In 1806, Lorenzo Dow, an eccentric but mighty evangelist from America, told them of the amazing results in the great American Camp Meetings. So enthused were Bourne and Clowes that they arranged for "a whole day's meeting" on Mow Cop, a rough rugged mountain situated on the border between Staffordshire and Cheshire. The meeting was held May 31, 1807, beginning at 6 o'clock in the morning and continuing until 8:00 p.m. From four preaching stands the Gospel was proclaimed with unction and converting power to eagerly listening thousands, many of who experienced the Joys of Salvation. Yet, even though Methodism had been founded by that great open-air preacher, John Wesley, the converts made that day were refused admittance into the Wesleyan Church. Also, the two men most responsible, Hugh Bourne and William Clowes, were reprimanded for having part in the meetings. When they continued to pursue their actions of holding open-air meetings they were dismissed from the church. Their answer to their objectors was, "It is better to obey God than man."

Both Hugh Bourne and William Clowes waited patiently for two years for reinstatement in the Wesleyan Church. During this time they sought in vain a place in that fold for the sheep they had gathered from the wilds of sin. They were finally driven by necessity to the founding of a place for themselves and their new converts in the year 1810. The words of Bourne provide the evidence that this was not a schism for "we did not take one from them...but from providential circumstances...it now appeared to be the will of God that we, as a Camp Meeting Community, should form classes and take upon us the care of churches in the fear of God."

The growth was such that in February 1812 in Tunstall the people took on the name of The Society of the Primitive Methodists. This name was accepted when John Crawfoot, who had been present in April, 1790 when John Wesley preached in the city of Chester, told how in the course of Wesley's remarks to the preachers present he reminded them of the need for preaching the Gospel. “Fellow laborers, wherever there is an open door, enter in and preach the gospel; go out…and bring in the poor and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And yet there is room; and yet there is room; and this was the way the primitive Methodists did." Hence, the resolution was carried that both the name and the conduct it represented, should be adopted; that like the primitive Methodists, the members of the community should continue to labor, and Primitive Methodists they would be called.

Today’s language may present some difficulty in the interpretation of the name, but it can best be clarified by the acceptable dictionary definition of the word primitive as “original”, for from the time of its inception, the Primitive Methodist Church has endeavored to hold, not only John Wesley’s doctrine, but also his methods and practices in reaching the world for Jesus Christ.

The first Primitive Methodist missionaries were sent to America in 1829 from England. Until 1840, the societies in the United States constituted a “Mission” under the control and partial support of the British Conference. It was found, however, that the conditions in the new world did not lend themselves to the customs and methods of the old, and as the British Conference insisted upon maintaining its old world methods and rules in America or withdraw its support, the Conference, which met in New York September 16, 1840, resolved “That we consider ourselves from this time, distinct from and unconnected with the English Conference.” The authorities in England were so notified and thenceforth American Primitive Methodism has been maintained as an entirely independent organization, holding only a fraternal relation with the parent body.

Churches grew where there were small groups of Primitive Methodists. Due to the working class background of the people, churches began where America had need of factory workers, miners, and steel workers. Churches were started near the factories of New England, in the coal regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania, in the industrial areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and near the lead mines of the Midwest. Churches were later founded where the descendants of these early church members moved and where the denomination itself started home mission churches.