A spiritualist church is a church affiliated with the informal spiritualist movement which began in the United States in the 1840s. Spiritualist churches are now found around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, while in Latin America, Central America, Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa, where a form of spiritualism called spiritism is more popular, meetings are held in spiritist centres, most of which are non-profit organizations rather than ecclesiastical bodies.
History
The origin of mediumship is usually linked to the seances conducted by the Fox sisters at Hydesville, Arcadia, New York, in 1848, but some believers date the unofficial beginning of modern American Spiritualism to the Shakers and similar religious groups. By 1853 the movement had reached San Francisco and London, and by 1860 was worldwide. The Fox family remained very active in Spiritualism for many years. Other notable Spiritualists of that era were Mercy Cadwallader, who became a sort of missionary for the movement, and Emma Hardinge Britten, who wrote for the first Spiritualist newspaper in Britain, The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph.<ref name="brandon"> </ref>
Great Britain
By the 1870s there were numerous Spiritualist societies and churches throughout the US and Britain, but there was little in the way of national organization of mediums in Britain or the United States although some regions of Britain had organized Federations that might have up to thirty circles of similar beliefs. In 1891 the National Federation of Spiritualists (NFS) came into existence and grew quite large before its name change to the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU) in 1902.
British spiritualists of this time were often adherents of the temperance and anti-capital punishment lobbies, often held radical political views and were frequently vegetarians. Some were active in the advocacy of women's rights and female suffrage, and a minority espoused Free Love: the popular perception of Spiritualists was often of radicals in the Victorian period.
Two Worlds was the major British magazine of spiritualism and had a fairly large circulation, and it advertised the existence of local circles. D.D. Home one of the most renowned mediums of his era, did much to make spiritualism fashionable among the aristocracy by his high-profile activities. Trance mediumship flourished and table turning was a popular craze, reputedly even reaching Buckingham Palace.
By 1924 there were 309 Spiritualist churches affiliated to the SNU or one of the many other organisations. In 1932, a new magazine, Psychic News, joined Two Worlds on the newsstands of Britain and carried news of the doings in local Spiritualist churches.
From 1920 to 1938 there was the British College of Psychic Studies (1920 to 1947) led by Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie in London, but more successful was the Arthur Findlay College at Stansted which continues to today.
In 1957 Spiritualist churches in Britain divided between the Spiritualists' National Union, influenced by Arthur Findlay's beliefs and holding spiritualism to be a religion, and the circles of Christian Spiritualism, who hold Spiritualism to be a denomination of Christianity. Spiritualists National Union churches form the large majority and are affiliated to Spiritualist Association of Great Britain (SAGB), which is not a church per se, but rather an organization for mediums. The SNU also has some member churches in other English-speaking countries. Christian Spiritualist churches are mainly affiliated to The Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association (GWCSA).
Other Spiritualist groups in the UK include the White Eagle Lodge, founded by the medium Grace Cooke, the Institute of Spiritualist Mediums and the Noah's Ark Society (the NAS) whose focus was physical mediumship and the support and development of physical mediums. (The NAS was dissolved ca. 2005/2006 by its founder, the late George Cranley.)
International
There are Spiritualist churches in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, The Republic of South Africa, Sweden and groups in many countries including Japan, the Scandinavian countries, Korea, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Iceland. Many such groups and also individuals, are members of the International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) which was founded in Belgium in 1923 and is an umbrella organization for all spiritualists. The ISF holds congresses every two years in different parts of the world.