Back in the late 1700s and early 1800s when settlers were moving west and living on the frontier, Methodist preachers would travel around the western frontier finding homesteads and villages where they could preach. They would often hold meetings down at the riverside where people would gather to enjoy the coolness of the river and do their laundry. There the preacher would hold prayer meetings, lead Bible studies and Hymn-sings, preach the gospel, preside over the Lord's Supper, and Baptize new converts. After a few days the preacher would move off down the road to find new settlements, but always with a promise to return sometime in the next season. After awhile, these preachers would accumulate several communities which they would visit regularly - this was called "riding the circuit." The preacher who rode a particular circuit became known as the "pastor in charge" of that circuit. Eventually, as the communities along a circuit built permanent church buildings and established regular meetings, the circuits became known as "the charge" of a particular pastor, and the number of communities along a circuit were the "points" at which the preacher would stop to preach. So, in other words, I have a circuit with two points at which I preach, or a "two-point charge."
Although there are a few multi-point charges in California they are very few in number because of the way in which California was settled. California was settled by large land owning ranchers who owned tens of thousands of acres and established settlements long distances apart from each other. Because of the great distance between settlements in the "ranchero" area of California it was more efficient to establish single point charges in the towns and settlements that had already been established. However, because of the way the Sierras were settled in the mining days, with small mining settlements popping up all over the place wherever they struck gold, the circuit riders established more multi-point charges of small churches in the mountains. North Carolina was settled by small farming families forming a network of communities for the circuit riders to visit, so there are a TON of small rural churches (often times more like family chapels) and multiple point charges in NC. In the past a charge could have had as many as 10-20 or more "points." Although most charges today in NC don't get much larger than 4 points, in the past (1930s-40s) my current 2-point charge was part of a 6-point charge, and up in Virginia and West Virginia they have 5 and 6-point charges to this day.
How does worship work at a multi-point charge? Today, a pastor who has a 4-point charge would most likely lead two churches in worship on alternating Sundays. When I arrived at my own charge, Stem met every Sunday for worship, but Bullock still only met on the 2nd and 4th Sundays - a hold over from the circuit riding days. In the past, many churches met every Sunday for Sunday school and hymn singing (led by the "lay leader"), but only had a full worship service when the preacher came once a month, or often times only once per quarter. This is why a lot of churches that meet for worship every Sunday nowadays still only want Holy Communion once per month, or even once per quarter, instead of every week as they do in the Anglican Church (we are descended from the Anglican Church by the way).
For my two current churches, Bullock worships at 10am, I am out the door during the final hymn at 10:50am, in my car, and at Stem right around 11am. The lay leaders usually start the service without me and I generally arrive in the pulpit in time for the opening prayer at 11:10am. Bullocks now meets every Sunday - for worship on the 2nd and 4th Sundays and for Bible study on every other Sunday. My next two churches are further apart, so worship will begin at 9:30 for one and 11am for the next. So I will be preaching a two different churches every Sunday. I do consider myself lucky however, because I have a friend who has a three point charge where all meet each Sunday - one at 8:00, the second at 9:30, and the third at 11:00. But the nice thing is that the first church has a covered dish breakfast every Sunday and the third has a covered dish luncheon every Sunday - so he is well fed.
