Ole Peter Petersen is credited as the founder of 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...

 in Norway and co-founder of Norwegian and Danish Methodism in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Ole Peter Petersen was born in Fredrikstad

Fredrikstad

is a city and municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 the son of Peter Hansen, a ship’s carpenter and his wife, Catherine. Peter Hansen deserted his family in 1825, and a year later Catherine died. Petersen had thoughts of becoming a clergyman, but his low social status and lack of opportunity for higher education combined to discourage such a notion. He opted for the sea instead, leaving Fredrikstad in 1836. In 1845, during a stop in Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, Petersen heard a series of sermons that brought him to a consciousness awareness of Methodism.

Washington Prairie Norwegian Methodist Church located outside Decorah, Iowa

Decorah, Iowa

Decorah is a city in and the county seat of Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 8,172 at the 2000 census. Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S...

 is considered the mother church of Norwegian-American Methodism. Ole Peter Petersen first established this church and later returned to his native Norway where he established the first Methodist congregation in that country.

Additional sources

• Meistad, Tore Methodism as a Carrier of the Holiness Tradition in Norway (Alta: ALH-forskning, 1994)
• Hassing, Arne Methodism and Society in Norway, 1853-1918 (Northwestern University, 1974)