The Southern Methodist Church is a conservative

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

denomination with churches located in the southern part of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The church maintains headquarters in

Orangeburg, South Carolina Orangeburg, also known as ''The Garden City'', is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population of the city was 13,964 according to the 2010 United States Census and declined to 1 ...

. The church was formed in 1940 by conservative members of the former

Methodist Episcopal Church, South The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...

, which in 1939 had reunited 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 on a national basis. In ...

to form the Methodist Church, nearly 100 years after a split in 1844 that occurred due to divisions over slavery. In 2017, the Southern Methodist Church had approximately 85 churches and 3,200 members. Over 50% of the churches (47) are located in South Carolina. The denomination describes itself as seeking "to continue the doctrinal heritage of the

and to spread the message of salvation and Biblical holiness that John Wesley preached."Southern Methodist Church: About us
/ref> The denomination maintains Southern Methodist College, a four-year Bible college with a Christian liberal arts and ministerial program, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, near the church's headquarters: https://smcollege.edu The denomination also supports foreign missionaries. The Woman's Missionary Society (WMS)(https://thesmc.org/womens-missionary-society/), the Epworth League children and youth program, and the Cartwright Men's Fellowship serve as specialized ministry and training efforts within the local churches and on the district and conference levels.

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External links

*https://thesmc.org Southern Methodist Church] website History of Methodism in the United States Christian organizations established in 1940 Methodism in South Carolina Southern Evangelical denominations in North America Methodist denominations established in the 20th century Holiness denominations Conservatism in the United States 1940 establishments in South Carolina {{Methodist-stub

See also

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