When John Wesley first sailed to Ireland in 1747, he found 280 Methodists already gathered in Dublin! The movement had begun before he ever stepped onto Irish soil.

That Methodist society was formed by ordinary lay people who simply would not keep quiet about Jesus. And they didn’t stay put. They emigrated, and they carried their faith with them. They helped plant Methodism in America and founded it in Newfoundland. The movement that started as a handful of believers on one island helped seed a global family that now spans the world.

The Methodist Church in Ireland represents a tight-knit community of approximately 55,000 people, across roughly 200 congregations. They operate across two completely distinct political jurisdictions: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In a land historically marked by deep social, political, and religious divisions, this single “Connexion” of churches has quietly chosen to stand together as one unified body.

Like many churches across Europe, Irish Methodists face the challenge of sharing the gospel in an increasingly secular culture. Yet they continue to invest in discipleship, evangelism, church life, and community engagement.

They are leaning heavily into what they call “Living Wholeheartedly” by revitalizing small group fellowships, engaging youth in God’s mission, and offering a distinctively Wesleyan voice of grace in a polarized world.

Its five city missions in Dublin, Belfast, Derry, and Newtownabbey have quietly cared for the elderly, the homeless, and the vulnerable for generations. And in recent years its congregations have grown, in part, by welcoming newcomers from around the world. Recent years have brought significant numbers of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants to Ireland, creating new opportunities for ministry and new expressions of Methodist community.

Small island. Long reach. That’s what we’re praying for.

A Prayer For The Methodist Church in Ireland

Father, we thank You for the Methodist Church in Ireland. For nearly three centuries of faithful witness on one small island, and for the long reach of that witness across the world. Grant fresh vision and courage for every minister, lay leader, and congregation across Ireland. As they minister across complex political borders and navigate changing cultural tides, anchor them deeply in Your love. Multiply the impact of their “societies” and small groups. May they experience a renewed outpouring of Your Holy Spirit that fuels creative evangelism, robust youth ministries, and healing in every community they touch. Keep them fiercely unified, wholeheartedly devoted to Jesus, and boldly expectant of the ways You want to transform Ireland through their witness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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.

Let me ask you something.

What would it take to stop your congregation from meeting?

A fuel shortage? A power grid collapse? A government that has spent decades teaching children that God does not exist?

For the Iglesia Metodista en Cuba none of that has been enough.

Right now, Cuba is in the middle of a serious humanitarian crisis. Fuel blockades and an ageing electrical grid have left millions of people without reliable power. Food and medicine are scarce.

And the Methodist Church is still growing.

The story of the Methodist Church in Cuba is one of resilience, faith, and evangelistic passion. It begins in 1883, when Cuban Methodist pastors living in Florida were sent back to the island to begin sharing the gospel. The Spanish-American War interrupted that work. In 1898, American missionaries arrived to take up the mission again, and a new phase of Cuban Methodism began.

Following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the Iglesia Metodista en Cuba was hit by a devastating wave of suppression. American missionaries were expelled, and an astonishing 95% of the island’s ordained Methodist clergy fled to safety. The few believers left behind were restricted to existing buildings, and any young person openly identifying as a Christian faced immediate discrimination, including bans from universities.

By all human standards, the church should have died right there. But it didn’t.

The church became autonomous in 1968 and has remained self-supporting for decades. It is now present in all the provinces of the country. According to the World Council of Churches, the denomination currently has approximately 10,000 registered members across 320 congregations — with an additional 30,000 people reportedly attending worship services who are not yet on membership rolls. That last number tells you everything: people are walking through the doors faster than the paperwork can catch up.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Cuban Methodist movement is its emphasis on multiplying disciples through local congregations and house churches. The church trains lay leaders to evangelize and establish cell groups. When a cell group grows to more than 20 people, it is converted into a mission and the lay leader becomes a missionary. Once a mission reaches the required number of baptized members, a house is converted into a church. That is how a new church is born.

World Methodist Evangelism has a long history of collaboration with the Methodist Church in Cuba, beginning with the WME Summit of the Americas held in Havana in 2004 and continuing to our current partnership. WME has provided training for the Church on many occasions, and we are blessed to annually take our FLAME Fellows cohorts there to experience the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit that is evident in the Methodist Church in Cuba.

As I think about our Cuban brothers and sisters, I’m reminded of something easy to forget: the church doesn’t thrive because circumstances are ideal. The church thrives when God’s people remain faithful.

A Prayer for the Methodist Church in Cuba

Gracious God, we come before you on behalf of our brothers and sisters in the Iglesia Metodista en Cuba. You know every darkened home. You know every empty shelf and every family that goes to bed hungry. You know the weight these faithful people carry and you have not left them alone.

We thank you that your church in Cuba refuses to be silent. That cell groups become missions, and missions become churches, and churches become beacons of hope in communities that have been told you do not exist. Prove yourself real to the people of Cuba. Let them encounter you through the love of your people.

Strengthen every pastor, missionary, and lay leader serving in this moment. Give them courage that does not depend on circumstances. Give them provision they cannot explain. Give them joy that the world cannot take away. And remind us, the worldwide Wesleyan Methodist family, that when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer with it.

May our prayers this week be more than words. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

It started with 17 churches.

In May 2022, a small group of congregations formally launched a new denomination. They called it the Global Methodist Church.

Seventeen congregations. A new name. A deep conviction that Wesleyan Christianity needed a fresh expression rooted in doctrinal integrity of the historic Christian faith and the authority of Scripture.

Four years later, according to the denomination’s official reports, the GMC now includes more than 7,000 congregations and over 4,500 pastors spread across 48 Annual Conferences located in the United States, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

The GMC’s vision is clear: to make disciples of Jesus Christ and spread scriptural holiness across the globe — worshiping passionately, loving extravagantly, and witnessing boldly.

Here’s the beautiful thing about the worldwide Wesleyan Methodist family: even when traditions, structures, and stories differ, we are still connected by a shared desire to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people all around the world.

This is undeniably a community of people who love Jesus, take Wesleyan doctrine seriously, and are growing at a remarkable pace across the globe.

A Prayer for the Global Methodist Church

Gracious God, we lift up the Global Methodist Church to You. We thank You for those who gather each week to worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. Give wisdom, humility, and discernment to their pastors and leaders as they guide this expanding church. Bless the Annual Conferences across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and beyond. May the gospel take deep root in every community they serve. Where there is pain from the separations that gave rise to this denomination, bring Your healing. And as this young church continues to take shape, may it be defined not by what it left, but by what it is becoming: a community of grace, holiness, and transforming love. Unite the entire Wesleyan Methodist family, and may all our efforts serve only Your glory. Amen.

In the spring of 1873, two bishops from rival American churches crossed the Rio Grande within weeks of each other — heading to the same country, with the same gospel, and the same dream.

One was Bishop Gilbert Haven of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The other was Bishop John Christian Keener of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They’d been on opposite sides of the American Civil War. Their denominations had split over slavery. And yet here they both were — planting Methodist churches on the same streets of Mexico City, sometimes nearly side by side.

The Iglesia Metodista de México traces its roots to that moment in 1873 — making it the first evangelical denomination to bring the gospel to Mexico. One of the first church buildings acquired was a former hospital chapel — the Capilla del Hospital de San Andrés — purchased by Bishop Keener on February 26, 1873. The first worship service was held on March 30, 1873, on the eve of Holy Week.

That’s a detail worth sitting with: the first Methodist service in Mexico, held in a hospital. A church born at the intersection of healing and proclamation.

For decades, the two American Methodist streams ran parallel — planting churches, opening schools, training pastors. In 1885, both streams organized their first Annual Conferences in Mexico City. By 1925, the two bishops began drafting a unification plan, and on July 8, 1930, the Iglesia Metodista de México was born as a fully autonomous, united church.

A Mexican church. Led by Mexicans. Rooted in Wesleyan grace.

Today, the Iglesia Metodista de México has approximately 50,000 members and 400 congregations spread across six episcopal areas covering 28 of Mexico’s 30 states.

And the reach of this church goes far beyond Sunday morning.

The church operates a university, two theological seminaries, 150 centers of theological extension education, 12 schools from kindergarten through high school, four social centers, two hospitals, two orphanages, two homes for the elderly, and two clinics. That’s not a denomination coasting on history. That’s a church deeply embedded in the daily life of its nation.

World Methodist Evangelism was honored to partner with the Methodist Church of Mexico in providing evangelism training in Tijuana in 2017.

At 150 years of presence in Mexico, the church declares it has extended to practically the entire country with more than 500 congregations. The mission statement from their national office says it plainly: they exist “to extend the Kingdom of God, to strengthen and promote the integral Christian life of the members of the Church.”

Integral. Whole. Every part of a person. Every part of society.

That’s Wesleyan theology in action — and it looks remarkable in Mexico.

A Prayer for the Methodist Church of Mexico

Lord of the nations, we give You thanks for the Iglesia Metodista de México — for the two bishops who crossed the Rio Grande with the same gospel, and for 150 years of faithful witness that followed. We pray for every congregation spread across this beautiful nation. Strengthen the pastors and lay leaders who serve week after week in communities both urban and rural. Bless the seminaries and the 150 theological extension centers as they form the next generation of Mexican Methodist leaders. May the hospitals, schools, orphanages, and social centers be living parables of Your Kingdom — places where people encounter not just services, but the love of Jesus Christ. And may our whole global Wesleyan family be strengthened by the example of our brothers and sisters in Mexico — who took a divided inheritance and built something unified, rooted, and flourishing. Amen.

If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like for the Wesleyan movement to shape an entire nation, look no further than Ghana.

This week in our Prayer & Fasting journey, we are lifting up The Methodist Church Ghana, one of the largest and most influential Methodist bodies in the world.

On January 1, 1835, a young British missionary named Joseph Dunwell stepped off a boat and onto the shores of Cape Coast in what was then called the Gold Coast.

He had been sent by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society — a young man with a big gospel and a hard assignment. Within six months, he was dead from malaria. But before he died, something remarkable happened. Within three months of his arrival, a small community of 50 believers had already formed.

That’s the Methodist Church Ghana. Born in sacrifice. Built on grace.

The pioneer who followed, Thomas Birch Freeman, arrived in 1838 and became the great father of Methodism in West Africa — carrying the gospel from the coast all the way to the Ashanti Empire, into Nigeria, and across the wider region. In the first eight years of the church’s life, 11 out of 21 missionaries died. They kept coming.

Today, The Methodist Church Ghana includes approximately 800,000 members across more than 3,000 congregations. That’s over 874,326 members across 20 dioceses, 337 circuits, and 4,934 societies — with 1,058 active pastors, 11,861 local preachers, and 34,403 lay leaders serving the church at every level.

But what’s remarkable is not simply its size.

It’s the church’s presence.

In Ghana, Methodist churches are woven into the fabric of daily life. You see it in schools educating future leaders. You see it in hospitals and clinics serving vulnerable communities. You see it in vibrant worship gatherings filled with prayer, music, testimony, and deep spiritual expectancy.

The church that started with 50 believers now runs hospitals, clinics, universities, and some of the finest secondary schools in West Africa. Wesley College — a Methodist institution — has more than 80 years of history as the foremost teacher training college in Ghana. In April 2023, the church commissioned its fifth hospital — a 50-bed facility in the Central Region — expanding healthcare access to rural communities.

The Methodist Church Ghana often speaks about being a church that exists for both “spiritual renewal and social transformation.” That balance feels deeply Wesleyan. Faith is never just private. Grace always moves outward.

The church is also investing heavily in the next generation — training pastors, equipping lay leaders, planting churches, and calling young people into Spirit-filled leadership. They have set its sights on reaching 1.4 million members by 2028 — targeting an annual growth rate of 7% — through focused evangelism, discipleship, and a “One Church, One Circuit” church planting strategy.

And perhaps one of the most encouraging realities is this: while many parts of the global church are navigating decline, the church in Ghana continues to grow with confidence and joy.

Their witness reminds us that the Methodist movement is alive and flourishing around the world.

A Prayer for the Methodist Church Ghana

Gracious God, we give You thanks for 190 years of Your faithfulness in Ghana. We remember the missionaries who gave their lives so that others might hear the gospel — and we honor the indigenous Ghanaians who received that word, ran with it, and made it their own. Strengthen pastors, bishops, teachers, evangelists, and lay leaders. Pour out Your Spirit on their congregations. Raise up young leaders with deep faith and bold vision. Let the hospitals and schools be instruments of Your grace, bringing healing and dignity to the vulnerable. As the church pursues 1.4 million members by 2028, may every new congregation be a community of transformed lives and kingdom witness. Unite us as one global Wesleyan family, rooted in the same grace that landed on the shores of Cape Coast in 1835. Amen.

Our prayer journey brings us to a denomination whose leaders have walked alongside World Methodist Evangelism for many years as beloved partners in the gospel: The Wesleyan Church.

The Wesleyan Church traces its roots to 1843, when the Wesleyan Methodist Connection was formed at an organizing conference in Utica, New York, by ministers and laymen who separated from the Methodist Episcopal Church — primarily over their fierce opposition to slavery. From its earliest days, the church championed both the gospel of personal holiness and the call to social justice, ordaining women to Christian ministry and advocating for women’s rights long before either was common practice. In 1968, the Wesleyan Methodist Church united with the Pilgrim Holiness Church to form The Wesleyan Church as it exists today — a vital, growing, and globally engaged denomination.

The Wesleyan Church is active in nearly 100 nations, with approximately 1,731 member churches in the United States and Canada and nearly 5,000 congregations worldwide, claiming over 600,000 worshippers, including more than 194,000 in North America. Through local churches, church planting, education, disaster response, and global partnerships, the church continues to pursue its mission of “transforming lives, churches, and communities through the hope and holiness of Jesus Christ.”

The Wesleyan Church operates five colleges and universities in North America and many Bible colleges, ministerial institutes, hospitals, and clinics in other countries, and its publishing house distributes books, literature, and Sunday school curriculum in both English and Spanish. Its Global Partners mission organization has planted churches across the world, with 179 international church plants in a single recent year and more than 31,000 new believers outside North America coming to faith.

World Methodist Evangelism is profoundly grateful for the partnership of The Wesleyan Church. Over the years, leaders including Dr. Jo Anne Lyon, Rev. Kimberly Gladdon, Dr. Dave Smith, Rev. Zach Szmara, Rev. Chase Stancle, and Dr. Luigi Penaranda have served on the WME Board of Directors and provided teaching and leadership at our Order of the FLAME gatherings across the United States. Their faithfulness is a gift to the whole Wesleyan family.

A Prayer

Gracious God, we give You thanks for The Wesleyan Church — for its long history of courage, holiness, and compassionate witness that stretches back more than 180 years. We thank You for leaders who have stood for justice, proclaimed the gospel of entire sanctification, and carried Your love to nearly 100 nations of the world. We pray for every Wesleyan congregation — in small towns and great cities, in North America and across the globe — that each might be a community of grace and transformation. Bless their work as they plant churches, train leaders, and reach those who have not yet heard the good news. We are especially grateful for the Wesleyan leaders who have served alongside World Methodist Evangelism — may their investment in our shared mission bear fruit for generations to come. Amen.

Today, our prayer journey takes us to the Iberian Peninsula, where the Igreja Evangélica Metodista Portuguesa — the Portuguese Evangelical Methodist Church — faithfully carries the gospel in one of Europe’s oldest nations.

The origin of the Methodist Church in Portugal arose from the witness of two English laymen, Thomas Chegwin in 1854 and James Cassels ten years later, who initiated small groups for prayer and Bible study following the pattern established by John Wesley and his class system. In 1868, Portugal’s first Methodist chapel was built in Vila Nova de Gaia, and within a few years the church had launched an educational crusade against widespread illiteracy, opening primary schools across the region. Between 1920 and 1940, the church experienced its most fruitful period of expansion, recruiting members from all social classes and confirming itself as one of the most dynamic and prestigious evangelical churches in the country. For many years the church functioned as a district of the British Methodist Church, and it was not until 1996 that it became fully autonomous, electing its own bishop and adopting its current name.

The IEMP is a relatively small denomination in terms of numbers, but its impact on Portuguese society is significant. The church consists of approximately 1,000 baptized members and a wider community of over 2,000 people served through its ministries. They gather in 12 main congregations and various mission points, stretching from Porto in the north to Lisbon and down to the Algarve, under the leadership of Bishop José Sifredo Teixeira.

In 2019, World Methodist Evangelism was honored to provide leadership training for the church in Porto, deepening the bonds of our shared Wesleyan family.

A Prayer

Gracious God, we give You thanks for the Igreja Evangélica Metodista Portuguesa and for the long, faithful story of Your people in Portugal. We remember those first small gatherings for prayer and Bible study, and we marvel at how You have sustained and grown Your church across more than 170 years. Strengthen all who lead, preach, and serve. May the church’s witness in an increasingly secular Portugal be marked by grace, courage, and joy. Amen.

Today, our prayer journey takes us to Southeast Asia, where the Methodist Church in Malaysia (MCM) is faithfully living out the gospel.

The MCM traces its roots to 1885, when Methodist missionaries first arrived and began sharing the gospel through preaching, education, and medical work. Today, it is one of the largest Protestant bodies in the nation, consisting of approximately 135,000 members across more than 1,000 congregations and preaching points.

Organized into several annual conferences, the church reflects the rich cultural diversity of Malaysia, with ministries in Malay, Chinese (Mandarin and various dialects), Tamil, and English.

Under the leadership of Bishop Rev. Dr. T. Jeyakumar, the church is currently in a season of “reform and revival” and is widely known for its strong commitment to education and social service. It operates numerous schools, colleges, and social outreach ministries, serving people of all backgrounds.

In a nation where Christians are a minority, the church continues to embody a faithful, gracious, and respectful witness — sharing Christ through both word and deed.

A Prayer

Gracious God, we thank You for the Methodist Church in Malaysia and for the many ways Your Spirit is at work among them. Strengthen their leaders, encourage their congregations, and bless their ministries. Give them wisdom and grace as they live out their faith in a complex and changing world. May their lives reflect Your love so clearly that many are drawn to You. Unite us as one global Wesleyan family, rooted in grace and sent in mission. Amen.

This week, we travel from the “Southern Cone” of South America to the islands of the South Pacific to highlight Uruguay and New Zealand.

Iglesia Metodista en el Uruguay (IMU)

The Methodist story in Uruguay is one of historic pioneering. In 1969, the IMU became the first Methodist church in Latin America to become autonomous. Today, under the leadership of President Raul Sosa, the church consists of approximately 1,000 members across 20 congregations.

In a nation often cited as the most secular in Latin America, the IMU is a courageous witness. They are widely respected for their “Integral Mission,” particularly through the Instituto Crandon, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country. The church is a strong voice for human rights, environmental stewardship, and social justice, proving that even a small flock can be “leaven” for an entire nation.

The Methodist Church of New Zealand (Te Hāhi Weteriana o Aotearoa)

Across the ocean, the Methodist Church of New Zealand is a diverse and multicultural church shaped by both Māori and Pākehā (European) traditions, as well as Pacific and immigrant communities. Officially established in 1822, it is now led by President Rev. Peter Taylor and Vice President TeRito Peyroux-Semu. The church consists of approximately 12,000 members across 150 congregations.

The church is unique in its commitment to being a “Bicultural Church.” It operates under a “Bicultural Treaty” that honors the partnership between the Tangata Whenua (the indigenous Māori people) and Tauiwi (all other peoples). This commitment to reconciliation and justice is central to their identity, as they seek to be a “prophetic, inclusive, and compassionate” presence in a modern, diverse society.

World Methodist Evangelism was honored to have the Methodist Church of New Zealand join us in 2017 for our evangelism seminary hosted by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in New Zealand. Young adults from this Church also joined us in 2018 for Metanoia Global in Costa Rica.

A Prayer for Uruguay and New Zealand

Gracious God, we thank You for our brothers and sisters in Uruguay and New Zealand, for the pioneering spirit of the church in Uruguay and the reconciling heart of the church in New Zealand. In places where faith can feel fragile, strengthen their congregations to be bold witnesses of Your grace in secular and diverse cultures. May their witness be marked by love, justice, and hope. And remind us again that though we are scattered across the world, we are one in Christ. Your Spirit knows no borders and Your love speaks every language. Amen.