The Metropolitan Church Association, also known as the Metropolitan Methodist Mission and Metropolitan Evangelistic Church, is a

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 ...

denomination in the

holiness movement The Holiness movement is a Christianity, Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent influenced other traditions such as Quakers, Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. Churches aligned with ...

. The Metropolitan Church Association has congregations throughout the world, and in the 20th century, it possessed

intentional communities An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, which may be politica ...

in Wisconsin, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Texas, among other locations.Smyrl, Edwin. “The Burning Bush.” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 3, 1947, pp. 335–343.

History and beliefs

The Metropolitan Methodist Mission was founded in the 1890s and gradually entered into schism with the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

. It was initially headquartered in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and then moved to Waukesha. The founders included Edwin L. Harvey and Marmaduke Mendenhall Farson, who "came from pious Methodist homes in Chicago." The Metropolitan Church Association adheres to

Wesleyan-Arminian theology Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

and emphasizes "enthusiastic worship, evangelism, holy living, and communal values." As with the

Reformed Free Methodist Church The Reformed Free Methodist Church (RFMC) was a Methodist denomination in the conservative holiness movement. History The formation of the Reformed Free Methodist Church is a part of the history of Methodism in the United States; it was founded i ...

and

Emmanuel Association of Churches __NOTOC__ The Emmanuel Association of Churches is a Methodist denomination in the conservative holiness movement. The formation of the Emmanuel Association is a part of the history of Methodism in the United States. It was formed in 1937 as a r ...

, the Metropolitan Church Association is among the Holiness Methodist Pacifists, teaching

nonresistance Nonresistance (or non-resistance) is "the practice or principle of not resisting authority, even when it is unjustly exercised". At its core is discouragement of, even opposition to, physical resistance to an enemy. It is considered as a form of pr ...

and

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

. Due to their enthusiastic worship, the members of the Metropolitan Church Association are known as " Holy Jumpers" by those outside the

Wesleyan-Holiness movement The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent influenced other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. Churches aligned with the holiness movement ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the Metropolitan Church Associations once had a

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

called the ''Burning Bush'', which had a circulation of over 100,000.

Burning Bush intentional communities

Burning Bush Colonies were

in Wisconsin, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, as well as

Smith Smith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England ** List of people ...

and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

Counties in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, U.S., south of Bullard, on the Smith-Cherokee county line, among others. In Texas, representatives from the Metropolitan Church Association, commonly called the Society of the Burning Bush, started the colony on a 1,520-acre farm near Bullard in 1912, and in 1913, 375 members of the church arrived at the colony. They constructed a

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

and residences. When colonists joined the church, they lived communally and gave up all their possessions. This was also the makeup of the Burning Bush Colony. They ate together in a common dining hall and had a communal storehouse. They sustained themselves mainly through farming, but also through odd jobs in other local communities. The colony did not have much success with farming, and eventually failed, despite support from the Metropolitan Church Association. After the colony failed, some stayed in Texas, but most returned to the North. According to the 1986 book, ''Ghost Towns of Texas'' by T. Lindsay Baker, the site of Burning Bush was in Bullard 0.3 miles south of Farm to Market Road 344 across from the Douglas Family Cemetery, which is on County Road 3707.

Churches

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, the Metropolitan Church Association has more than 50,000 members and in

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

, its membership exceeds 1,000. There are six congregations in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

with over 600 communicants, where the connexion is known as the Metropolitan Evangelistic Church. In

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, there are twenty-five churches. In the United States, the Metropolitan Church Association discontinued its publication of its periodical the ''Burning Bush'' in 2016.

References

{{reflist

External links

Metropolitan Evangelistic Church (South Africa)

Burning Bush Colony
Handbook of Texas Online, University of North Texas at Denton. Methodist denominations established in the 19th century Holiness denominations Cherokee County, Texas Christian communities Smith County, Texas Ghost towns in East Texas Methodist denominations in North America Christian denominations founded in the United States

History and beliefs

Burning Bush intentional communities

Churches

See also

References

External links