Congregational Methodist Church

The Congregational Methodist Church is a Christian denomination located primarily in the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It is within the Holiness movement and has its theological roots in Wesleyanism. As of 1995, the denomination reported 14,738 in 187 churches.[1]

Congregational Methodist Church
ClassificationProtestantism, Methodism
OrientationWesleyan-Holiness
PolityCongregational
RegionWorldwide
Origin1852
Georgia
Separated fromMethodist Episcopal Church, South
SeparationsFirst Congregational Methodist Church (1855), First Congregational Methodist Church of the USA (1941), New Congregational Methodist Church (1881), Southern Congregational Methodist Church
Congregations187 (1995)
Members14,738 (1995)

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The Congregational Methodist Church was founded in Georgia in 1852 when several churches split from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South out of a desire to blend Methodist doctrine with congregational polity.

The Congregational Methodist Church is Wesleyan-Arminian in doctrine, congregational in its system of worship, republican or representative in its system of government, connexional in nature, missionary in outlook, evangelistic in endeavor, and cooperative in spirit. Each local church calls its pastor, owns its property, and sets its budget.

Its congregations are located in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi. Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, plus the Mexican states of Coahuila and Tamaulipas and the Canadian province of Québec. It also has missionaries in the United States, Mexico, Belize, Haiti, Bolivia and Japan.

In 1944, the Congregational Methodist Church, then headquartered in Dallas, Texas, established The Dallas Bible School, an institution of higher education. The school was moved to Tehuacana, Texas, for several years, and was renamed Westminster College and Bible Institute. The school was permanently relocated to Florence, Mississippi in 1972, and was renamed Wesley College, a name that more reflected its Wesleyan-Arminian tradition. Wesley College was closed in July 2010.[2]

Congregational Methodist Headquarters are located in Florence, Mississippi, serving churches and programs of the denomination.

References
  1. Mead, Frank, et al., Handbook of Denominations, 12th Edition, Abingdon Press, 2005.
  2. Wright, Megan (July 14, 2010). "Debt-ridden Wesley College closing". Mississippi Business Journal. Retrieved 14 January 2016.


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