The Southern Methodist Church is a conservative Protestant Christian denomination with churches located in the southern part of the United States. The church maintains headquarters in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
The church was formed in 1940 by conservative members of the former Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which in 1939 had reunited with the Methodist Episcopal Church to form the Methodist Church, nearly 100 years after a split in 1844 that occurred due to divisions over slavery.
In 2006, the Southern Methodist Church had 101 churches and 6,000 members. The denomination describes itself as seeking "to continue the doctrinal heritage of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and to spread the message of salvation and Biblical holiness that John Wesley preached."
The denomination maintains Southern Methodist College, an accredited four-year Bible college with a Christian liberal arts and ministerial program, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, near the church's headquarters. The denomination also supports foreign missionaries. The Woman's Missionary Society (WMS), 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.
Famous quotes containing the words southern, methodist and/or church:
“My course is a firm assertion and maintenance of the rights of the colored people of the South according to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, coupled with a readiness to recognize all Southern people, without regard to past political conduct, who will now go with me heartily and in good faith in support of these principles.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Kipling, the grandson of a Methodist preacher, reveals the tin-pot evangelist with increasing clarity as youth and its ribaldries pass away and he falls back upon his fundamentals.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“There was on old person of Fratton
Who went to church with his hat on.
“If I wake up,” he said,
“With my hat on my head,
I shall know that it hasn’t been sat on.””
—Anonymous.