A DEEPER LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF PRIMITIVE METHODISM
The religious fervor which spread over the English countryside under the leadership of John and Charles Wesley began to cool in the early 1800’s. Two men, Hugh Bourne and William Clowes, local preachers in the Wesleyan Church, became zealous, consecrated men of God, interested in seeing their fellow workers converted and brought to Christ. Feeling the importance of prayer they constantly looked to God for guidance and longed for a day spent entirely in prayer and preaching.
In 1806 Lorenzo Dow, an eccentric but mighty evangelist, from America, told of the amazing results in the great American Camp Meetings. So enthused were Bourne and Clowes that they arranged for “a whole day’s meeting” on Mow Cop, a rough rugged mountain situated on the border between Staffordshire and Cheshire. The meeting was held May 31, 1807, beginning at 6 o’clock in the morning and continuing until 8:00 p.m. From four preaching stands the Gospel was proclaimed with unction and converting power to eagerly listening thousands, many of whom experienced the Joys of Salvation. Yet, even though Methodism had been founded by that great open-air preacher, John Wesley, the converts made that day were refused admittance into the Wesleyan Church. Also, the two men most responsible, Hugh Bourne and William Clowes, were reprimanded for having part in the meetings. When they continued to pursue their actions of holding open-air meetings they were dismissed from the church. Their answer to their objectors was, “It is better to obey God than man.”
Both Hugh Bourne and William Clowes waited patiently for two years for reinstatement in the Wesleyan Church. During this time they sought in vain a place in that fold for the sheep they had gathered from the wilds of sin. They were finally driven by necessity to the founding of a place for themselves and their new converts in the year 1810. The words of Bourne provide the evidence that this was not a schism for “we did not take one from them...but from providential circumstances...it now appeared to be the will of God that we, as a Camp Meeting Community, should form classes and take upon us the care of churches in the fear of God.”
The growth was such that in February, 1812 in Tunstall the people took on the name of The Society of the Primitive Methodists. This name was accepted when John Crawfoot, who had been present in April, 1790 when John Wesley preached in the city of Chester, told how in the course of Wesley’s remarks to the preachers present he reminded them of the need for preaching the Gospel. Then, lifting up his slender hands, while the tears flowed freely down his venerable face, he exclaimed, “and yet there is room! and yet there is room!” And then added, “and this was the way the primitive methodists did!” Hence, the resolution was carried that both the name and the conduct it represented, should be adopted; that like the primitive Methodists, the members of the community should continue to labor, and Primitive Methodists they would be called.
Due to a number of Primitive Methodist people migrating to America, it was felt that the work should be strengthened here. In 1829, the first missionaries arrived in Brooklyn, New York. They suffered many hardships and the societies they founded in New York City struggled against many difficulties and had but feeble growth. Elsewhere, in various parts of Pennsylvania the societies attained considerable strength. Up to 1840 the societies in the United States constituted a “Mission under the control and partial support of the British Conference.” It was found however, that the conditions in the new world could not lend themselves to the customs and methods of the old, and as the British Conference insisted upon maintaining its old world methods and rules in America or withdraw its support, the Conference which met in New York, September 16, 1840—“Resolved, that we consider ourselves from this time, distinct from, and, unconnected with the English Conference.”
In 1842 nine persons who had settled in the States of Illinois and Wisconsin, finding others who had formerly been identified with the Primitive Methodist Connexion, formed themselves into a Primitive Methodist Society. Their work was greatly blessed of God and spread to other parts. Societies multiplied and in 1844 these scattered Churches were formed into what has since been known as “the Western Conference.”
Distance and some unfortunate problems led in 1872, the churches in Pennsylvania and New York which up to this time had been recognized as a District of the Western Conference to be formed into a distinct organization and named the Eastern Conference, with the first session being held in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, May, 1873.
Realizing the great need of a closer bond of unity between the Eastern and Western Conferences, representative visits were exchanged when the respective Conferences were in session. These visits resulted in the formation of a General Conference in September, 1889 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, composed of appointed delegates from each of the Conferences. The purpose was to formulate such laws as in its wisdom were necessary for the regulation of the churches and the more rapid and permanent advancement of the cause of God represented by Primitive Methodism in the United States. At this Conference a Discipline was adopted and the two sections of the Church became one organization.
In 1891 the Eastern Conference was divided and the new Conference was named the Pennsylvania Conference.
Organized Foreign Mission endeavor began in 1897 with the General Conference authorizing monies to be received and sent to the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society in England for a work in Africa. Mission vision continued to grow until in 1921 the Conference in session at Hazleton, Pennsylvania voted to begin a missionary ministry in Guatemala, Central America. In January, 1922 the first Primitive Methodist Church service was held in Guatemala. The work continued to expand until in June, 1983 the Primitive Methodist Church of Guatemala was established. The same general form of government, followed by the parent body in the United States, is used. This Conference has continued to grow throughout Guatemala. Included in its ministry is a hospital, school, clinics, youth camp and an intensive evangelistic outreach for the cause of Christ in Guatemala.
The need for the strengthening of the denominational work resulted in the union of the Western and Pennsylvania Conferences in 1927 and the Eastern Conference in 1948.
Recently churches have been started in new areas of the United States including the states of New Jersey and Florida under the direction of the National Mission Board.
The outreach for religious training in the denomination includes a Conference Center known as The Pocono Mountain Bible Conference and religious bookstores located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and Platteville, Wisconsin. The School of Theology, offering instruction by correspondence, provides theological training for both student ministers and those preparing for the ministry.
With a desire to combine all the resources of the denomination for a greater endeavor for the cause of Christ, the Annual and General Conferences were united in May, 1975. This action placed all the legislative as well as administrative power in the hands of one Conference rather than dividing it between the two bodies as was previously done. The name chosen was The Primitive Methodist Church in the United States of America. The leadership of the Denomination is to be found in the office of a President.
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