Methodist Union was the joining together of several of the larger British Methodist denominations. These were the

Wesleyan Methodists The Wesleyan Church is a Methodist Christian denomination aligned with the holiness movement. Wesleyan Church may also refer to: * Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, the Australian branch of the Wesleyan Church Denominations * Allegheny We ...

, the

Primitive Methodists The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834). In the United States, the Primiti ...

, and the United Methodists. In 1932 a Uniting Conference met on 20 September in the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

, London. It adopted the Deed of Union as setting forth the basis of union and declaring and defining the constitution and

doctrinal Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...

standards of the Methodist Church, and a new Model Deed was executed. After 1932, the new united body was known simply as ''The Methodist Church''. To distinguish this from Methodism in other countries (chiefly the United States), it is now styled the

Methodist Church of Great Britain The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestantism, Protestant List of Christian denominations, Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodism, Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, an ...

The various Methodist denominations

The largest was the parent body, the ''Wesleyan Methodist Connexion'', from which a number of offshoots had sprung. The Primitive Methodists were the second largest of these, having arisen in the first decade of the nineteenth century following the conversion of

Hugh Bourne Hugh Bourne (3 April 1772 – 11 October 1852) along with William Clowes was the joint founder of Primitive Methodism, the largest offshoot of Wesleyan Methodism and, in the mid nineteenth century, an influential Protestant Christian movement in ...

and a number of others in Staffordshire to the north of

Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

. They had sought to recover the early faith and practice of

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

at a time when the Wesleyans were hoping to become more respectable. Their return to Wesley's field preaching, notably in the form of

Camp Meeting The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier d ...

s, did not suit the Wesleyans at that time, and Bourne was put out of membership along with several of his companions. Continuing their evangelism, they began the new group, a "

connexion Connexion is a variant spelling of connection and may refer to: Technology and Internet * Connexion by Boeing, an in-flight online connectivity service * Connexions (now called OpenStax CNX), a repository of open educational resources started a ...

" in Methodist terminology, in 1811, taking the name ''Primitive Methodists'' in 1812. The ''United Methodists'' were the other group involved in the 1932 union. This denomination was created by the United Methodist Church Act 1907, which united three existing organisations: the ''

Methodist New Connexion The Methodist New Connexion, also known as Kilhamite Methodism, was a Protestant nonconformist church. It was formed in 1797 by secession from the Wesleyan Methodists, and merged in 1907 with the Bible Christian Church and the United Methodist F ...

'' (founded in 1797), the ''

Bible Christian Church The Bible Christian Church was a Methodist denomination founded by William O’Bryan, a Wesleyan Methodist local preacher, on 18 October 1815 in North Cornwall. The first society, consisting of just 22 members, met at Lake Farm in Shebbear, ...

'' (formed in 1815), and the ''

United Methodist Free Churches United Methodist Free Churches, sometimes called Free Methodists, was an English nonconformist community in the last half of the 19th century. It was formed in 1857 by the amalgamation of the Wesleyan Association (which had in 1836 largely absorbed ...

'' (formed in 1857).

''Hymn Book''

As a part of the Methodist Union, a new volume, ''The Methodist Hymn Book'', was compiled and published in 1933. This included 984 hymns drawn from the various merging groups, as well as a selection of the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

. A separate version of the hymn book was also prepared for use in Australia and New Zealand, which appeared in 1935.Rumsey, D.
The Three Doctrines of the 1933 Methodist Hymn Book
1994, accessed 21 April 2017

Wesleyan Reform Union

The

Wesleyan Reform Union The Wesleyan Reform Union is an independent Methodist Connexion founded in 1859 and based in the United Kingdom. The Union comprises around one hundred individual self-governing churches in England and Scotland. Beliefs are set out in a nine po ...

remains independent, and many of its members do not accept the description ''Methodist''. They arose in the mid-nineteenth century, mainly in the

Erewash Valley The Erewash Valley is the valley of the River Erewash (pronounced ) on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire as far as the River Trent. It runs along the boundary of the southern end of the Derbyshire hills and the more rolling Nottinghamsh ...

area of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, and emphasise the early teachings of Wesley. They also use a Methodist hymn book. One main difference from other Methodists is that every local congregation is autonomous, and cannot be dictated to by a central body. However, they are joined in a union for mutual support.

References

{{reflist

External links

The Methodist Church (UK) web site history section

The Wesleyan Reform Union
Methodism in the United Kingdom

The various Methodist denominations

''Hymn Book''

Wesleyan Reform Union

See also

References

Further reading

External links