The Metropolitan Church Association, also known as the Metropolitan Methodist Mission and Metropolitan Evangelistic Church, is a
Methodist denomination in the
holiness movement
The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is historically distinguished by its emph ...
.
The Metropolitan Church Association has congregations throughout the world, and in the 20th century, it possessed
intentional communities in Wisconsin, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Texas, among other locations.
[Smyrl, Edwin. “The Burning Bush.” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 3, 1947, pp. 335–343.]
History and beliefs
The Metropolitan Methodist Mission was founded in the 1890s and gradually entered into schism with the
Methodist Episcopal Church. It was initially headquartered in
Chicago and then moved to
Waukesha.
The founders included
Edwin L. Harvey and Marmaduke Mendenhall Farson, who "came from pious Methodist homes in Chicago."
The Metropolitan Church Association adheres to
Wesleyan-Arminian theology and emphasizes "enthusiastic worship, evangelism, holy living, and communal values."
As with the
Reformed Free Methodist Church and
Emmanuel Association of Churches, the Metropolitan Church Association is among the Holiness Methodist Pacifists, teaching
nonresistance and
peace.
Due to their enthusiastic worship, the members of the Metropolitan Church Association are known as "
Holy Jumpers" by those outside the
Wesleyan-Holiness movement.
In the
United States, the Metropolitan Church Associations once had a
periodical called the ''Burning Bush'', which had a circulation of over 100,000.
Burning Bush intentional communities
Burning Bush Colonies were
Methodist intentional communities in Wisconsin, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, as well as
Smith and
Cherokee Counties in
Texas, U.S., south of
Bullard
Bullard is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Alan Bullard (born 1947), British composer
* Bill Bullard Jr. (1943-2020), American politician
* Charles W. Bullard, 19th-century American criminal
* David Bullard (born 1952), Sout ...
, on the Smith-Cherokee county line, among others.
In Texas, representatives from the Metropolitan Church Association, commonly called the Society of the Burning Bush, started the colony on a 1,520-acre farm near Bullard in 1912, and in 1913, 375 members of the church arrived at the colony. They constructed a
tabernacle and residences.
When colonists joined the church, they lived communally and gave up all their possessions. This was also the makeup of the Burning Bush Colony. They ate together in a common dining hall and had a communal storehouse. They sustained themselves mainly through farming, but also through odd jobs in other local communities.
The colony did not have much success with farming, and eventually failed, despite support from the Metropolitan Church Association. After the colony failed, some stayed in Texas, but most returned to the North.
According to the 1986 book, ''Ghost Towns of Texas'' by T. Lindsay Baker, the site of Burning Bush was in Bullard 0.3 miles south of Farm to Market Road 344 across from the Douglas Family Cemetery, which is on County Road 3707.
Churches
In
India, the Metropolitan Church Association has more than 50,000 members and in
Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...
, its membership exceeds 1,000.
There are six congregations in
South Africa with over 600 communicants, where the connexion is known as the Metropolitan Evangelistic Church.
In
Mexico, there are twenty-five churches.
In the United States, the Metropolitan Church Association discontinued its publication of its periodical the ''Burning Bush'' in 2016.
See also
*
Bruderhof Communities
*
House of Prayer (denomination)
References
{{reflist
External links
Metropolitan Evangelistic Church (South Africa)Burning Bush Colony Handbook of Texas Online, University of North Texas at Denton.
Methodist denominations established in the 19th century
Holiness denominations
Cherokee County, Texas
Christian communities
Smith County, Texas
Ghost towns in East Texas
Methodist denominations in North America