| Methodist Church | |
|---|---|
 Metropolitan Methodist Church in 1896 | |
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Methodist |
| Polity | Connectional |
| Associations | World Methodist Council |
| Region | Canada,Bermuda |
| Origin | 1884 |
| Merger of | Methodist Church of Canada; Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada;Bible Christian Church of Canada;Primitive Methodist Church in Canada |
| Merged into | United Church of Canada (1925) |
TheMethodist Church was the majorMethodist denomination inCanada from its founding in 1884 until it merged with two other denominations to form theUnited Church of Canada in 1925. The Methodist Church was itself formed from the merger of four smaller Methodist denominations with ties to British and US Methodist denominations.
Laurence Coughlan was a lay preacher of the British Methodist movement. He arrived inNewfoundland in 1766 and began working amongProtestant English and Irish settlers. In 1779[1]William Black, born inEngland but raised inNova Scotia was converted to Methodism and commenced evangelizing in theMaritimes, his work falling under the supervision of the BritishWesleyan Methodist Church in 1800. In 1855 this body formed theWesleyan Methodist Conference of Eastern British America.[2]
Under the leadership ofWilliam Losee, meanwhile, theMethodist Episcopal Church in the US, established onChristmas Day in 1784, began work in 1791 among British immigrants toUpper Canada. By 1828 the Methodist Episcopal work in Canada had formally severed ties with the US. In 1833 most of it joined with the British Wesleyans to form theWesleyan Methodist Church in Canada, adding to itself the Methodist people ofLower Canada in 1854. That part of it which absented itself from the union re-formed into theMethodist Episcopal Church of Canada in 1834, eventually growing into the second largest Methodist body in Canada.[2]
In turn the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada and the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of Eastern British America united in 1874, annexing as well theMethodist New Connexion Church in Canada (itself an amalgam of several small groups), thereby forming the Methodist Church of Canada.[2]
In 1884 this body joined with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, together with theBible Christian Church of Canada and thePrimitive Methodist Church in Canada, bringing to birth the Methodist Church, with churches in Canada, Newfoundland (which at the time was not part of theCanadian Confederation) andBermuda. This lattermost union made the Methodist Church the largest Protestant denomination in Canada. It now included all Canadian Methodists with the exception of several very small groups: the British Methodist Episcopal Church (a development of theAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church serving chiefly people of colour), two German-speaking bodies (theEvangelical Association and theUnited Brethren in Christ), and theFree Methodist Church (a body that had begun in New York State in 1860 and extended itself into Canada.)[2]
In 1925, the Methodist Church united with 70% of thePresbyterian Church in Canada and 96% of theCongregational Union of Canada to form The United Church of Canada. The Methodist Church with its notable benefactors theEaton andMassey families was the sponsor of Victoria College at theUniversity of Toronto, once and still a mainstay of intellectual rigour at that university, and the alma mater of many of Canada's leaders and most famous thinkers.[citation needed]
Although Methodists were never a majority of anglophone Canadians or even Torontonians, they exerted significant political and social influence in southern Ontario, particularly in Toronto. Many of the causes espoused by and associated with the United Church in the 20th century were, although also associated with other Evangelical Protestant denominations, especially Methodist ones, in particular Sabbatarianism, temperance, the rights of women and missions to the aboriginal peoples of Canada.[2]
Although Methodism in Canada abandoned that label in 1925,[a] many United Church people in Canada are entirely unaware of the term.[citation needed] The foremost Canadian Methodist,Egerton Ryerson, is commemorated by the numerous Ryerson United Churches across the country.[citation needed]
