page_title: Methodist Church of Great Britain
section_title: Central halls
hierarchical_section_title: Methodist Church of Great Britain / Organisation / Circuits / Central halls
caption_attribution_description: Methodist Central Hall, London
context_page_description: The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical associations.
  Methodism began primarily through the work of John Wesley, who led an evangelical revival in 18th-century Britain. An Anglican priest, Wesley adopted unconventional and controversial practices, such as open-air preaching, to reach factory labourers and newly urbanised masses uprooted from their traditional village culture at the start of the Industrial Revolution. His preaching centred upon the universality of God's grace for all, the effect of faith on character, and the possibility of perfection in love during this life. He organised the new converts locally and in a "Connexion" across Britain.
  Following Wesley's death, the Methodist revival became a separate church and ordained its own ministers; it is called a Nonconformist church because it does not conform to the rules of the established Church of England.
context_section_description: Some large inner-city churches, known as 'central halls', are designated as circuits in themselves. About a hundred such halls were built in Britain between 1886 and 1945, many in a Renaissance or Baroque style. They were designated as multi-purpose venues; in their heyday they presented low-cost concerts and shows to entertain the working classes on Saturdays, encouraging them to abstain from alcohol, as well as hosting church congregations on Sundays. However, many were bombed during the Second World War, and others declined as people moved out of the city centres; as of 2012 only sixteen remain in use as Methodist churches. Others, such as the landmark Birmingham Central Hall, and Liverpool's Grand Central Hall, have been sold and adapted as retail or nightclub venues. One of the remaining halls is Methodist Central Hall, located off Parliament Square in Westminster, established in 1912 to serve as a church with additional use "for conferences on religious, educational, scientific, philanthropic and social questions".
caption: The Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, serves as a church and conference centre.
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