Free Methodist Church in Canada
Encyclopedia
The Free Methodist Church is a denomination of Methodism
, which is a branch of Protestantism
. It was founded in 1860 in New York
by a group, led by B. T. Roberts
, who was defrocked in the Methodist Episcopal Church
for criticisms of the spiritual laxness of the church hierarchy. The Free Methodists are so named because they believed it was improper to charge for better seats in pews closer to the pulpit. They also opposed slavery
and supported freedom for all slaves in the United States
, while many Methodists in the South at that time did not actively oppose slavery. Beyond that, they advocated "freedom" from secret societies, which had allegedly undermined parts of the Methodist Episcopal Church. An example would be Free Masons.
The Free Methodist Church
's roots are in the United States
. At first the church consisted of many former Methodist Episcopal people who had been actively involved in the Underground Railroad
just prior to the American Civil War
, which had sought to aid escaped slaves gain safety and freedom in Canada
. Some of the stations are still centers of Free Methodist activity today, such as North Chili, New York, site of present-day Roberts Wesleyan College
, a Free Methodist school named after the founder. From there fugitive slaves were taken to Lake Ontario
and boated across to Canada. Another Underground Railroad site was Pekin, New York
, near the Niagara River
, where slaves also crossed. This tiny town was the site of a Holiness
camp meeting
, as well, and the site of the organizational conference of the church in 1860. The denomination also has numerous churches in the Midwest, some of the oldest ones also being in communities that were abolitionist
centers and Underground Railroad stops along the southern shore of Lake Michigan
.
Today, the Free Methodist Church is considered to be a part of Evangelical
Protestant Christianity, and its theology
is similar to that of the Wesleyan Church
, the Church of the Nazarene
and other Holiness
churches.
had already had a
long history in Canadian society. Methodism
came to Canada
through the influence of Paul and Barbara Heck. Originating in Germany
, the Hecks had emigrated first to Ireland
, where Barbara was converted at the age of 28 under Methodist preaching, possibly that of John Wesley
himself.
In the early sixties of the 18th century, they sailed for New York, along with Barbara’s cousin
Philip Embury and his family. During the time of the American Revolution, Paul and Barbara
Heck and Philip Embury’s widow, Mary, and their son, fled to the Prescott
area of Upper Canada
.
Remembering the protection they had received under the British Crown when they had fled from Germany to Ireland, they now joined the movement into Canada of thousands of United Empire Loyalists
whose loyalties to Britain would not allow them to join the rebel cause in the colonies. So it was that Paul Heck was present when the first Canadian Methodist circuit was organized in 1791, the year of John Wesley
’s death.
The Methodist cause spread rapidly in Canada. Within ninety years, and after two mergers, there
were five different non-ethnic branches: the Methodist Church of Canada
, Methodist Episcopal Church
, Primitive Methodist Church, Bible Christian Church
and the infant Free Methodist Church. The first four merged into one Methodist body in 1883. This body later merged with Congregationalists and a significant number of Presbyterians
to become the United Church of Canada
in 1925.
In the fall of 1873 and winter of 1874, General Superintendent B. T. Roberts
visited the area just north and east of the city of Toronto
, the then township of Scarborough
, on the invitation of Robert Loveless, a Primitive Methodist layman. Later, in 1876 while presiding over the very young North Michigan Conference, he read conference appointments that assigned C.H. Sage his field of labour—Canada.
Reluctantly, Sage came to southwestern Ontario. He was well received by disaffected Methodists,
unhappy with the direction in which the larger Methodist bodies were moving. He preached a
gospel calling men and women to conversion and the unconverted responded in encouraging
numbers.
His preaching took him as far north as the Muskoka region. By 1880, the Canada Conference consisted of two districts, 11 societies, 13 preaching points and 324 members.
In the early years, the work grew rapidly. Churches were formed in eastern Ontario
. By the early twentieth century it had spread to the prairies of western Canada. By 1920, there was an impetus to consolidate as a distinctly Canadian body. The result was the All Canada Conference—a
gathering of western and eastern leaders in Sarnia, Ontario. It was a landmark event of praying,
planning and dreaming. Out of that meeting came such results as the formation of a Canadian
Executive Board to manage distinctly Canadian matters, the launching of the Canadian Free Methodist Herald, and the establishment of Lorne Park College near Port Credit, Ontario
. The passing of a Federal Act of Incorporation in 1927 was also largely traceable to the All Canada Conference in Sarnia. In 1940, Aldersgate College
was founded in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
, another result of the vision generated at the All Canada Conference.
The Free Methodist Church in Canada was further strengthened in 1959 by a merger with the
Holiness Movement Church. This latter denomination was the product of revivals in the
Methodist churches of the Ottawa Valley under Ralph Horner
during the waning years of the
nineteenth century. This union, brought about by the labour of strong leaders in both bodies
enlarged the world vision of the Canadian church by adding missionary concerns in Egypt
, Brazil
and Northern Ireland
, fields the Holiness Movement Church had established.
In the early nineteen-seventies Canadian Free Methodist leaders applied to the Free Methodist
Church of North America requesting authorization for the Canadian Church to become a general
conference in its own right. Consultation resulted in the establishment of a Canadian
Jurisdictional Conference, a halfway step, which came into being in August 1974. At the
General Conference of 1989, held in Seattle, Washington
, the Canadian Jurisdictional Conference was authorized to form as a General Conference. On August 6, 1990, the Canadian General Conference was inaugurated in Mississauga, Ontario
. At the Second General Conference of The Free Methodist Church in Canada, held in 1993, the British Columbia
District of the Pacific Northwest Conference became a part of The Free Methodist Church in Canada.
A further action was taken in December 1994, which merged the four Canadian Annual Conferences. Having become effective January 1, 1995, this action left one centralized location for denomination ministry and the discontinuance of regional offices.
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, which is a branch of Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
. It was founded in 1860 in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
by a group, led by B. T. Roberts
B. T. Roberts
Benjamin Titus Roberts , first trained as an attorney, then entered the ministry in the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of New York State. His ministerial studies were done at Wesleyan University in Connecticut...
, who was defrocked in the Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
for criticisms of the spiritual laxness of the church hierarchy. The Free Methodists are so named because they believed it was improper to charge for better seats in pews closer to the pulpit. They also opposed slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and supported freedom for all slaves in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, while many Methodists in the South at that time did not actively oppose slavery. Beyond that, they advocated "freedom" from secret societies, which had allegedly undermined parts of the Methodist Episcopal Church. An example would be Free Masons.
Background of the Free Methodist Church in Canada
The Free Methodist ChurchFree Methodist Church
The Free Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement. It is evangelical in nature and has its roots in the Arminian-Wesleyan tradition....
's roots are in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At first the church consisted of many former Methodist Episcopal people who had been actively involved in the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
just prior to the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, which had sought to aid escaped slaves gain safety and freedom in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Some of the stations are still centers of Free Methodist activity today, such as North Chili, New York, site of present-day Roberts Wesleyan College
Roberts Wesleyan College
Roberts Wesleyan College is a Christian liberal arts college located in North Chili, New York. It is the first educational institution established for Free Methodists in North America...
, a Free Methodist school named after the founder. From there fugitive slaves were taken to Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
and boated across to Canada. Another Underground Railroad site was Pekin, New York
Pekin, New York
Pekin, New York is an unincorporated hamlet in the towns of Cambria and Lewiston in Niagara County, New York, USA. It was a stop in the Underground Railroad-References:...
, near the Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
, where slaves also crossed. This tiny town was the site of a Holiness
Holiness movement
The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...
camp meeting
Camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in Britain and once common in some parts of the United States, wherein people would travel from a large area to a particular site to camp out, listen to itinerant preachers, and pray...
, as well, and the site of the organizational conference of the church in 1860. The denomination also has numerous churches in the Midwest, some of the oldest ones also being in communities that were abolitionist
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
centers and Underground Railroad stops along the southern shore of Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
.
Today, the Free Methodist Church is considered to be a part of Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Protestant Christianity, and its theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
is similar to that of the Wesleyan Church
Wesleyan Church
"Wesleyan" has been used in the title of a number of historic and current denominations, although the subject of this article is the only denomination to use that specific title...
, the Church of the Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness movement in North America with its members colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination in the world. At the end of 2010, the Church of the...
and other Holiness
Holiness movement
The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...
churches.
The Free Methodist Church in Canada's Vision
It is the vision of The Free Methodist Church in Canada to see healthy churches within the reach of all people in Canada and beyond.The Free Methodist Church in Canada's Mission
The Free Methodist Church In Canada (FMCIC) aims to resource the ministry of its local congregations to:- Find, befriend and introduce seeking people to Jesus Christ and the fellowship of his people.
- Mature those who desire to grow in Christlikeness.
- Commission prepared people to purposeful service.
- Interpret life theologically. Invest resources strategically.
- Celebrate that God’s presence and power make all things possible.
History of the Free Methodist Church in Canada
Prior to the emergence of The Free Methodist Church in Canada, MethodismMethodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
had already had a
long history in Canadian society. Methodism
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
came to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
through the influence of Paul and Barbara Heck. Originating in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the Hecks had emigrated first to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, where Barbara was converted at the age of 28 under Methodist preaching, possibly that of John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
himself.
In the early sixties of the 18th century, they sailed for New York, along with Barbara’s cousin
Philip Embury and his family. During the time of the American Revolution, Paul and Barbara
Heck and Philip Embury’s widow, Mary, and their son, fled to the Prescott
Prescott, Ontario
Prescott is a town of approximately 4,180 people on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario, Canada. The Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, 5 km east of Prescott in Johnstown, connects it with Ogdensburg, New York...
area of Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
.
Remembering the protection they had received under the British Crown when they had fled from Germany to Ireland, they now joined the movement into Canada of thousands of United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
whose loyalties to Britain would not allow them to join the rebel cause in the colonies. So it was that Paul Heck was present when the first Canadian Methodist circuit was organized in 1791, the year of John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
’s death.
The Methodist cause spread rapidly in Canada. Within ninety years, and after two mergers, there
were five different non-ethnic branches: the Methodist Church of Canada
Methodist Church of Canada
The Methodist Church of Canada was a united church formed in 1884 and comprising most former Methodist denominations in Canada including some that had been active along Canada's eastern coast and north of the St...
, Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
, Primitive Methodist Church, Bible Christian Church
Bible Christian Church
The Bible Christian Church was a Methodist denomination founded by William O’Bryan, a Wesleyan Methodist local preacher, on 18 October 1815 in North Cornwall, with the first society, just 22 members, meeting at Lake Farm in Shebbear, Devon.-Early history:...
and the infant Free Methodist Church. The first four merged into one Methodist body in 1883. This body later merged with Congregationalists and a significant number of Presbyterians
Presbyterian Church in Canada
The Presbyterian Church in Canada is the name of a Protestant Christian church, of presbyterian and reformed theology and polity, serving in Canada under this name since 1875, although the United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939...
to become the United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...
in 1925.
In the fall of 1873 and winter of 1874, General Superintendent B. T. Roberts
B. T. Roberts
Benjamin Titus Roberts , first trained as an attorney, then entered the ministry in the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of New York State. His ministerial studies were done at Wesleyan University in Connecticut...
visited the area just north and east of the city of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, the then township of Scarborough
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
, on the invitation of Robert Loveless, a Primitive Methodist layman. Later, in 1876 while presiding over the very young North Michigan Conference, he read conference appointments that assigned C.H. Sage his field of labour—Canada.
Reluctantly, Sage came to southwestern Ontario. He was well received by disaffected Methodists,
unhappy with the direction in which the larger Methodist bodies were moving. He preached a
gospel calling men and women to conversion and the unconverted responded in encouraging
numbers.
His preaching took him as far north as the Muskoka region. By 1880, the Canada Conference consisted of two districts, 11 societies, 13 preaching points and 324 members.
In the early years, the work grew rapidly. Churches were formed in eastern Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. By the early twentieth century it had spread to the prairies of western Canada. By 1920, there was an impetus to consolidate as a distinctly Canadian body. The result was the All Canada Conference—a
gathering of western and eastern leaders in Sarnia, Ontario. It was a landmark event of praying,
planning and dreaming. Out of that meeting came such results as the formation of a Canadian
Executive Board to manage distinctly Canadian matters, the launching of the Canadian Free Methodist Herald, and the establishment of Lorne Park College near Port Credit, Ontario
Port Credit, Ontario
Port Credit is found at the mouth of the Credit River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, within the southcentral area of the city of Mississauga...
. The passing of a Federal Act of Incorporation in 1927 was also largely traceable to the All Canada Conference in Sarnia. In 1940, Aldersgate College
Aldersgate College
Aldersgate College is a private college located in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines. Not to be confused with another school of the same name, which started as Moose Jaw Bible School and later transitioned to this name...
was founded in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Moose Jaw is a city in south-central Saskatchewan, Canada on the Moose Jaw River. It is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians. It is best known as a retirement and tourist city that serves as a hub to the hundreds of small towns...
, another result of the vision generated at the All Canada Conference.
The Free Methodist Church in Canada was further strengthened in 1959 by a merger with the
Holiness Movement Church. This latter denomination was the product of revivals in the
Methodist churches of the Ottawa Valley under Ralph Horner
Ralph Horner
Ralph Byron Horner was a Canadian Senator, farmer, businessman and the patriarch of a Western Canadian political family.Born in North Clarendon, Quebec, Horner and his family settled in Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan....
during the waning years of the
nineteenth century. This union, brought about by the labour of strong leaders in both bodies
enlarged the world vision of the Canadian church by adding missionary concerns in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, fields the Holiness Movement Church had established.
In the early nineteen-seventies Canadian Free Methodist leaders applied to the Free Methodist
Church of North America requesting authorization for the Canadian Church to become a general
conference in its own right. Consultation resulted in the establishment of a Canadian
Jurisdictional Conference, a halfway step, which came into being in August 1974. At the
General Conference of 1989, held in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, the Canadian Jurisdictional Conference was authorized to form as a General Conference. On August 6, 1990, the Canadian General Conference was inaugurated in Mississauga, Ontario
Mississauga, Ontario
Mississauga is a city in Southern Ontario located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, and in the western part of the Greater Toronto Area. With an estimated population of 734,000, it is Canada's sixth-most populous municipality, and has almost doubled in population in each of the last two decades...
. At the Second General Conference of The Free Methodist Church in Canada, held in 1993, the British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
District of the Pacific Northwest Conference became a part of The Free Methodist Church in Canada.
A further action was taken in December 1994, which merged the four Canadian Annual Conferences. Having become effective January 1, 1995, this action left one centralized location for denomination ministry and the discontinuance of regional offices.
The Bishops of The Free Methodist Church in Canada
- Donald N. BastianDonald N. BastianDonald N. Bastian is a retired Bishop of The Free Methodist Church of North America, serving in this office from 1974-1990. In 1990 he was elected the first bishop of the newly formed Free Methodist Church in Canada, from which office he retired in 1993...
1974–1993 - Gary R. Walsh 1993–1997; left to become President of the Evangelical Fellowship of CanadaEvangelical Fellowship of CanadaThe Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is a national parachurch association of over . All affiliated groups identify themselves as part of the evangelical movement in Canada....
- Keith A. ElfordKeith A. ElfordBishop Keith Elford is the bishop of the Free Methodist Church in Canada. Prior to becoming bishop in June 1997, Rev. Keith Elford was 24 years in the pastorate, serving as Senior Pastor of at the time of his appointment. His earlier positions included Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; Whitby, Ontario;...
1997–present
Other Members of the National Leadership Team
- Kim Henderson
- Mark Molczanski
- Dan Sheffield
- Jared Siebert