With its roots in the Church of England (www.cofe.anglican.org), the Methodist Church is a Protestant church. As it is separate from the established Church of England, it is a 'free' church. In fact it is the largest free church in the country with over five thousand churches and two hundred and fifty thousand members. These five thousand churches are grouped into circuits (here the Cheshire South Circuit) and the circuits are grouped into districts (here the Chester & Stoke-on-Trent District). There are thirty-one districts in the British Methodist Church. Its headquarters are in London (Methodist Church House, 25 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5JR, telephone 020 7486 5502. (www.methodist.org.uk).

The decision-making body of the British Methodist Church is the annual Methodist Conference. Each year this elects a President (currently the Rev'd Lionel Osborn) and a Vice-President (currently Ms Ruth Pickles). The administrative head is a General Secretary (currently the Rev'd Dr Martyn Atkins).

Methodists in this country are part of a world-wide Methodist Church through the World Methodist Council. (www.worldmethodistcouncil.org) There are seventy million Methodists across the world, in a hundred and thirty different countries.

In Britain many Methodists have been prominent in the ecumenical movement. In numerous local situations Methodists are involved in Churches Together activities (www.churches-together.org.uk.net). In different parts of the country there are united congregations, including many where the Methodist Church has joined with the United Reformed Church. (www.urc.org.uk) In November 2003 the British Methodist Church signed a covenant with the Church of England to further co-operation and commitment between the two churches.