View source for Primitive Methodist Church

{{Short description|Methodist Christian denomination}}
{{Infobox Christian denomination
|name = Primitive Methodist Church
|image = 
|alt = 
|imagewidth = 
|caption = 
|main_classification = [[Protestant]]
|theology = [[Methodism]] 
|orientation = [[Holiness movement|Holiness]]<ref name="Hillerbrand2004"/>
|founded_date = 1807 
|separated_from = [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]] 
|merger = 
|separations =
|associations = World Federation of Primitive Methodists<br />[[Christian Holiness Partnership]]<ref name="Hillerbrand2004">{{cite book|last=Hillerbrand|first=Hans J.|title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaprot00hill_755|url-access=limited|date=2 August 2004|publisher=Routledge|language=en|isbn=9781135960285|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaprot00hill_755/page/n2869 1898]}}</ref><br />[[National Association of Evangelicals]]
|area = United States (primarily) 
|congregations = 83<ref name="Balmer2002"/> 
|members = 8,487<ref name="Balmer2002"/>
|website = [http://www.primitivemethodistchurch.org/ primitivemethodistchurch.org]
}}
The '''Primitive Methodist Church''' is a Christian denomination within the [[holiness movement]]. Originating in early 19th-century England as a [[Christian revival|revivalist]] movement within [[Methodism]], it was heavily influenced by American evangelist [[Lorenzo Dow]] (1777–1834), whose visits inspired a return to fervent, [[open-air preaching]].

In the United States, the Primitive Methodist Church had eighty-three parishes and 8,487 members in 1996.<ref name="Balmer2002">{{cite book|last=Balmer|first=Randall Herbert|title=Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=syUupeVJOz4C&pg=PA468|access-date=30 May 2017|year=2002|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|language=en|isbn=9780664224097|page=468}}</ref>{{update inline|date=May 2025}} In Great Britain and Australia, the Primitive Methodist Church merged with other denominations, to form the [[Methodist Church of Great Britain]] in 1932 and the [[Methodist Church of Australasia]] in 1901. (The latter subsequently merged into the [[Uniting Church in Australia]] in 1977.)<ref name="Trickler2010">{{cite book|last=Trickler|first=C. Jack|title=A Layman's Guide To: Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations?|year=2010|language=en |isbn=9781449045784|page=177|publisher=AuthorHouse |quote=In 1932 the British part of the Primitive Methodist Church merged with the British Wesleyan Church and the British United Methodists to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain.}}</ref>

==History==
===United Kingdom ===
{{Further|Primitive Methodism in the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Bourne Methodist Church, Boylestone - geograph.org.uk - 4670018.jpg|thumb|Bourne Methodist Church in [[Boylestone]], Darbyshire. The former Primitive chapel was opened in January 1847 by [[Hugh Bourne]].]]
The leaders who originated Primitive Methodism were attempting to restore a spirit of [[Christian revival|revivalism]] as they felt was found in the ministry of [[John Wesley]], with no intent of forming a new church. The leaders were [[Hugh Bourne]] (1772–1852) and [[William Clowes (Primitive Methodist)|William Clowes]] (1780–1851), preachers in the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]]. Bourne had joined a Methodist society at [[Burslem]], but business taking him at the close of 1800 to the colliery district of [[Harriseahead]] and [[Kidsgrove]], he was so impressed by the prevailing ignorance that he began a religious revival of the district, and Clowes joined him in 1805.{{sfn|Grieve|1911|p=338}}

The two preachers heard from Lorenzo Dow of the results of American camp meetings, and held a fourteen-hour [[camp meeting]] on May 31, 1807, at [[Mow Cop]] on the Staffordshire and Cheshire border, which resulted in many converts.{{sfn|Grieve|1911|p=338}} But the Wesleyan Church refused to admit these converts to the church, and reprimanded Bourne and Clowes. Refusing to cease holding open-air meetings, they were dismissed from the church. For a while they took separate paths, but after waiting two years for readmittance to the church, they founded the Primitive Methodists in the year of 1810. Clowes's personality drew a number of strong men after him, and a society meeting held in a kitchen and then in a warehouse became the nucleus of a circuit, a chapel being built at [[Tunstall, Staffordshire|Tunstall]] in July 1811,{{sfn|Grieve|1911|p=338}} and there in February 1812 they took the name ''The Society of the Primitive Methodists''. The name is meant to indicate they were conducting themselves in the way of Wesley and the "original" Methodists, particularly in reference to open-air meetings and allowing female ministry. [[Elizabeth Bultitude|The last of the women roving preachers]] died in 1890.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Bultitude, Elizabeth (1809–1890), Primitive Methodist preacher|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-47022|access-date=2020-08-15|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/47022}}</ref>

Primitive Methodist workers played an important role in the formative phase of the [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|trade union movement in England]]. Primitives were always the most [[working class]] of the main Methodist bodies in Great Britain.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trade unionism |url=https://dmbi.online/index.php?do=app.entry&id=2770 |website=DMBI: A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland |access-date=16 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wearmouth |first1=Robert Featherstone |title=Methodism and the working-class movements in England. 1800-1850 |date=1972 |publisher=Kelley |location=Clifton |isbn=9780678008294 |edition=Reprint |access-date=}}</ref>

The Primitive Methodist Conference initiated talks in 1894 with the [[Bible Christian Church]], a small South West-based Methodist denomination, to explore the possibility of union; however, the proposals were ultimately rejected at the Quarterly Meetings ([[Methodist Circuit|Circuit]] meetings). In 1932 [[Methodist Union|it united]] with the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]] and the [[United Methodist Church (Great Britain)|United Methodists]] to form the [[Methodist Church of Great Britain]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Methodist Union |url=https://dmbi.online/index.php?do=app.entry&id=1925 |website=DMBI: A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland |access-date=16 May 2025}}</ref> The legacy of Hugh Bourne is kept alive at [[Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum|Englesea Brook]], the museum of Primitive Methodism.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Higgitt |first1=Rebekah |title=Royal Society funds small museums to tell stories of local science "heroes" |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2016/dec/08/royal-society-funds-museums-local-science-heroes |access-date=16 May 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=8 December 2016}}</ref>

===United States===
The first missionaries to America arrived in [[Brooklyn, New York]], in 1829. The societies founded in the United States were under the control of the [[Primitive Methodism in the United Kingdom|British Primitive Methodist Conference]] until 1840, when the "American Primitive Methodist Church" was established on September 16. A combining of various organizational structures occurred in May 1975, and the current (2004) official name—''The Primitive Methodist Church in the United States of America''—was chosen.

The denomination holds an annual conference. A president, elected every four years, is the chief leader of the denomination and their headquarters are located in his home. In 2000 the American body had 79 congregations with 4502 members.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

===Australia===
Primitive Methodist congregations were also established in Australia. In 1902 the Primitive Methodist Church, Wesleyan Methodist Church, Bible Christians and the United Methodist Free Churches formed the [[Methodist Church of Australasia]]. In 1977 the Methodist Church of Australasia joined with the [[Congregational Union of Australia]] and [[Presbyterian Church of Australia]] to form the [[Uniting Church in Australia]].

==Beliefs==
The Primitive Methodist Church recognizes the dominical [[sacraments]] of Baptism and Holy Communion, as well as other [[Rite (Christianity)|rite]]s, such as Holy Matrimony.<ref name="Acornley1909">{{cite book|last=Acornley|first=John Holmes|title=A History of the Primitive Methodist Church in the United States of America from Its Origin and the Landing of the First Missionaries in 1829 to the Present Time|year=1909|publisher=B. R. Acornley|language=en|page=256|quote=Resolved: That no person holding a Local Preacher's Annual License, shall perform the sacraments, either of baptism, Lord's Supper, or marriage, excepting during the absence of, or by request of, the minister in charge.}}</ref>

==Missions==
The Primitive Methodist Church in the United States has [[Christian mission|missions]] in [[Spain]], [[Guatemala]] and other countries throughout the world.<ref name="Hillerbrand2004"/> Its mission work in Africa dates back to 1897 and its mission work in Guatemala was started in 1921.<ref name="Kostlevy2010">{{cite book|last=Kostlevy|first=William|title=The A to Z of the Holiness Movement|date=1 April 2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|language=en |isbn=9781461731801|page=241}}</ref>

==Ecumenical relations==
The Primitive Methodist Church in the United States, with respect to [[ecumenism]], is a member of the [[Christian Holiness Partnership]], an organization of churches in the [[Wesleyan]]–[[Arminian]] tradition, and a member of the [[National Association of Evangelicals]].<ref name="Hillerbrand2004"/>

==See also==
{{Portal|Evangelical Christianity}}
*[[Bible Methodist Connection of Churches]]
*[[Evangelical Methodist Church of America]]
*[[Fundamental Methodist Conference, Inc.]]
*[[Free Methodist Church]]
*[[Southern Methodist Church]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*Petty, John. [https://archive.org/details/cu31924010556227 ''The History of the Primitive Methodist Connexion : from its origin to the conference of 1860, the first jubilee year of the connexion :  compiled under the direction of the book committee of the denomination, and approved by the conference''], London, 1864.
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Primitive Methodist Church, The|volume=22|pages=338–339|first=Alexander James|last=Grieve|author-link=Alexander James Grieve}} This contains a detailed history of the church up to 1909.
*''Handbook of Denominations in the United States, 11th Edition'', Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill & Craig D. Atwood {{ISBN|0687165717}} 
*''Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States 2000'', ASARB & Glenmary Research Center {{ISBN|0-914422-26-X}}
*Young, D. M., ''The great River: Primitive Methodism till 1868'' (Stoke-on-Trent: Tentmaker Publications 2016)
*Young, D. M., ''Change and Decay: Primitive Methodism from late Victorian Times till World War 1'' (Stoke-on-Trent: Tentmaker Publications 2017)
*Young, D. M., ''The Primitive Methodist Mission to North Wales'' (Wesley Historical Society, Wales, in association with Tentmaker Publications, Stoke-on-Trent 2016)
*www.primitivemethodism.com

==External links==
*[http://www.primitivemethodistchurch.org Denominational website]
*[http://www.engleseabrook-museum.org.uk/ Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum of Primitive Methodism]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080821133437/http://www.rewlach.org.uk/books/Kendall/index.htm History of the Primitive Methodist Connexion] by H. B. Kendall
*[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REbourne.htm Hugh Bourne]
*[http://www.primitivemethodism.com Website with articles, photos and books on Primitive Methodism past and present]

{{National Association of Evangelicals}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Methodist denominations established in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Former Methodist denominations|Primitive]]
[[Category:1807 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Methodist denominations in North America]]