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The Methodist Church (also called ' in Welsh) is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body and fourth largest Christian denomination in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain (although more limited in Scotland). In October 2013 the Church had 208,738 members in around 4,800 churches, with a wider connection to 446,600 adherents in total.〔 Congregations in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Malta and Gibraltar also form part of the British Methodist Church. It is a member of the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council, and other religious associations. Methodism began through the work of John Wesley (1703–1791), who led an evangelical revival in 18th-century Britain. An ordained Anglican clergyman, 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 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 the whole of Britain. Following Wesley's death the Methodist movement became a separate Church, with its own ordained ministers; it is known as a "Nonconformist Church" because it does not conform to the rules of the Church of England. During 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 re-united in 1932, forming "The Methodist Church" as it is known today. The Methodist Connexion is divided into units called circuits (containing several local churches) which are gathered into thirty-one districts. The supreme governing body of the Church is the Methodist Conference, which meets annually. The Conference is headed by the President of Conference, a presbyteral minister, supported by a Vice-President who can be a local preacher or deacon. ==History== The movement which would become the Methodist Church began in the mid-18th century within the Church of England. A small group of students, including John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, met at Oxford University. They focused on Bible study, methodical study of scripture and living a holy life. Other students mocked them, saying they were the "Holy Club" and "the Methodists", being methodical and exceptionally detailed in their Bible study, opinions and disciplined lifestyle. Eventually, the so-called Methodists started individual societies or classes for members of the Church of England who wanted to live a more religious life. The main Methodist movement outside the Church of England was associated with Howell Harris in Wales.〔Gwyn Davies, ''A Light in the Land, Christianity in Wales 200–2000'', 2002, Bryntirion Press, ISBN 1-85049-181-X, pp. 70–79.〕〔Richard Bennett, ''Howell Harris and the Dawn of Revival'', 1909, English translation 1962, Banner of Truth, ISBN 1-85049-035-X〕 This was to become the ''Calvinistic Methodist Church'' (today known as the Presbyterian Church of Wales). Another branch of the Methodist revival was under the ministry of George Whitefield, resulting in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. The largest branch of Methodism in England was organised by John Wesley. It is a tribute to his charisma and powers of oratory that "Methodism" is commonly assumed to be Wesleyan Methodism unless otherwise stated. Theologically, Wesley held to the Arminian view that salvation, by God's grace, was possible for all human beings, in contrast to the Calvinistic ideas of election and predestination that were accepted by the Nonconformists of 18th-century England. As Wesley and his colleagues preached around the country they formed local societies, that were given national organisation through Wesley's leadership and conferences of preachers. Wesley insisted that Methodists regularly attend their local parish church as well as Methodist meetings.〔Rev. Philip S Watson, ''Anatomy of a Conversion'', 1984, Francis Asbury Press (now Zondervan), ISBN 0-310-74991-3, p. 26.〕 In 1784 Wesley made provision for the governance of Methodism after his death through the 'Yearly Conference of the People called Methodists'. He nominated 100 people and declared them to be its members and laid down the method by which their successors were to be appointed. The annual Conference has remained the governing body of Methodism ever since, with various modifications implemented to increase the number of preachers present, to include lay members (1878) and later women (1911). Although Wesley declared, "I live and die a member of the Church of England", the impact of the movement, especially after Wesley's clandestine ordinations in 1784, made separation from the Church of England virtually inevitable. The estrangement between the Church of England and the Wesleyan Methodists was entrenched by the decision of the Annual Conference of 1795 to permit the administration of the Lord's Supper in any chapel where both a majority of the trustees and a majority of the stewards and leaders allowed it. This permission was extended to the administration of baptism, burial and timing of chapel services, bringing Methodist chapels into competition with the local parish church. Consequently, known Methodists were often excluded from the full life of the Church of England accelerating the trend for Methodism to become entirely separate from the Established Church. For half a century after John Wesley's death in 1791, the Methodist movement was characterised by a series of divisions, normally on matters of church government (e.g. Methodist New Connexion) and separate revivals (e.g. Primitive Methodism in Staffordshire, 1811, and the Bible Christian Movement in South West England, 1815). The second half of the nineteenth century saw many of the small schisms reunited to become the United Methodist Free Churches and a further union in 1907 with the Methodist New Connexion and Bible Christian Church brought the United Methodist Church into being. Finally with the Methodist Union of 1932 the three main Methodist connexions in Britain—the Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists and United Methodist Church—came together to form the present Methodist Church. Some offshoots of Methodism, such as the Salvation Army and Church of the Nazarene, remain totally separate organisations. According to historians such as Elie Halevy, Eric J. Hobsbawm and E. P. Thompson, Methodism had a major impact in the early decades of the making of the English working class (1760–1820). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Methodist Church of Great Britain」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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