Evangelical Methodist Church - Other EMCs

Other EMCs

The EMC, though containing Holiness and non-Holiness Fundamentalists in the beginning, experienced a schism early in its history in regard to the Wesleyan doctrine of sanctification. Though many local, independent congregations with a similar heritage retain the name "Evangelical Methodist Church," there are at least two major "other EMCs:"

Evangelical (Independent) Methodist Churches

A faction led by W.W. Breckbill, a founder from the earliest days of the EMC, later became known as the Evangelical (Independent) Methodist Church, or the Fellowship of Evangelical Methodist Churches . They operate Breckbill Bible College in Max Meadows, Virginia. This smaller EMC group is more into cultural separatism than the original denomination and does not teach the doctrine of Entire, Instantaneous Sanctification. They are distinctly more congregationalist in polity.

Evangelical Methodist Church of America

Several independent local churches which go by the name "Evangelical Methodist Church" are affiliated with the national Evangelical Methodist Church of America conference, established in 1953 by dissenting members of the EMC – some of which consider themselves "heirs to the rich theological heritage as embraced by Charles Spurgeon and George Whitefield" rather than Wesley . These churches, too, have a more distinct attitude of cultural separatism than the larger EMC, and place a greater emphasis on congregationalism. They have slightly more things in common with the Conservative Holiness Movement than does the larger EMC.

According to an observer, the two schisms mirror a trend among many denominations:

"The history of the Evangelical Methodist Church illustrates the tensions inherent in a Fundamentalist-Holiness relationship. Founded in 1946 as a protest against growing liberalism in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Methodist Church contained both Holiness and non-Holiness factions. Eventually, the tension grew too great, and in 1952 the denomination split over the issue of entire sanctification. The non-Holiness segment, led by W. W. (William Wallace) Breckbill, took the more ardently Fundamentalist position, aligning itself with the American Council of Christian Churches, a Fundamentalist alliance. In this case, mutual opposition to liberalism was not sufficient to make up for deep differences over the doctrine of sanctification. Once the split took place, those opposed to entire sanctification found themselves more comfortable in the Fundamentalist camp. This story reproduces in miniature the general outline of Fundamentalist-Holiness interaction.