What is Methodist Church

Estonian Methodist Church (EMC) is a Christian church that has as its purpose to proclaim the Word of God, administer sacraments, advance religious and moral education, and foster Christian culture.

Estonian Methodist Church adheres to the essential principles that Christian Church has taught since Jesus’ time. We believe that all life owes its existence to God, who created us to live in harmony with Him, with each other and with the world that surrounds us. Suffering, evil and injustice we see in this world results from our human choice to withdraw from the goodness that God is giving to us. Because of this human depravity, God sent Jesus to open the only door to the restored life, where every one of us is able to receive the healing we need.

Methodist Church wants to be a bridge builder between human being and God by proclaiming faith, hope, love and salvation that can become available for every person through Jesus Christ. Read more about the teaching of EMC ».

Methodist Church grew out of Church of England in 18th century. The beginning of Methodist movement in Estonia was in 1907. Before World War II, 20 Methodist churches were established in Estonia. EMC was the only Methodist church in former Soviet Union that was able to continue its activities throughout the Soviet occupation. More details about the history of EMC here ».

EMC is independent church and do not belong to any other methodist organization. The work in EMC is lead by its superintendent Robert Tscherenkov. The body with highest legislative authority in EMC is its annual conference and EMC Church Government has executive power. EMC is one of the ten member churches in Estonian Council of Churches (ECC), being its founding member. Read more about governing EMC here ».

EMC consists of 24 congregations that have altogether 1688 members (data from the year 2019). There are 14 Estonian, 10 Russian, one bilingual (Estonian and Russian) and one trilingual (Estonian, Russian and English) congregations in EMC. More information about the congregations here ».

Methodist Church is willing to give its own contribution to the alleviation of problems in society. EMC works with children, including children from low-income families and children with disabilities; is involved in rehabilitation of alcohol addicts and substance abusers, and serves in chaplain ministry in prisons, Estonian Defence Forces and Estonian Defence League. Methodist churches are involved in distributing food and clothes for families in need and offer pastoral counselling.

Besides social work activities, there are subdivisions in EMC that work in other areas as well: there is a camp centre, an institution providing higher education in theology (Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary), committee working on publishing literature, a Christian bookstore and many other. Read more about spheres of work in EMC here »