[6] The newly converted Methodists started discussing the incorporating their own denomination, as they were still members of the State Church.

[10] The new congregations were met with opposition from the State Church, and the parish minister in Halden attempted to forcefully cancel Methodist services.

Some Lutheran ministers held speeches warning against the Methodists, but these often backfired with spectators instead choosing to convert to the new faith.

[10] Hans Isaksen and Markus Nilsen were hired by the Methodist Episcopal Church from December 1852 to conduct mission in Grenland.

Arendal was evangelized through returning seamen from the United States, independent of the efforts in the rest of the country.

Opened in 1866, the structure proved too large and only served to drain Methodist financial resources out of Norway.

[21] The 1860s saw many "lost opportunities" due to late administrative responses and limited funds for pastors and missionaries.

The church also experienced a significant loss of membership due to emigration to the United States.

[21] Although the Dissident Act secured freedom of religion, Methodists were subject to religious persecution from clergy and lay members of the State Church.

This included spreading anti-Methodist information, threats of losing jobs and welfare benefits, discrimination of school children and social isolation.

[25] Mission Secretary John Price Durbin visited Norway in 1866 and found the lack of supervision to be the Achilles heel.

There were large congregations in Arendal (125 members), Oslo (112), Porsgrunn (98) and Halden (49), in addition to the small groups in Odalen and Furnes.

[31] While the development through the 1870s was rather sporadic, it became systematic from 1877, when employed missionaries, later titled pastors, were sent to towns to hold public meetings and start a congregations.

[29] As earlier, the Methodist Church was most successful at converting the working class, especially first-generation immigrants from the countryside.

This was decisive for many new believers and appealed to the lower classes, providing a substitute to less decadent activities.

[34] The various congregations had since their inaugurations run activities such as Sunday schools, choirs, women association and bookstores.

[35] Norwegian Methodists had at large an anti-intellectual sentiment, preferring learning through the Holy Spirit rather than through courses.

Prior to this the State Church had hindered orphans from being raised by Methodists due to their faith.

[40] Yet the turn of the century marked a strong period for the Mainline Protestant free churches.

One challenge was that the Methodist preachings remained unchained for decades and that the theology increasingly was regarded as irrelevant for the working class.

[43] A particularity of the age was Methodism's inability to retain young adults, especially those with higher education.

The fundamentalist Biblical understanding persevered in Norway in part due to lack of translation of newer English Methodist literature.

It also continued to embrace puritanism, banning attending theaters, the reading of novels, dancing, and the wearing jewelry and fancy clothes, among other regulations.

At first only monetary funding was granted and Norwegian Methodist missionaries were not dispatched until Serene Løland traveled to China in 1921.

As a result, ecumenical connections were strengthened and work focused on counteracting atheistic and secular movements.

[49] The home mission was reorganized in 1916 and increased focus was placed on evangelism in Northern Norway.

[50] Scandinavia was made its own episcopal area in 1920, with Anton Bast as its inaugural bishop.

[51] Betanien Oslo was upgraded to as clinic in 1925, a year after it bought a nursing home at Vestre Furunes in Asker Municipality.

It is organized as an annual conference within the Nordic and Baltic Episcopal Area, under the auspices of Bishop Christian Alsted.

[66] The Methodist Church also owns diaconal foundations in Oslo and Skien,[67] and operates a nursing home at Kalfaret in Bergen.