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Date(s)
- 1891 (Creation)
- 1876 (Creation)
Extent
1-10000
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Administrative history
The Wesleyan Methodist Church of America emerged in response to the Methodist Episcopal Church's support of slavery and its centralized, authoritarian governance. In November 1842, leaders O. Scott, J. Horton, and L. R. Sunderland withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church and launched The True Wesleyan, a weekly publication explaining their reasons for separation. In December, Luther Lee and L. C. Matlack also withdrew, marking the formal beginning of the Wesleyan movement. Although earlier separations had occurred—particularly in Michigan, where a conference was established—these events laid the foundation for the official organization. The first church of the new denomination was founded in Providence, Rhode Island. In February 1843, a preliminary convention was held in Andover, Massachusetts, which led to a General Convention in Utica, New York, on May 31, 1843. There, the Wesleyan Methodist Church was officially organized and adopted a governing Discipline. The first General Conference convened in October 1844 to revise this Discipline, followed by a second in October 1848, which produced a more comprehensive and clearly organized version.
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Scope and content
This series comprises records from the Tennessee conference. They capture the district’s role as a vital regional hub within the wider church. The materials include minutes from district conferences, correspondence between local pastors and district leaders, reports from area churches, pastoral appointments, membership and financial statistics, and policy documents specific to the region.
These records reveal how the district guided and supported local congregations and clergy, implemented denominational policies on a regional level, and fostered church growth and ministry within the community.
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Notes element
General note
As early as the year 1866 there were some Wesleyan churches in this state, established through the missionary zeal of the Indiana Conference. The TN conference first appears in the Discipline in 1876, “. The Tennessee Conference comprises the State of Tennessee.” Tennessee appears in the 1891 General Conference statistical report with 13 churches and 500 members. The development of the work was greatly hindered by the idea maintained in the General Conference jurisdiction that the white people and the colored people should worship together as freely in the South as they sometimes did in the North .
The present organization of the white churches in Tennessee began in the year 1929 under the general supervision of the home missionary secretary, with Rev. T. C. Harvey as its first president. At that time most of the churches were located in the area adjacent to Knoxville , Tennessee. For a time the conference was known as East Tennessee.
Tensions between some annual conferences and the General Conference leadership grew during the 1950s and 1960s, largely due to the proposed merger between the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church. The growing tensions were especially keen with reference to the Tennessee Conference. By the time of the 1966 General Conference, the Tennessee Conference had indicated its intention of suspending all support of the general church until the differences were remedied, and there were no delegates from Tennessee at the General Conference. Furthermore, the General Conference ordered the reorganization of the conference. The reorganizing session was called to meet at the conference campgrounds at Knoxville, August 23, 1966.
In 1966 the reorganized mission conference had 5 organized churches and 195 members.
General note
Tennessee Conference President's:
T. C. Harvey, 1929-34, 1935-36
C. K. Gentry, 1934-35
H . W . Hawkins, 1936-37
E. H. Farris, 1937-40
F. K. Smith , 1940-43
F. D. Cross, 1943-46
David P. Denton, 1946-52, 1958-66
M. L. Arnold, 1952-58
C. Wesley Lovin , 1966-68