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The new Christian denomination of Methodists was formed in the early 18th century as a breakaway movement from the established Church of England. It was mainly formed by two Church of England ministers, John Wesley, the preacher and his brother, Charles Wesley, the hymn writer. The Methodist Church has had a following in Ripley from the formation of the earliest church up to the present day.
John Wesley preached in the open-air, travelling all over the country to preach in open spaces or wherever people would listen to him. Although he was sometimes well received, on many occasions he was driven out of towns or villages by those hostile to his measures. The two were soon banned from preaching in the established church, so the Wesleyan Methodist Church was formed. John Wesley first preached in Ripley on Friday 18 June 1742, [1] [2] noting, "I left Sheffield, and after preaching at Ripley, by the way, hastened on to Donnington-Park". [3] Although no specific place is named local tradition places him in the dissenters chapel at the bottom of church street (one north facing stone wall still stands and is part of what was the old co-op food hall now Ice night club).
A break-away movement from the Wesleyan Methodist Church took place in 1810 when a group of Methodists in the North Staffordshire area held a series called ‘Love Feasts or Camp Meetings’ which did not please the existing Methodist Church. They were expelled and formed the Primitive Methodist Church, which went on to spread throughout the land.
In 1849 there was another break-away from the Wesleyan Church, not on account of faith or belief but on individual freedoms of the members. Ripley was a hot spot for this new movement, which became known as Reform Methodist. United Methodist Free Churches were later built in many towns and villages. A group of these people met in a room at the back George Rowland's shop in Church Street (now Godkins) and later in a room in malthouse yard. In the 1850s there was a religious revival in Ripley, and the lecture hall in Wood Street, which had been built in the 1840, was purchased, which lead to the building of a new chapel, called Ebenezer. By 1860 this would not be able to hold all the large numbers attending. A new church also called Ebenezer was then built in Co-Op Square, at a cost of £1,700. The church was able to hold 600 people, and also had a schoolroom.
After a mission in 1864, a church was also built at Green Hillocks, and called Bethel. Ebenezer Church was closed in the early 1960s and is now a car park.
Following the creation of the church in 1810, a following had built up in Ripley by the late 1840s. The group met in a room in Malt House. In 1850 the Ripley Primitive Methodist Church became head of a new circuit. This Church was in Grosvenor Road [4] on a site which was formerly the Co-Op Fish and Meat shop and is now a wine Bar. In the 1870s there was a big religious revival under the leadership of the Rev John Thomas Neale. By this time the Church in Grosvenor Road was too small to hold all the people who attended, so in 1876 a group of miners bought new premises in Wood Street, which had reverted to a lecture Hall and ladies school. The cost of the move was £700 and the new premises were called Wood Street Mission Hall. A schoolroom was then built in 1892 at a cost of £1,379 and was known as Primitive Methodist Church, Wood Street. There are still families connected today from the 1876 Pioneers.
The remaining congregations from Grosvenor Road built a new Church on Nottingham Road in 1893 [4] at a cost of £2,075, and included a schoolroom.
In 1932, the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Primitive Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church all joined together and became known simply as the Methodist Church. At this time the membership of the five Methodist Churches was 383. In 1998 the membership was 67 + 200 on the community roll. The Ebenezer Church closed in the early 1960s and members transferred to the Wesley Church. The Wesley and the Bethel Church closed in the late 1960s, with the members transferring to Nottingham Road Church.
In 1989, The Nottingham Road Methodist Church closed and members transferred to Wood Street Methodist Church, as this was now the only Methodist church in Ripley. It was renamed Ripley Methodist Church. The church is still active today, and underwent a complete rebuild in 2009 with a new Church and rooms.
During 2009, Ripley Methodist Church in Wood Street Ripley was demolished and a new Church was built to continue the work of the Church in Ripley. [5]
Ripley is a town in the Amber Valley borough of Derbyshire, England.
Longnor is a village in the Staffordshire Peak District, England. The settlement dates from early times, the first recorded church building being in the Middle Ages. The village was named Longenalre in the Domesday Book. Located on a major crossroads, Longnor was a significant market town in the 18th century. It lies on the north bank of the River Manifold, on a limestone ridge between the Manifold and the River Dove.
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English and Welsh Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. It 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. Although the denomination did not bear the name "Wesleyan", Primitive Methodism was Wesleyan in theology, in contrast to the Calvinistic Methodists.
Hugh Bourne along with William Clowes was the joint founder of Primitive Methodism, the largest offshoot of Wesleyan Methodism and, in the mid-19th century, an influential Protestant Christian movement in its own right.
The Rosewater Uniting Church is a Uniting church located in Queenstown, South Australia.
The tiny hamlet of Ramsor in North Staffordshire played a significant part in the origins of Primitive Methodism. Listed in the Domesday Book as Ramshorn, this ancient hamlet is a typical example of the depopulation of the countryside. Very little now remains of this village apart from a few farms and cottages. The Primitive Methodist Chapel is the only surviving public building.
Albert Edward Lambert FRIBA was an architect based in Nottingham, England.
The organisation of the Methodist Church of Great Britain is based on the principle of connexionalism. This means that British Methodism, from its inception under John Wesley (1703–1791), has always laid strong emphasis on mutual support, in terms of ministry, mission and finance, of one local congregation for another. No singular church community has ever been seen in isolation either from its immediately neighbouring church communities or from the centralised national organisation. Wesley himself journeyed around the country, preaching and establishing local worshipping communities, called "societies", often under lay leadership. Soon these local communities of worshipping Christians formalised their relationships with neighbouring Methodist communities to create "circuits", and the circuits and societies contained within them, were from the very beginning 'connected' to the centre and Methodism's governing body, the annual Conference. Today, societies are better known as local churches, although the concept of a community of worshipping Christians tied to a particular location, and subdivided into smaller cell groups called "classes", remains essentially based on Wesley's societies.
The Wesleyan Methodist Church was the majority Methodist movement in England following its split from the Church of England after the death of John Wesley and the appearance of parallel Methodist movements. The word Wesleyan in the title differentiated it from the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists and from the Primitive Methodist movement, which separated from the Wesleyans in 1807. The Wesleyan Methodist Church followed the Wesleys in holding to an Arminian theology, in contrast to the Calvinism held by George Whitefield, by Selina Hastings, and by Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland, the pioneers of Welsh Methodism. Its Conference was also the legal successor to John Wesley as holder of the property of the original Methodist societies.
The Primitive Methodist Chapel is a former Primitive Methodist church on Welsh Row in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. Built in 1840, it is listed at grade II. The chapel closed in 2001, and the building has been partially converted to residential use.
The Wesleyan Methodist Church, also known as the Wesleyan Chapel, is a former Wesleyan Methodist church on Hospital Street, Nantwich, Cheshire, England. Built in 1808, a new façade was added in 1876. The church then seated over a thousand, and was the largest Nonconformist place of worship in the town in the 1880s. It is listed at grade II. The church closed in 2009, after the congregation moved to the former Methodist schoolrooms opposite.
Burnley, in Lancashire, England, has a long history of religious worship, dating from at least before 1122 in the case of the Church of England. The chapel at Towneley Hall was the centre for Roman Catholic worship in Burnley until modern times. Well before the Industrial Revolution, the town saw the emergence of many non-conformist churches and chapels. In 1891 the town was the location of the meeting which saw the creation of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. In the late 19th century a Jewish synagogue was established, and in recent times evangelical and free churches have appeared, as well as a large purpose-built mosque.
Hinde Street Methodist Church in Hinde Street, Marylebone, London, is Grade II listed with Historic England. It was built 1807-10 and rebuilt in the 1880s.
Clayton Wesley Uniting Church, formerly Clayton Congregational Church, is a Uniting church, located at 280 Portrush Road, Beulah Park, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The current building with its tall spire was built was built in 1883, although an earlier building, behind the present church and now known as the Lecture Hall, was built in 1856. The church is located in a commanding position at the eastern end of The Parade, Norwood.
The Wesleyan Church is a former Methodist church for the town of Aldershot in Hampshire, England. Closed in 1988 the building has been a Grade II* listed building since 30 April 1981. In use today as offices, a dental studio and a gymnasium, the former Wesleyan Church is situated on the corner of Grosvenor Road and Queens Road in Aldershot.
The Rotunda was a Primitive Methodist church in Aldershot in Hampshire in the UK that was completed in 1876 and demolished in the 1980s. While the building took its name from the architectural form rotunda, it was in fact octagonal, and was notable as one of only 14 octagonal chapels built by the Methodists.
Paul Kwabena Boafo is a Ghanaian theologian and minister who was elected as the twelfth Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana in 2018. He previously served as the Administrative Bishop of the Church. He is the first ordained minister to serve in both capacities in the episcopal history of the Ghanaian Methodist Church. Boafo also served as the Protestant Chaplain of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Street Methodist Church is a Methodist church in Street, Somerset, England. It was designed by Henry Hawkins and George Alves and built in 1893.
Wyke Regis Methodist Church is a former Methodist church in Wyke Regis, Dorset, England. Designed by Ford & Slater of Burslem, it was built in 1903 and remained in use until 2021.
Sarah Bembridge, born Sarah Kirkland; also named Sarah Harrison was a Primitive Methodist itinerant preacher who established a reputation before the church was formally founded. She established the church in Nottingham and extended its reach in Derby. She made a significant impact in Hull, but she decided to establish herself back in her home village of Mercaston in Derbyshire.