page_title: Methodist Church of Great Britain
section_title: Local churches
hierarchical_section_title: Methodist Church of Great Britain / Organisation / Local churches
caption_attribution_description: English: Haroldswick Methodist Church Britain's most northerly church - it does exactly what it says on the sign!
context_page_description: The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical associations.
  Methodism began primarily through the work of John Wesley, who led an evangelical revival in 18th-century Britain. An Anglican priest, Wesley adopted unconventional and controversial practices, such as open-air preaching, to reach factory labourers and newly urbanised masses uprooted from their traditional village culture at the start of the Industrial Revolution. His preaching centred upon the universality of God's grace for all, the effect of faith on character, and the possibility of perfection in love during this life. He organised the new converts locally and in a "Connexion" across Britain.
  Following Wesley's death, the Methodist revival became a separate church and ordained its own ministers; it is called a Nonconformist church because it does not conform to the rules of the established Church of England.
context_section_description: Membership of the Methodist Church is held in a particular local church, or in a local ecumenical partnership. For people who wish to become members of the church there is a period of training and, once the local church council is satisfied with the person's sincere acceptance of the basis of membership of the Methodist Church, a service of confirmation and reception into membership is held; if they have not previously been baptised, the service will include baptism. As at October 2016, church members are dispersed over 4,512 local churches—unevenly distributed over a small number of large churches and a large number of small churches.
  Local church can refer to both the congregation and the building. It is the whole body of members of the Methodist Church linked with one particular place of worship. The concept of the local church is based on the original Methodist "societies" that existed within the Church of England during the time of John Wesley's ministry. A local church is normally led by a presbyter, usually referred to as "the minister".
  Some church members belong to a church council, either because they have been elected by the local church members, or because they hold one of a number of offices within the local church. The church council, with a minister, has responsibility for running the local church. Members of the church council are also trustees of the local church.
caption: The Methodist chapel in Haroldswick is the northernmost church in Britain. Methodism has a strong presence in the Shetland Islands.
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