Eglise Protestante Methodiste du Benin

Back in 1843, a man named Thomas Birch Freeman stepped onto the coast of what is now Benin and began to preach. Freeman, who was the son of a freed slave, became one of the most influential British Methodist missionaries in West Africa.

Freeman sailed into a region deeply scarred by the slave trade, carrying nothing but a radical conviction that the Gospel sets people free. That is where the Eglise Protestante Methodiste du Benin (EPMB) begins.

Today, that same movement spans across 15 regional synods, stretching all the way from the southern Atlantic coastline to the northern Niger border. What started with one man now encompasses roughly 90,000 members worshipping across 420 congregations.

They run hospital and prison chaplaincies. They serve refugees. They invest in agricultural development. Through their Union of Methodist Women, they provide education and practical skills training for girls and women in rural communities. They have also played a significant role in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention efforts across the country.

One of the church’s greatest contributions reaches beyond its own borders.

Through the Protestant University of West Africa (UPAO) in Porto-Novo, EPMB helps train pastors and Christian leaders from across Francophone West Africa, including Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Cameroon, Senegal, and Gabon. Their investment in theological education is helping shape the future of the church throughout the region.

Like many churches around the world, EPMB has faced challenges. For roughly twenty years, this church was divided. A long internal crisis split the Methodist family in Benin in two. Two decades of separation. Two decades of brothers and sisters in Christ standing apart.

And then in 2017, they came back together. At an extraordinary synod in Cotonou, the church reunited. They elected new leadership. They worshipped together again. And they did it in front of government ministers, judges, and Methodist leaders from across West Africa who came to witness what reconciliation looks like.

WME is grateful for the opportunity to provide training for the Protestant Methodist Church in Porto-Novo, Benin in January, 2025. We are also thankful for the emerging young leaders from Benin who joined us for Metanoia Global in 2024.

A Prayer for the Protestant Methodist Church in Benin

Father, we thank You for Your church in Benin. We thank You for Thomas Birch Freeman, who carried freedom to a new shore, and for the generations of believers who have carried it since. Strengthen every pastor, lay leader, and evangelist. Bless their ministries in churches, schools, hospitals, prisons, and communities. Protect their congregations. May the light of Christ shine brightly through EPMB, and may many come to know the love and saving grace of Jesus through their witness. In the name of Jesus, Amen.