Primitive Methodism

Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. The denomination emerged from a revival at Mow Cop in Staffordshire. 'Primitive' meant "simple" or "relating to an original stage"; the Primitive Methodists saw themselves as practising a purer form of Christianity, closer to the earliest Methodists.

Primitive Methodists were characterised by the relatively plain design of their chapels and their low church worship, compared to the Wesleyan Methodist Church which they had split from. Its social base was among the poorer members of society. They appreciated both its content (damnation, salvation, sinners and saints) and style (direct, spontaneous, and passionate). It was democratic and locally controlled and offered an alternative to the more middle class Wesleyan Methodists and the upper class-controlled Church of England, which were not at all democratic in governance. Even so, it was too formal for some adherents, who moved on to Pentecostalism. Growth was strong in the middle 19th century. Membership declined after 1900 because of growing secularism in society, competition from other Nonconformist denominations and from William Booth's Salvation Army, a resurgence of Anglicanism among the working classes, and competition among different Methodist bodies.

Gradually the differences between the Primitive Methodists and the Wesleyans became smaller, and the two denominations eventually merged (together with the United Methodists) to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain, in 1932.

Primitive Methodism originated in "Camp Meetings" held in the area of The Potteries at Mow Cop, Staffordshire, on 31 May 1807. This led, in 1811, to the joining together of two groups, the 'Camp Meeting Methodists' and the 'Clowesites' led by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes, respectively.

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