The Bible Christian Church was a Methodist church. It was founded by William O'Bryan, a Wesleyan Methodist preacher, on 1815-10-18 in North Cornwall, with the first society, just 22 members, meeting at Lake Farm in Shebbear, Devon. Primarily concentrated in Cornwall and Devon, the church sent missionaries all over England. By 1820, missions had been established in the Channel Islands and in Kent.

By 1831, ministers were being sent to Prince Edward Island and Ontario, and a mission was established in Canada in 1845. Many of the emigrants from Devon and Cornwall to Canada and the United States in the 1830s were Bible Christians, further encouraging the spread of the church

The Bible Christian Church made extensive use of female preachers.

In 1907, the Bible Christian Church in England was amalgamated with the United Methodist Free Churches and the Methodist New Connexion, to form the United Methodist Church. In Canada, the Bible Christian Church had already been amalgamated, in 1884, into the United Methodists, which later became the United Church of Canada.

References

See also

• Sam Pollard — Bible Christian missionary to China
• Paul Robins — Bible Christian missionary to Canada
• John Hicks Eynon — Bible Christian missionary to Canada