Although the Methodist Church is declining in Great Britain and North America, it is growing rapidly in South Korea.

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The Korean Methodist Church is one of the largest churches in South Korea with around 1.5 million members and 8,306 ministers. Methodism in Korea grew from British and American mission work which began in the late 19th century.

The first missionary was Robert Samuel Maclay of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who sailed from Japan in 1884 and was given the authority of medical and schooling permission from emperor Gojong. The Korean church became fully autonomous in 1930, retaining affiliation with Methodist churches in America and later the United Methodist Church.

The church experienced dramatic growth in membership throughout most of the 20th century, despite the Korean War, before settling in the 1990s. The KMC is a member of the World Methodist Council and hosted the first Asia Methodist Convention in 2001.

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