The Pettah Methodist Church, established in 1816, was the first Methodist church in Asia. It was declared an archaeological protected monument in 2013
Pettah Methodist Church
The Methodist Church (Sinhala: පිටකොටුව මෙතෝදිස්ත පල්ලිය) situated in Pettah, Colombo is the first Methodist church, established in Sri Lanka as well as in Asia. History
The history of the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka dates back to the early 19th century (Melton & Baumann, 2010). The Methodist Bishop Thomas Coke (9 September 1747 - 2 May 1814) who hoped to open Methodist missions in the East Indies, set sail for Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) on 30 December 1813 with six other missionaries including William Ault, Benjamin Clough, George Erskine, Thomas Hall Squance, William Martin Harvard, and James Lynch. However, during the voyage, Coke died and was buried at sea (Melton & Baumann, 2010). The others except for Harvard (he remained in Bombay, India due to family circumstances) arrived in Galle on 29 June 1814, six months after they started their journey and one year before the fall down of the Kingdom of Kandy .
After arrival, the missionaries split up and travelled to different pa…
