The Methodist Church preached its first services in New South Wales in 1812. In the 1880s, faced with a declining congregation in Sydney, the Methodist Conference resolved to try a new style of worship, and opened the Central City Mission. The new church was so popular that, although the Methodist faith survived, the activities of parishioners were absorbed into this Central City Mission. In 1977 the Methodist Church of Australasia resolved to join the Uniting Church in Australia.