The Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy (), known also as Italian Methodist Church (''Chiese Metodista Italiana''), is a

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church in the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

tradition active in Italy that is in

full communion Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations or Christian individuals that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constit ...

with the historical

Waldensian Evangelical Church The Waldensian Evangelical Church (''Chiesa Evangelica Valdese'', CEV) is a Protestant denomination active in Italy and Switzerland that was independent until it united with the Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy in the Union of Methodist and ...

in the

Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches The Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches () is an Italian united Protestant denomination. It was founded in 1975 upon the union of the Waldensian Evangelical Church (a Calvinist church with pre-Reformation roots) and the Methodist Evange ...

. It part of the

World Methodist Council The World Methodist Council (WMC), founded in 1881, is a consultative body that represents churches within Methodism and facilitates cooperation among its member denominations. It comprises 80 denominations in 138 countries which together repres ...

. The first Italian Methodist churches were founded by

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and

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missionaries in the 19th century. The missionary work became difficult during the

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

regime, but finally in 1946 the Methodist Evangelical Church of Italy was born as a district of the Annual Conference of the

Methodist Church of Great Britain The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestantism, Protestant List of Christian denominations, Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodism, Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council. M ...

. In 1962 the Methodist Church became fully independent and its structure was organized with a non-

episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

congregationalist polity Congregational polity, or congregationalist polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or " autonomous". Its first articula ...

. In 1975 the Methodist Church was

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with the

, resulting in the

. The two churches have since been one church, governed by one synod, but they have maintained their own identity, ecumenical relations, administration and projects. In fact, contextually with the formation of the Union, the Action for the Methodist Evangelical Churches in Italy (''Opera per le Chiese Evangeliche Metodiste in Italia'') was established in order to maintain ecumenical relations and those with world Methodism, administer Methodist properties such as churches, and finance the work of pastors and deacons. As of today, the Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy includes 4,000 members and 50 congregations.

References

External links

Official website
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Methodism in Europe Methodist denominations Religious organisations based in Italy

See also

References

External links