Methodist Churches

Can anyone tell me how many different denominations of the Methodist Church there are in the U.S?

Is there a website that gives the differences between each group and how they relate to one another?

Is there a Methodist group that is similar in belief to the Southern Baptist Convention?

 

Ben W,

I'm sure you can google the different branches of Methodist. I don't think there are that many. United Methodist, and First Methodist are the only ones that spring to my mind.

You could compare the Methodist beliefs to the baptist's using the SBC website (www.sbc.net). But in summation, the Methodist Church is considerably different from Baptist in that our Faith agrees mostly with Calvanism. The Methodist Church have their roots in Wesleyanism and Arminaism(spelling?), and they put more emphasis on tradition than the Baptist church (some Baptists have said that they found the Methodist system to be too "Romish". (?)). But there could be a Methodist branch similar to the SBC beliefs, although I've never heard of one.

---Justin

 

The principal versions of the Methodist tradition include the United Methodist Church, the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Free Methodist Church, and the three historically black Methodist denominations: African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church Zion, and Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. In my experience (I am adjunct at a United Methodist seminary), they come in all flavors, as Baptists do. Individuals and congregations range from stoutly evangelical and low-church to decidedly high-church. In addition to the Arminian slant, however, do remember that Methodism is, as far as I know, always connectional -- that is, its pastors and its congregations are seen as branches of the central organization. Baptists view polity from the ground up, by contrast.

 

It has been many years since I attended a Methodist Church so this information nay be dated. The old Methodist Church merged with the United Brothern Church to become the United Methodist Church.

Unlike Baptist Churches, the United Methodist are organized from the top down in that the Pastors are appointed and the organization owns the property. Under this arrangement, there is less oppertunity for splits. Their problem has been people leaving and going to more fundamental churches.

 

They also have Southern Methodists down here in Louisiana, I've seen a couple of them.

 

the churches I meant :D

 

Are those really a separate denomination, or are they simply buildings with old information on them, left unchanged by the merger in the late 1930's of the old ME North and ME South churches (plus the Methodist Protestant Church)? Here in Washington, DC, for example, there are old church buildings which proclaim that they are "Methodist Episcopal South" on the stonework, but of course are now United Methodist.

 

No, the 2 I saw were in good condition, nice new painted signs, I think it's a seperate Methodist group. It said "Southern Methodist Church"

 

Well done Salty! That is an awesome list!

 

An oxymoron, I know, but there are also several "Independent" Methodist churches, which are not affiliated with any of these groups.

 

Another question!

Which of the Methodist Churches on Saltys list are what we would consider to be right wing conservative Christian churches?

 

They exist along a spectrum of almost infinite gradation. The Southern Methodists have always been staunch conservatives. The Free Methodists, although evangelical, are rife with denial of inerrancy these days. The Wesleyan Church (formerly called the Wesleyan Methodist Church) is conservative, but has problems with inerrancy as well.

The Congregational Methodist Church and the Methodist Protestant Church are inerrantist (so far). Some of these old denominations send boys to school and they come out thinking that Princeton invented inerrancy and it can be held only by predestinarians.

Conservative Methodism generally is shrinking and is theologically shaky--even by Methodist standards!

One thing to keep in mind: nonbaptist groups have their own history of controversies, their own internal allegiances, and their own vocabulary. so a lot of translation is necessary to really understand where they stand or how conservative they are.