Editing Methodism (section)

====Ireland====
[[File:Chapel-athlone.jpg|thumb|upright|A Methodist chapel in [[Athlone]], opened in 1865]]
{{Main|Methodist Church in Ireland}}

John Wesley visited Ireland on at least twenty-four occasions and established classes and societies.<ref>{{cite web|title=John Wesley in Ireland|url=http://www.irishhistorylinks.net/Historical_Documents/JohnWesley.html|publisher=Irish History Links|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> The [[Methodist Church in Ireland]] ({{langx|ga| Eaglais Mheitidisteach in Éirinn}}) today operates across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on an all-Ireland basis. {{As of|2018}}, there were around 50,000 Methodists across Ireland.<ref name=IC>[https://www.irishchurches.org/members/methodist-church-in-ireland  Churches in Ireland website, ''Methodist Church in Ireland'']</ref> In 2013, the biggest concentration – 13,171 – was in [[Belfast]], with 2,614 in [[Dublin]].<ref>{{cite news|author-first1=Gerry|author-last1=Moriarty|title=Going beyond the church buildings and into the community|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/going-beyond-the-church-buildings-and-into-the-community-1.1424798|access-date=20 January 2017|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=12 June 2013}}</ref> {{As of|2021}}, it is the fourth-largest denomination in Northern Ireland, with Methodists accounting for 2.3% of the population, compared to 3% in 2011.<ref name=2011ks>{{cite web|title=Census 2011: Key Statistics for Northern Ireland|url=http://www.nisra.gov.uk/Census/key_stats_bulletin_2011.pdf|publisher=nisra.gov.uk|access-date=21 April 2013}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-main-statistics-for-northern-ireland-phase-1-statistical-bulletin-religion.pdf  NISRA website, ''Census 2021: Main statistics for Northern Ireland Statistical bulletin - Religion'']</ref>

[[Eric Gallagher]] was the President of the Church in the 1970s, becoming a well-known figure in Irish politics.<ref>{{cite web|last=Taggart|first=Norman W.|title=Conflict, controversy and co-operation|url=http://www.catholicireland.net/conflict-controversy-and-co-operation/|publisher=Columba Press|access-date=21 April 2013|page=133|year=2004}}</ref> He was one of the group of Protestant churchmen who met with [[Provisional IRA]] officers in [[Feakle]], County Clare to try to broker peace. The meeting was unsuccessful due to a [[Garda Síochána|Garda]] raid on the hotel.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

In 1973, the [[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]] (FIMC) was established as a number of theologically conservative congregations departed both the [[Methodist Church in Ireland]] and [[Free Methodist Church]] due to what they perceived as the rise of [[Liberal Christianity|Modernism]] in those denominations.<ref name="Matthews2003">{{cite book |last1=Matthews |first1=Rex Dale |title=Timetables of History for Students of Methodism |date=2007 |publisher=Abingdon Press |isbn=978-0-687-33387-5 |page=231 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Cooney2001">{{cite book |last1=Cooney |first1=Dudley Levistone |title=The Methodists in Ireland: A Short History |date=2001 |publisher=Columba Press |isbn=978-1-85607-335-6 |page=120 |language=en}}</ref>