During the Second World War many Christians became acutely aware of the great spiritual needs of the Australian people and prayed for an awakening such as that which changed England two centuries before. Under the initial leadership of Rev Kingsley Ridgeway a group of Australians became burdened for ‘spreading scriptural holiness across the land’. In 1947 Kingsley College opened for Theological study.

EXPANSION

The initial growth was slow as the work gradually expanded in the southern states in the immediate post-war period. The period of the early 1970s saw a major change as the Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches moved toward a merger. Unlike the other two, the Methodist Church did not make any provision for those of its members who, in conscience, could not join the Uniting Church.

This meant that a number of dedicated and gifted ministers and laypeople joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church, giving the impetus for the establishment of nucleus groups in various centres across the country. As the transfer growth leveled out, the impetus has been maintained by an increasing proportion of new convert growth. By 1985, the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia increased to 41 churches, including 21 in Queensland. Now we have almost 100 churches spanning all Australian states reaching a variety of people groups.