Petaluma United Methodist Church

This Sunday (July 10), I visited United Methodist Church at 410 D Street. About 70 members were in attendance. Most of the talk was about their new pastor, Rev. Amy Beth Durward, who just started the previous Sunday.

The Methodists have a long and proud tradition in America. At one time in the 1800s, about one in three Americans were Methodists. John and Charles Wesley started this movement after their awakening in the Oxford holiness club. They were Anglicans, and remained in the Church of England all their lives. The movement they started in the Anglican Church was derisively called Methodism, and their followers took up the term as a badge of honor. Following the American revolution, it was no longer kosher to be part of the Church of England, so their followers here officially became the Methodist Church, and after the Wesleys died, their movement became the Methodist Church in England as well.

Because they came out of the Church of England (Anglican Church), the Methodists have a liturgy, though it differs from what you would find in the Episcopal/Anglican chuch. They also have a bishop, who decides who the local pastor will be.

The Methodist church in Petaluma has a wonderful facility, and I have gotten to know several members there over the years, and so, I enjoyed my visit there.

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