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���~~~~~~����Peach Orchard Christian Retreat Center 
15712 Peach Orchard Road, Silver Spring, MD 20905

Conference Historian�s Report for Annual Conference 2011

Greetings in the name of our most blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in this our 150th Anniversary year as a denomination.

An interesting and historic event involving two conferences occurred on September 20, 2010.  The Maryland-Virginia Conference and the New York Conference were officially consolidated on that date.  The new conference name is now Acts 12:24 Churches of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Free Methodist Church.  Acts 12:24 says, �But the word of God continued to increase and spread.�  May this scriptural example be more than part of a new title, but remain ever-present in our hearts serving as a reminder of the Churches� true mission.

There is no doubt that we have a most intriguing history as a denomination, as well.  While browsing Free Methodist information on the Internet, I came across the 2003 Book of Discipline and was particularly fascinated by parts of Chapter 3, �The Christian Journey.�  Perusing this I came across Paragraphs 3300-3470, �Christian Life in the Modern World,� and within that section discovered paragraph 3330, �Secret Societies.�  I remember that my mother had always taught us that we were not to participate in secret societies. I recall a vague story from some research I did as a high school student when writing a term paper about our church.  A �lynching� was said to have taken place in New York.  Other than that, I did not know anything further, so coming across this information about secret societies inspired me to pause and read more.  

The text of our Book of Discipline speaks to our supreme loyalty to Jesus Christ who is Lord (Romans 14:9; Acts 2:36), and cautions us to keep ourselves free to obey the will of God (2 Cor. 6:14-18).   There is a reason this was written into the discipline of the Free Methodist Church when it formed August 23, 1860.  I hope you will appreciate this historically based anecdote.

Printed records attest that the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Benjamin Titus Roberts was a member and from which Roberts and others were forcibly excluded in the day, had been taken over by some members of a strong secret society, namely the �Free Masons.�  In the 1820�s, long before the formation of the Free Methodist Church, an incident had occurred, which Roberts and many others remembered, refused to overlook, and continued to preach against.  What they continued to remind people about was the �lynching� I referred to earlier.  A lynching is an illegal hanging of a person.  I had always thought it was racially based.  My recent research taught me this particular one was not.  Here is the gruesome story in a nutshell:  Free Masons had a stranglehold on the local Methodist Episcopal Church.  A newspaper publisher named William Morgan threatened to expose the Free Masons� rituals and practices.  One night, four men on horseback kidnapped William Morgan, and he was never heard from again.  The common belief was that he had been lynched.  Nothing was ever proven, and no one was brought to justice.  There were inextricable ties everywhere to the Masons from the Chief of Police to the Governor of New York.  By the end of the 1850�s, the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of New York was under their control.

When B.T. Roberts and others who promoted a return to holiness in the church took an opposing stand against such powerful secret societies, it was easy for the ruling body to drum up various charges and allegations and have Roberts and his like-thinking counterparts thrust out of the church.

As Martin Luther and John Wesley before him, Roberts had not the least intention of forming a new denomination, but with the political climate being what it was, he and his followers had little other choice, and thus Free Methodism was born.  As one of our tenets, we abstain from voluntary associations that demand a promise of secrecy.  I just thought you might like to know the rationale, in case you, too, had ever wondered, or perhaps never gave it a thought. 

Just a piece of business, I have renewed our annual Conference membership in the Free Methodist Historical Society.  It�s $100.  This helps support the Marston Memorial Historical Center and gives credit to our Conference as a participating Society member.  

For those of you who may be interested in visiting the Alston Memorial Camp Museum located at the Peach Orchard Christian Retreat Center in Spencerville, Maryland, you will be happy to learn that it is now air conditioned!  The museum is a restored early twentieth century camp meeting cottage housing some unique period pieces of Americana!  You won�t find anything else like it!

May you enjoy a season of refreshment and a sense of renewed urgency and divine inspiration as you work to fulfill God�s dream for you, your family, and your church.  Please be in earnest prayer for all those attending the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the Free Methodist Church during the General Conference July 13 � 17, at Roberts Wesleyan College in New York.  For a terrific overview of the past 150 years, and a General Conference preview, be sure to check out the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Light & Life.

Happy in His Service,

Marti Theune, Conference Historian
Acts 12:24 Churches of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Free Methodist Church
 HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" [email protected]










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