Methodist Church of Great Britain
Methodist Christian denomination in Britain / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodists worldwide.[6] It participates in the World Methodist Council, and the World Council of Churches among other ecumenical associations.
The Methodist Church[1] | |
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Classification | Protestant |
Orientation | Methodist |
Theology | Wesleyan |
Governance | Connexionalism |
President | Helen Cameron[2] |
Vice-President | Carolyn Godfrey[2] |
Associations | |
Region | Great Britain Channel Islands · Isle of Man · Gibraltar · Malta |
Headquarters | Methodist Church House, 25 Tavistock Place, London[3] |
Origin | 1932 (Methodist Union)1 Great Britain |
Merger of | |
Local churches | 4,110 (as of 2019[update])[4] |
Members | 136,891 (as of 2022[update])[5] |
Ministers | 3,459 |
Aid organization | All We Can |
Official website | methodist |
1. The Methodist movement originated in the 18th century |
Methodism began primarily through the work of John Wesley, who led an evangelical revival in 18th-century Britain. An Anglican priest, Wesley adopted unconventional and controversial practices, such as open-air preaching, to reach factory labourers and newly urbanised masses uprooted from their traditional village culture at the start of the Industrial Revolution. His preaching centred upon the universality of God's grace for all, the transforming effect of faith on character, and the possibility of perfection in love during this life. He organised the new converts locally and in a "Connexion" across Britain. Following Wesley's death, the Methodist revival became a separate church and ordained its own ministers; it was called a Nonconformist church because it did not conform to the rules of the established Church of England. In the 19th century, the Wesleyan Methodist Church experienced many secessions, with the largest of the offshoots being the Primitive Methodists. The main streams of Methodism were reunited in 1932, forming the Methodist Church as it is today.
Methodist circuits, containing several local churches, are grouped into thirty districts. The supreme governing body of the church is the annual Methodist Conference; it is headed by the president of Conference, a presbyteral minister, supported by a vice-president who can be a local preacher or deacon. The denomination ordains women and openly LGBT ministers.
The Methodist Church is Wesleyan in its theology and practice. It uses the historic creeds and bases its doctrinal standards on Wesley's Notes on the New Testament and his Forty-four Sermons.[7]: 213 Church services can be structured with liturgy taken from a service book—especially for the celebration of Holy Communion—but commonly include free forms of worship.
The 2009 British Social Attitudes Survey found that around 800,000 people, or 1.29 per cent of the British population, identified as Methodist.[8] As of 2022[update], active membership stood at approximately 137,000,[5] representing an 32 per cent decline from the 2014 figure.[9] Methodism is the fourth-largest Christian group in Britain.[10] Around 202,000 people attend a Methodist church service each week, while 490,000 to 500,000 take part in some other form of Methodist activity, such as youth work and community events organised by local churches.[11]