of the United Methodist Church are ''[[The United Methodist Hymnal]]'' and ''[[The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992)|The United Methodist Book of Worship]]'' (1992). Congregations employ its liturgy and rituals 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 movement|liturgical renewal movement]].

The [[Methodist Church of Great Britain|British Methodist Church]] is less ordered, or less liturgical, in worship. It makes use of the ''Methodist Worship Book'' (similar to the Church of England's ''[[Common Worship]]''), containing set services and [[rubric]]s for the celebration of other [[Rite (Christianity)|rite]]s, such as marriage. The ''Worship Book'' is also ultimately derived from Wesley's ''Sunday Service''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Methodist Publishing: Resources Catalogue|url=http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/469949/methodist-publishing-catalogue-2013.pdf|publisher=Methodist Publishing|access-date=24 March 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324142640/http://www.methodist.org.uk/media/469949/methodist-publishing-catalogue-2013.pdf|archive-date=24 March 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

A unique feature of American Methodism has been the observance of the [[liturgical year|season]] of [[Kingdomtide]], encompassing the last 13 weeks before Advent, thus dividing the long season after Pentecost into two segments. During Kingdomtide, Methodist liturgy has traditionally emphasized charitable work and alleviating the suffering of the poor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kingdomtide |url=https://firstchurchorlando.org/news/2013/kingdomtide/ |publisher=First United Methodist Church of Orlando |access-date=17 January 2020 |date=7 September 2013 |archive-date=22 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522164500/https://firstchurchorlando.org/news/2013/kingdomtide/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A second distinctive liturgical feature of Methodism is the use of [[Covenant Renewal Service|Covenant Services]]. Although practice varies between national churches, most Methodist churches annually follow the call of John Wesley for a renewal of their [[covenant (religion)|covenant]] with God. It is common for each congregation to use the Covenant Renewal liturgy during the [[watchnight service]] in the night of [[New Year's Eve]],<ref name="Sweet2014">{{cite book |last1=Sweet |first1=Leonard |title=The Well-Played Life |date=2014-02-21 |publisher=[[Tyndale House Publishers]] |isbn=978-1-4143-9080-2 |page=62 |language=English}}</ref> though in Britain, these are often on the first Sunday of the year. Wesley's covenant prayer is still used, with minor modification, in the order of service:

{{blockquote|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.<ref name="MWB">{{cite book |title=The Methodist Worship Book |date=1999 |publisher=Methodist Publishing House |location=Peterborough, Eng. |isbn=1858521165}}</ref>{{rp|290}}}}

[[File:Camp meeting of the Methodists in N. America J. Milbert del M. Dubourg sculp (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Methodist preachers were known for promulgating the doctrines of the [[Born again#Methodism|new birth]] and [[entire sanctification]] to the public at events such as tent revivals, brush arbor revivals and camp meetings (''depicted here in an engraving''), which they believe is the reason that God brought them into existence.<ref name="Gibson">{{cite web|url=https://ucmpage.org/sgca/wesley01.htm|title=Wesleyan Heritage Series: Entire Sanctification|last=Gibson|first=James|publisher=South Georgia Confessing Association|language=en|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529053529/http://ucmpage.org/sgca/wesley01.htm|archive-date=29 May 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]
As John Wesley advocated outdoor evangelism, [[revival meeting|revival services]] are a traditional worship practice of Methodism that are often held in churches, as well as at [[camp meeting]]s, [[brush arbor revival]]s, and [[tent revival]]s.<ref name="Dresser2015">{{cite book|last=Dresser|first=Thomas|title=Martha's Vineyard: A History|year=2015|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Incorporated|language=en|isbn=978-1625849045|page=57}}</ref><ref name="CensusHunt1910">{{cite book|last=Durand|first=E. Dana |title=Religious Bodies: 1906|year=1910|publisher=Government Printing Office|language=en|page=484}}</ref><ref name="ChilcoteWarner2008">{{cite book|last1=Chilcote|first1=Paul W.|last2=Warner|first2=Laceye C.|title=The Study of Evangelism: Exploring a Missional Practice of the Church|date=2008|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|language=en|isbn=978-0802803917|page=206}}</ref>

==Membership==
Traditionally, Methodist [[connexionalism|connexions]] descending from the tradition of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] have a probationary period of six months before an individual is admitted into [[church membership]] as a full member of a congregation.<ref name="Scott2016">{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=David W. |title=Mission as Globalization: Methodists in Southeast Asia at the Turn of the Twentieth Century |date=2016 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-1-4985-2664-7 |page=65 |language=English}}</ref> Given the wide attendance at Methodist [[revival meeting]]s, many people started to attend Methodist services of worship regularly, though they had not yet committed to membership.<ref name="Scott2016"/> When they made that commitment, becoming a probationer was the first step and during this period, probationers "receive additional instruction and provide evidence of the seriousness of their faith and willingness to abide by church discipline before being accepted into full membership."<ref name="Scott2016"/> In addition to this, to be a probationary member of a Methodist congregation, a person traditionally requires an "earnest desire to be saved from [one's] sins".<ref name="Scott2016"/> In the historic Methodist system, probationers were eligible to become members of [[Cell group#Methodism|class meetings]], where they could be further discipled in their faith.<ref name="Scott2016"/>

[[Catechism]]s such as ''[[The Probationer's Handbook]]'', authored by minister [[Stephen O. Garrison]], have been used by probationers to learn the Methodist faith.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kirby |first1=James E. |last2=Rivera |first2=Feliciano |last3=Kirby |first3=James |last4=Richey |first4=Russell E. |last5=Rowe |first5=Kenneth E. |title=The Methodists |date=1996 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-22048-7 |page=223 |language=English}}</ref> After six months, probationers were examined before the Leaders and Stewards' Meeting (which consisted of [[Class meeting#Methodism|Class Leaders]] and [[Steward (Methodism)|Stewards]]) where they were to provide "satisfactory assurance both of the correctness of his faith and of his willingness to observe and keep the rules of the church."<ref name="Scott2016"/> If probationers were able to do this, they were admitted as full members of the congregation by the [[pastor]].<ref name="Scott2016"/>

Full members of a Methodist congregation "were obligated to attend worship services on a regular basis" and "were to abide by certain moral precepts, especially as they related to substance use, gambling, divorce, and immoral pastimes."<ref name="Scott2016"/> This practice continues in certain Methodist connexions, such as the Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church, in which probationers must be examined by the pastor, class leader, and board for full membership, in addition to being [[baptism|baptized]].<ref name="SandersonScottHuntBelcherWoods2011">{{cite book |last1=Sanderson |first1=Jimmy |last2=Scott |first2=Stanley |last3=Hunt |first3=Elton B. |last4=Belcher |first4=Dianne B. |last5=Woods |first5=James H. |title=Doctrines and Discipline of the Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church |date=2011 |pages=17–18 |language=English}}</ref> The same structure is found in the [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]], which teaches:<ref name="AMEZ2012"/>

{{Blockquote|In order that we may not admit improper persons into our church, great care be taken in receiving persons on probation, and let not one be so received or enrolled who does not give satisfactory evidence of his/her desire to flee the wrath to come and to be saved from his/her sins. Such a person satisfying us in these particulars may be received into our church on six months probation; but shall not be admitted to full membership until he/she shall have given satisfactory evidence of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.|¶89, ''The Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church''<ref name="AMEZ2012"/>}}

The pastor and class leader are to ensure "that all persons on probation be instructed in the Rules and Doctrines of The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church before they are admitted to Full Membership" and that "probationers are expected to conform to the rules and usages of the Church, and to show evidence of their desire for fellowship in the Church".<ref name="AMEZ2012"/> After the six-month probation period, "A probationer may be admitted to full membership, provided he/she has served out his/her probation, has been baptized, recommended at the Leaders' Meeting, and, if none has been held according to law, recommended by the Leader, and, on examination by the Pastor before the Church as required in ¶600 has given satisfactory assurance both of the correctness of his/her faith, and of his/her willingness to observe and keep the rules of our Church."<ref name="AMEZ2012">{{cite book |title=The Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church |date=2012 |publisher=[[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]] |isbn=978-1-4969-5704-7 |language=English}}</ref> The [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]] admits to associate membership, by vote of the congregation, those who give affirmation to two questions: "1) Does the Lord now forgive your sins? 2) Will you acquaint yourself with the discipline of our connection and earnestly endeavor to govern your life by its rules as God shall give you understanding?"<ref name="AWMC2014"/> Probationers who wish to become full members are examined by the advisory board before being received as such through four vows (on the [[Born again#Methodism|new birth]], [[entire sanctification]], [[outward holiness]], and assent to the [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]]) and a [[Covenant (religion)#Methodism|covenant]].<ref name="AWMC2014">{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference)|year=2014|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|location=[[Salem, Ohio|Salem]]|language=en|pages=42–47}}</ref> In the [[United Methodist Church]], the process of becoming a professing member of a congregation is done through the taking membership vows (normatively in the rite of [[confirmation]]) after a period of instruction and receiving the sacrament of baptism.<ref name="Manskar">{{cite web |last1=Manskar |first1=Steve |title=The Meaning of Membership in The United Methodist Church |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/blog/the-meaning-of-membership-in-the-united-methodist-church |publisher=[[The United Methodist Church]] |access-date=4 June 2021 |language=English |date=2012}}</ref> It is the practice of certain Methodist connexions that when people become members of a congregation, they are offered the [[Right Hand of Fellowship]].<ref name="AWMC2014"/><ref name="Emmanuel2002">{{cite book |title=Guidebook of the Emmanuel Association of Churches |date=2002 |publisher=[[Emmanuel Association]] |location=[[Logansport, Indiana|Logansport]] |pages=25–28 |language=English}}</ref> Methodists traditionally celebrate the [[Covenant Renewal Service]] as the [[watchnight service]] annually on New Year's Eve, in which members renew their [[Covenant (religion)#Methodism|covenant]] with God and the Church.<ref name="Manskar2012">{{cite web |last1=Manskar |first1=Steve |title=Covenant Renewal |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/blog/covenant-renewal |publisher=[[Discipleship Ministries]] |access-date=4 June 2021 |language=English |date=2012}}</ref>

==Lifestyle==
{{Further|Outward holiness}}
Early Methodists wore [[plain dress]], with Methodist clergy condemning "high headdresses, ruffles, laces, gold, and 'costly apparel' in general".<ref name="Lyerly1998">{{cite book|last=Lyerly|first=Cynthia Lynn|title=Methodism and the Southern Mind, 1770–1810|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRiddXHU584C&pg=PA39|access-date=19 June 2017|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=978-0195354249|page=39}}</ref> John Wesley recommended that Methodists annually read his thoughts ''On Dress'';<ref>Journals of Wesley, Nehemiah Curnock, ed., London, England: Epworth Press 1938, p. 468.</ref> in that sermon, Wesley expressed his desire for Methodists: "Let me see, before I die, a Methodist congregation, full as plain dressed as a [[Quaker]] congregation."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-88-on-dress/|title=The Wesley Center Online: Sermon 88 – On Dress|last=Wesley|first=John|year=1999|publisher=Wesley Center for Applied Theology|language=en|access-date=19 June 2017}}</ref> The 1858 Discipline of the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (United States)|Wesleyan Methodist Connection]] thus stated that "we would ... enjoin on all who fear God plain dress."<ref name="America1858">{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, of America|year=1858|publisher=Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America|language=en |page=85}}</ref> [[Peter Cartwright (revivalist)|Peter Cartwright]], a Methodist [[Christian revival|revivalist]], stated that in addition to wearing plain dress, the early Methodists distinguished themselves from other members of society by [[Fasting#Methodism|fasting]] once a week, [[teetotalism|abstaining from alcohol]] (teetotalism), and devoutly [[Sabbatarianism#Sunday Sabbatarians|observing the Sabbath]].<ref name="Cartwright1857">{{cite book|last=Cartwright|first=Peter|title=Autobiography of Peter Cartwright: The Backwoods Preacher|url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofp0000unse|url-access=limited|year=1857|publisher=Carlton & Porter|language=en |page=[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofp0000unse/page/74 74]}}</ref> Methodist [[Circuit rider (religious)|circuit riders]] were known for practicing the [[Spiritual practice#Christianity|spiritual discipline]] of [[Mortification of the flesh#Methodism|mortifying the flesh]] as they "arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees [[Fasting#Methodism|without food or drink]] or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end."<ref name="Bratt2012">{{cite book|last=Bratt|first=James D.|title=By the Vision of Another World: Worship in American History|year=2012|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|language=en |isbn=978-0802867100|page=44|quote=Methodist preachers, in particular, may have been tempted to take the elevation of the spirit and concomitant mortification of the body to extremes. Early circuit riders often arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees without food or drink or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end.}}</ref> The early Methodists did not participate in, and condemned, "worldly habits" including "playing cards, racing horses, gambling, attending the theater, dancing (both in frolics and balls), and cockfighting."<ref name="Lyerly1998"/>

In Methodism, fasting is considered one of the [[works of piety]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/disciple.stm |title=John Wesley and Spiritual Disciplines – The Works of Piety |year=2012 |publisher=The United Methodist Church |access-date=5 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110150935/http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/disciple.stm |archive-date=10 November 2014 }}</ref> The Directions Given to Band Societies (25 December 1744) by John Wesley mandate fasting and abstinence from meat on [[Friday fast|all Fridays of the year]] (in remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus).<ref name="McKnight2010">{{cite book |last1=McKnight |first1=Scot |title=Fasting: The Ancient Practices |date=2010 |publisher=Thomas Nelson |isbn=978-1418576134 |pages=88 |language=English|quote=John Wesley, in his ''Journal'', wrote on Friday, August 17, 1739, that "many of our society met, as we had appointed, at one in the afternoon and agreed that all members of our society should obey the Church to which we belong by observing 'all Fridays in the year' as 'days of fasting and abstinence.'}}</ref><ref name="Crowther1815">{{cite book|last=Crowther|first=Jonathan|title=A Portraiture of Methodism: Or, The History of the Wesleyan Methodists|year=1815|publisher=T. Blanshard|language=English|pages=251, 257}}</ref> Wesley himself also fasted before receiving Holy Communion "for the purpose of focusing his attention on God," and asked other Methodists to do the same.<ref name=Beard>{{cite journal|title=The spiritual discipline of fasting|last=Beard|first=Steve|date=30 January 2012|publisher=United Methodist Church|newspaper=Good News Magazine }}</ref>

Over time, many of these practices were relaxed in mainline Methodism, although practices such as teetotalism and fasting are still encouraged, in addition to the current prohibition of gambling.<ref name="Jones2002">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Scott J.|title=United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center|year=2002|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en|isbn=978-0687034857|page=235}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Views of the Church |url=https://www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/the-methodist-church/views-of-the-church/ |website=www.methodist.org.uk |publisher=Methodist Church in Britain |access-date=16 March 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Denominations of the [[conservative holiness movement]], such as the [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]] and [[Evangelical Methodist Church Conference]], continue to reflect the spirit of the historic Methodist practice of wearing plain dress, with [[church membership|members]] abstaining from the "wearing of apparel which does not modestly and properly clothe the person" and "refraining from the wearing of jewelry" and "superfluous ornaments (including the wedding ring)".<ref>{{cite book|title=Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|language=en|chapter=I. The Church|quote=Should we insist on plain and modest dress? Certainly. We should not on any account spend what the Lord has put into our hands as stewards, to be used for His glory, in expensive wearing apparel, when thousands are suffering for food and raiment, and millions are perishing for the Word of life. Let the dress of every member of every Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Church be plain and modest. Let the strictest carefulness and economy be used in these respects.|pages=19, 31–32}}</ref><ref name="EMCC2017">{{cite book |title=Evangelical Methodist Church Discipline |date=15 July 2017 |publisher=[[Evangelical Methodist Church Conference]] |language=English}}</ref> The [[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]], which continues to observe the [[ordinance (Christianity)|ordinance]] of [[Christian head covering|women's headcovering]], stipulates "renouncing all vain pomp and glory" and "adorning oneself with modest attire."<ref>{{cite web |title=Brief Description |url=http://fimc.org.uk/about_us.htm |publisher=[[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]] |access-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126234944/http://fimc.org.uk/about_us.htm |archive-date=26 January 2022 |language=English |date=26 January 2022}}</ref> The General Rules of the Methodist Church in America, which are among the doctrinal standards of many Methodist Churches, promote first-day Sabbatarianism as they require "attending upon all the ordinances of God" including "the public worship of God" and prohibit "profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or by buying or selling."<ref name="Tucker2011">{{cite book|last=Tucker|first=Karen B. Westerfield|title=American Methodist Worship|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en |isbn=978-0199774159|page=46}}</ref><ref name="AbrahamKirby2009">{{cite book|last1=Abraham|first1=William J.|last2=Kirby|first2=James E.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies|date=2009|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|language=en|isbn=978-0191607431|page=253}}</ref>

==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&nbsp;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.<ref>[https://www.brmethodists.co.uk/meet-the-team/ Bromsgrove and Redditch Methodist Circuit website, ''Meet the Team'']</ref>

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]] ({{langx|ga| Eaglais Mheitidisteach in Éirinn}}) today operates across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on an all-Ireland basis. {{As of|2018}}, there were around 50,000 Methodists across Ireland.<ref name=IC>[https://www.irishchurches.org/members/methodist-church-in-ireland  Churches in Ireland website, ''Methodist Church in Ireland'']</ref> In 2013, the biggest concentration – 13,171 – was in [[Belfast]], with 2,614 in [[Dublin]].<ref>{{cite news|author-first1=Gerry|author-last1=Moriarty|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|2021}}, it is the fourth-largest denomination in Northern Ireland, with Methodists accounting for 2.3% of the population, compared to 3% in 2011.<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><ref>[https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-main-statistics-for-northern-ireland-phase-1-statistical-bulletin-religion.pdf  NISRA website, ''Census 2021: Main statistics for Northern Ireland Statistical bulletin - Religion'']</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]] ({{langx|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]] ({{langx|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]] ({{langx|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 ({{langx|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, {{Lang|de|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 ({{langx|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 = https://www.deseret.com/1990/9/26/18883113/soviets-ok-new-religious-freedoms-br/| 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 well 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our HISTORY |url=https://mccaconference.org/history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415080207/https://mccaconference.org/history/ |archive-date=2023-04-15 |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=MCCA Conference}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Coke |url=https://www.theopedia.com/thomas-coke |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309155456/https://www.theopedia.com/thomas-coke |archive-date=2021-03-09 |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=Theopedia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Coke (1747–1814) |url=https://www.umc.org/en/content/coke-thomas-1747-1814 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603043036/https://www.umc.org/en/content/coke-thomas-1747-1814 |archive-date=2023-06-03 |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=[[United Methodist Church]]}}</ref>

====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]] 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.<ref>[https://dacb.org/stories/ghana/freeman-t2/  Dictionary of African Christian Biography website, ''Freeman, Thomas Birch (B)'']</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walls |first=A. F. |date=1969-08-13 |title=The Roots of Ghana Methodism. By F. L. Bartels. (Cambridge University Press. 1965. 368 pp. 50s.) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/27725472-04101013 |journal=Evangelical Quarterly |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=55–56 |doi=10.1163/27725472-04101013 |issn=0014-3367}}</ref>

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.<ref>[https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/37673518-a23d-321a-aef7-ccacdcc9d875?component=825ca87b-f0d9-3fb4-ad3e-9fefce82d2f8  JISC website, Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society Archive section, ''Rev James Lynch'']</ref>

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. Taylor and the evangelist [[James Mills Thoburn]] established the Thoburn Memorial Church in Calcutta in 1873 and the Calcutta Boys' School in 1877.<ref>[https://calcuttaboysschool.edu.in/about.html  Calcutta Boys' School website, ''About'']</ref>

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  Free Methodist Church in Cebu] {{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, 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 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 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&nbsp;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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Njoroge |first1=Yvonne |title=Korean UMC churches announce deeper support for missionary service |url=https://umcmission.org/press-release/korean-umc-churches-announce-deeper-support-for-missionary-service/ |website=Global Ministries |access-date=24 February 2025 |date=2 May 2024}}</ref>

====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====
{{Main|Free Methodist Church in Canada|British Methodist Episcopal Church}}
{{Further|Methodist Church, Canada|United Church of Canada}}
[[File:Asbury FMC, Ontario, Canada.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Asbury Free Methodist Church in [[Ontario]]]]

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.<ref>[https://vitacollections.ca/notlheritage/3395224/data Niagara on the Lake Public Library website, ''A history of Grace United Church, Niagara-on-the-Lake'', by Margaret Peake Benton (2012)]</ref>

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 the fall of 1873 and winter of 1874, General Superintendent [[B. T. Roberts]] of the [[Free Methodist Church]] visited [[Scarborough, Toronto|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 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 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====
[[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.<ref>[http://www.strawbridgeshrine.org/about.html  Strawbridge Shrine website, ''Who was Robert Strawbridge?'']</ref>

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&regi_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.{<ref>[https://cmcnz.org.nz/en/about/  CMCNZ website, ''About'']</ref>

====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>

==Ecumenical relations==
Many Methodists have been involved in the [[Ecumenism|ecumenical movement]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Abraham|first1=William J.|last2=Kirby|first2=James E.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0191607431|page=394|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5AOZwZ8n_oC&pg=PT394|language=en}}</ref> which has sought to unite the fractured denominations of Christianity. Because Methodism grew out of the Church of England, a denomination from which neither of the Wesley brothers seceded, some Methodist scholars and historians, such as Rupert E. Davies, have regarded their 'movement' more as a preaching order within wider Christian life than as a church, comparing them with the [[Franciscan]]s, who formed a religious order within the medieval European church and not a separate denomination.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Rupert E. |url=https://archive.org/details/methodism0000davi |title=Methodism |publisher=Epworth Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-7162-0280-8 |edition=2nd rev. |location=London, England |url-access=registration}}</ref> Certainly, Methodists have been deeply involved in early examples of [[United and uniting churches|church union]], especially the [[United Church of Canada]] and the [[Church of South India]].

A disproportionate number of Methodists take part in inter-faith dialogue. For example, [[Wesley Ariarajah]], a long-serving director of the [[World Council of Churches]]' sub-unit on "Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies" is a Methodist.<ref>{{cite web |author=Ariarajah |first=Wesley |title=S. Wesley Ariarajah |url=http://www.users.drew.edu/wariaraj/ |access-date=21 April 2013 |publisher=Drew University}}</ref>

In October 1999, an executive committee of the World Methodist Council resolved to explore the possibility of its member churches becoming associated with the [[Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification|doctrinal agreement]] which had been reached by the [[Catholic Church]] and [[Lutheran World Federation]] (LWF). In May 2006, the International Methodist–Catholic Dialogue Commission completed its most recent report, entitled "The [[Grace (Christianity)|Grace]] Given You in Christ: Catholics and Methodists Reflect Further on the Church", and submitted the text to Methodist and Catholic authorities. In July of the same year, in [[Seoul]], South Korea, the Member Churches of the World Methodist Council (WMC) voted to approve and sign a "Methodist Statement of Association" with the [[Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification]], the agreement which was reached and officially accepted in 1999 by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation and which proclaimed that:

<blockquote>"Together [[Confession of faith|we confess]]: By [[sola gratia|grace alone]], in [[Faith in Christianity|faith]] in Christ's [[Atonement in Christianity|saving work]] and not because of any [[Merit (Catholicism)|merit]] on our part, we are accepted by [[God in Christianity|God]] and receive the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]], who [[Sanctification|renews our hearts]] while [[Prevenient grace|equipping]] and [[Infused righteousness|calling us]] to [[good works]]... as [[Christian views on sin|sinners]] our [[Regeneration (theology)|new life]] is [[Total depravity|solely due]] to the [[forgiveness|forgiving]] and renewing mercy that God [[Imparted righteousness|imparts]] as a gift and that we receive in faith, and never [[Pelagianism|can merit]] in any way," affirming "fundamental doctrinal agreement" concerning [[Justification (theology)|justification]] between the Catholic Church, the LWF, and the World Methodist Council.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20060723_text-association_en.html |title=Methodist Association with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=19 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303070603/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20060723_text-association_en.html |archive-date=3 March 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref></blockquote>

This is not to say there is perfect agreement between the three denominational traditions; while Catholics and Methodists believe that [[Salvation (Christianity)|salvation]] involves [[Synergism (theology)|cooperation between God and man]], Lutherans believe that God [[Imputed righteousness|brings about the salvation]] of individuals [[Monergism|without any cooperation]] on their part.

Commenting on the ongoing dialogues with Catholic Church [[Magisterium|leaders]], Ken Howcroft, Methodist minister and the Ecumenical Officer for the Methodist Church of Great Britain, noted that "these conversations have been immensely fruitful."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.va/en/news/methodist-viewpoint-on-ecumenical-dialogue|title=Vatican Radio, 2012, Methodist Viewpoint on Ecumenical Dialogue|access-date=15 September 2014|archive-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129071230/http://www.news.va/en/news/methodist-viewpoint-on-ecumenical-dialogue|url-status=dead}}</ref> Methodists are increasingly recognizing that the 15 centuries prior to the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] constitute a [[History of Christianity|shared history]] with Catholics, and are gaining new appreciation for neglected aspects of the Catholic tradition.<ref>Donald Bolan, [[Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity]], '[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20070125_bolen-methodists_en.html Catholic-Methodist relations: Working for a "joint living out of the Gospel] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221020/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20070125_bolen-methodists_en.html |date=3 March 2016 }}"' 2007.</ref> There are, however, important unresolved doctrinal differences [[Schism (religion)|separating]] Roman Catholicism and Methodism, which include "the nature and validity of the [[Holy Orders|ministry]] of those who preside at the Eucharist [Holy Communion], the [[Eucharistic theologies summarised|precise meaning of the Eucharist]] as the sacramental 'memorial' of Christ's saving death and resurrection, the particular way in which [[Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist|Christ is present]] in Holy Communion, and the link between eucharistic communion and [[Full communion|ecclesial communion]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20060604_seoul-report_en.html |title=Joint Commission for Dialogue Between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Methodist Council, 2006, "The Grace Given You in Christ: Catholics and Methodists Reflect Further on the Church |access-date=15 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529102827/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20060604_seoul-report_en.html |archive-date=29 May 2014 |df=dmy }}</ref>

In the 1960s, the Methodist Church of Great Britain made ecumenical overtures to the Church of England, aimed at denominational union. Formally, these failed when they were rejected by the Church of England's [[General Synod]] in 1972; conversations and co-operation continued, however, leading in 2003 to the signing of a covenant between the two churches.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 November 2003 |title=Anglican–Methodist Covenant |url=http://www.anglican-methodist.org.uk/ |access-date=19 April 2013 |publisher=Anglican-methodist.org.uk}}</ref> From the 1970s onward, the Methodist Church also started several [[Local Ecumenical Project]]s (LEPs, later renamed Local Ecumenical Partnerships) with local neighbouring denominations, which involved sharing churches, schools and in some cases ministers. In many towns and villages Methodists are involved in LEPs which are sometimes with Anglican or Baptist churches, but most commonly Methodist and [[United Reformed Church]]. In terms of belief, practice and churchmanship, many Methodists see themselves as closer to the United Reformed Church (another [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] church) than to the Church of England.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} In the 1990s and early 21st century, the British Methodist Church was involved in the Scottish Church Initiative for Union, seeking greater unity with the established and Presbyterian [[Church of Scotland]], the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]] and the United Reformed Church in Scotland.<ref>[http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=359 The Methodist Church in Britain | The Scottish Church Initiative For Union (SCIFU)]. Methodist.org.uk. Retrieved on 11 December 2011. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618102759/http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=359|date=18 June 2012}}.</ref>

The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a member of several ecumenical organisations, including the [[World Council of Churches]], the [[Conference of European Churches]], the [[Community of Protestant Churches in Europe]], [[Churches Together in Britain and Ireland]], [[Churches Together in England]], [[Action of Churches Together in Scotland]] and [[Cytûn]] (Wales).

Methodist denominations in the United States have also strengthened ties with other Christian traditions. In April 2005, bishops in the [[United Methodist Church]] approved ''A Proposal for Interim Eucharistic Sharing.'' This document was the first step toward [[full communion]] with the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] (ELCA). The ELCA approved this same document in August 2005.<ref name="ELCA—UMC">{{cite web|url = http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/unitedmethodist/index.html|title = Lutheran – United Methodist Dialogue|publisher = Evangelical Lutheran Church in America|access-date = 8 June 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070612204147/http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/unitedmethodist/index.html|archive-date = 12 June 2007|url-status = dead|df = dmy-all}}</ref> At the 2008 General Conference, the United Methodist Church approved full communion with the ELCA.<ref name="ENI- Methodists Approve Full Communion with ELCA">{{cite web|url=http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=1867 |title=Methodists yes to full communion with Lutherans; no on gay change |publisher=Ecumenical News International |access-date=16 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109084955/http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=1867 |archive-date=9 January 2009 }}</ref> The UMC is also in dialogue with the [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal Church]] for full communion.<ref name="UMC—Episcopal Church USA">{{cite web|url=http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=7664 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707112625/http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=7664 |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 July 2012 |title=Council approves interim pacts with Episcopalians, Lutherans |publisher=The United Methodist Church |access-date=8 June 2007 }}</ref> The UMC and ELC worked together on a document called "Confessing Our Faith Together".<ref>[https://www.unitedmethodistbishops.org/files/tables/content/12792514/fields/files/f9805810a8fa46b99efbc3ea8476230c/confessing-our-faith-together.pdf  United Methodist Bishops website, ''Confessing our faith together; a study and discussion guide'']</ref>

==See also==
<!--Consider carefully whether an article should be listed here! Only articles that are DIRECTLY relevant to Methodism should be listed-->
{{Portal|Christianity}}
* [[List of Methodists]]
** [[List of Methodist theologians]]
* [[List of Methodist churches]]
* [[List of Methodist denominations]]
* [[Saints in Methodism]]
* [[William Taylor (bishop)]] (1821–1902) — Missionary who introduced or promoted Methodism in a number of countries around the world.
{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Abraham, William J. and James E. Kirby (eds.) (2009) ''The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies''. 780 pp.; historiography; [https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Handbook-Methodist-Studies-Handbooks-ebook/dp/B0064A55N2/ excerpt]

===World===
* Borgen, Ole E. (1985) ''John Wesley on the Sacraments: a Theological Study''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Francis Asbury Press, cop. 1972. 307 pp. {{ISBN|0-310-75191-8}}
*  Copplestone, J. Tremayne. (1973) ''History of Methodist Missions, vol. 4: Twentieth-Century Perspectives''. 1288 pp.; [https://archive.org/details/historyofmethodi04barc comprehensive world coverage for US Methodist missions – online]
* Cracknell, Kenneth and White, Susan J. (2005) ''An Introduction to World Methodism'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-81849-4}}
* [[Dion Forster|Forster, D. A.]] and Bentley, W. (eds.) (2008) ''What are we thinking? Reflections on Church and Society from Southern African Methodists.'' Methodist Publishing House, Cape Town, South Africa. {{ISBN|978-1-919883-52-6}}
* [[Dion Forster|Forster, D. A.]] and Bentley, W. (eds.) (2008)'' Methodism in Southern Africa: A celebration of Wesleyan Mission,'' AcadSA Publishers, Kempton Park. {{ISBN|978-1-920212-29-2}}
* Harmon, Nolan B. (ed.) (2 vol. 1974) ''The Encyclopedia of World Methodism'', Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, {{ISBN|0-687-11784-4}}. 2640 pp.
* Heitzenrater, Richard P. (1994) ''Wesley and the People Called Methodists'', Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, {{ISBN|0-687-01682-7}}
* Hempton, David (2005) ''Methodism: Empire of the Spirit'', Yale University Press, {{ISBN|0-300-10614-9}}
* [[Kenneth Wilson (theologian)|Wilson, Kenneth]]. ''Methodist Theology''. London: T & T Clark International, 2011 (Doing Theology)
* Yrigoyen Jr, Charles, and Susan E. Warrick. ''Historical dictionary of Methodism'' (2nd ed. Scarecrow Press, 2013)

===Great Britain===
* Brooks, Alan. (2010) ''West End Methodism: The Story of Hinde Street'', London: Northway Publications, 400 pp.
* Davies, Rupert & Rupp, Gordon. (1965) ''A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain'': Vol 1, Epworth Press
* Davies, Rupert & George, A. Raymond & Rupp, Gordon. (1978) ''A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain'': Vol 2, Epworth Press 
* Davies, Rupert & George, A. Raymond & Rupp, Gordon. (1983) ''A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain'': Vol 3, Epworth Press
* Davies, Rupert & George, A. Raymond & Rupp, Gordon. (1988) ''A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain'': Vol 4, Epworth Press
* Dowson, Jean and Hutchinson, John. (2003) ''John Wesley: His Life, Times and Legacy'' [CD-ROM], Methodist Publishing House, TB214
* Edwards, Maldwyn. (1944) ''Methodism and England: A study of Methodism in its social and political aspects during the period 1850–1932''
* Halevy, Elie, and Bernard Semmel. (1971) ''The Birth of Methodism in England''
* Hempton, David. (1984) ''Methodism and Politics in British Society, 1750–1850'', Stanford University Press, {{ISBN|0-8047-1269-7}}
* Jones, David Ceri et al. (2012) ''The Elect Methodists: Calvinistic Methodism in England and Wales, 1735–1811''
* Kent, John. (2002) ''Wesley and the Wesleyans'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0-521-45532-4}}
* Madden, Lionel. (2003) ''Methodism in Wales: A Short History of the Wesley Tradition'', Gomer Press
* Milburn, Geoffrey & Batty, Margaret (eds.) (1995) ''Workaday Preachers: The Story of Methodist Local Preaching'', Methodist Publishing House
* Stigant, P. (1971) "Wesleyan Methodism and working-class radicalism in the north, 1792–1821." ''Northern History'', Vol 6 (1) pp: 98–116
* Thompson, Edward Palmer. (1963) ''The making of the English working class'' – a famous classic stressing the role of Methodism
* Turner, John Munsey. (2003) ''John Wesley: The Evangelical Revival and the Rise of Methodism in England''
* Turner, John M. (1997) ''Modern Methodism in England, 1932–1996''
* Warner, Wellman J. (1930) ''The Wesleyan Movement in the Industrial Revolution'', London: Longmans, Green
* Vickers, John A, ed. (2000) ''A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland'', Epworth Press

===African Americans===
* Campbell, James T. (1995). [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00589 ''Songs of Zion: The African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and South Africa''], Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-507892-6}}.
* George, Carol V.R. (1973). ''Segregated Sabbaths: Richard Allen and the Rise of Independent Black Churches, 1760–1840'', New York: Oxford University Press, [[LCCN]] 73076908.
* Montgomery, William G. (1993). ''Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree: The African-American Church in the South, 1865–1900'', Louisiana State University Press, {{ISBN|0-8071-1745-5}}.
* Walker, Clarence E. (1982). ''A Rock in a Weary Land: The African Methodist Episcopal Church During the Civil War and Reconstruction'', Louisiana State University Press, {{ISBN|0-8071-0883-9}}.
* Wills, David W. and Newman, Richard (eds.) (1982). ''Black Apostles at Home and Abroad: Afro-American and the Christian Mission from the Revolution to Reconstruction'', Boston, Massachusetts: G. K. Hall, {{ISBN|0-8161-8482-8}}.

===United States===
* Cameron, Richard M. (ed.) (1961). ''Methodism and Society in Historical Perspective'', 4 vol., New York: Abingdon Press.
* Lyerly, Cynthia Lynn (1998). ''Methodism and the Southern Mind, 1770–1810'', Religion in America Series, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-511429-9}}.
* Meyer, Donald (1988). ''The Protestant Search for Political Realism, 1919–1941'', Wesleyan University Press, {{ISBN|0-8195-5203-8}}.
* Schmidt, Jean Miller (1999). ''Grace Sufficient: A History of Women in American Methodism, 1760–1939'', Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press {{ISBN|0-687-15675-0}}.
* Sweet, William Warren (1954). ''Methodism in American History'', Revision of 1953, Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 472 pp.
* Wigger, John H. (1998). ''Taking Heaven by Storm: Methodism and the Rise of Popular Christianity in America'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-510452-8}} – pp. ix & 269 focus on 1770–1910.

===Canada===
* Rawlyk, G. A. (1994). ''The Canada Fire: Radical Evangelicalism in British North America, 1775–1812'', Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, {{ISBN|0-7735-1221-7}}
* Semple, Neil (1996). ''The Lord's Dominion: The History of Canadian Methodism'', Buffalo: McGill-Queen's University Press, {{ISBN|0-7735-1367-1}}.

===Primary sources===
* Richey, Russell E., Rowe, Kenneth E. and Schmidt, Jean Miller (eds.) (2000). ''The Methodist Experience in America: a sourcebook'', Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, {{ISBN|978-0-687-24673-1}}. 756 pp. of original documents.
* Sweet, William Warren (ed.) (1946). ''Religion on the American Frontier: Vol. 4, The Methodists, 1783–1840: A Collection of Source Materials'', New York: H. Holt & Co., – 800 pp. of documents regarding the American frontier.
* The Archive of the Methodist Missionary Society is held at the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]], London, England. [http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/archives/ Special Collections | SOAS Library | SOAS University of London].

==External links==
{{Commons category|Methodism}}
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{{Wikiversity|Methodism}}
<!--Before adding links discuss on talk page-->
* [http://www.kansasheritage.org/um/time~1.html Methodist History Bookmarks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011195716/http://www.kansasheritage.org/um/time~1.html |date=11 October 2012 }}
* {{official website|http://worldmethodistcouncil.org}} – World Methodist Council
** [https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/member-churches/ List of Member Churches]
* [http://www.wmei.ws/ World Methodist Evangelical Institute (Official Website)]

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