History of the People of The United Methodist Church - From 1725 to 1950
Adapted from Therefore, Go: A Handbook for United Methodists, a publication of United Methodist Communications. Originally published in Interpreter Magazine, May–June, 2017.
The United Methodist Church is a product of a worldwide mission that began some 300 years ago. It starts in England, travels to the American continent with the colonists and quickly spreads around the globe.
1725-50: A Movement Begins
An Oxford Fellow, John Wesley was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1728. He and his brother Charles were sons of an Anglican clergyman, the Rev. Samuel Wesley, and a woman of great strength, faith and character, Susanna Wesley. In 1729, Charles Wesley formed a small group at Oxford, known as the Holy Club. John soon became leader of the group, which he later regarded as the first expression of Methodism. As he led others, John struggled with assurance of his own salvation. In 1736, the Wesley brothers embarked on an ill-fated missionary trip to Georgia. John left Georgia in disgrace, but with deep admiration for the Moravians he met on the voyage to America.
On May 21, 1738, Charles had a life-transforming experience. Three days later, on May 24, during a service at a church on Aldersgate Street in London, John felt his heart “strangely warmed” and became assured of his salvation. Soon after, his friend and revivalist George Whitefield convinced him to preach in the fields. John was soon preaching to miners, farm workers, day laborers and others who often found themselves less than welcome inside church buildings. John organized the converts into societies, bands and classes. He began training lay preachers to lead them. In 1744, John initiated the first annual conference to bring together his preachers.
1751-75: Crossing the Ocean
As the movement grew, so did pressure to separate the Methodists from the Church of England. John Wesley refused and remained an Anglican priest until his death. The Wesleyan movement spread to America and in 1771, Francis Asbury arrived to begin 45 years of ministry, much of it to people on the frontier. Among those with whom Asbury bonded was Philip William Otterbein, a German clergyman. Emigrating from Ireland and providing leadership to what would become the Methodist Episcopal Church were Philip and Margaret Embury and Paul and Barbara Heck. New York City’s Wesley Chapel opened in 1766. It is still an active congregation, now John Street United Methodist Church. The first annual conference was held in Philadelphia in 1773. William Watters became the first native-born American itinerant preacher.
1776-99: A Church is Born
John Wesley utterly opposed the American Revolution. In the aftermath, with American Methodists having few options to receive the sacraments, Wesley appointed lay preachers Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey for ministry in America and commissioned Thomas Coke as superintendent of America’s Methodists. Wesley charged Coke to commission Asbury to serve with him as Wesley’s deputies. Asbury refused to accept the assignment unless he was elected by the free vote of the American preachers. His election came in the Christmas Conference of 1784, and the Methodist Episcopal Church was born. In 1785, the first Book of Discipline was published. The young Methodist Episcopal Church experienced its first division in 1794 as some African American members left, after facing racial discrimination. They officially formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1816, under the leadership of Richard Allen. In 1821, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was founded in New York City. Missionaries began reaching the Channel Islands, France and Spain.
1800-25: The Church Grows
Asbury, now calling himself Bishop, was the undisputed leader of the American Methodists until his death in 1816. In 1808, the denomination’s first Constitution was written and a publishing house was established. Revivalism and camp meetings drew new converts. While Asbury led the growth of Methodism into the frontier, Otterbein and Martin Boehm founded The United Brethren in Christ denomination in 1800. Daniel Coker organized a Methodist Society for freed slaves headed to Liberia. Missionaries traveled to Australia, the Dominican Republic, Gambia, Haiti, India, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Tonga.
1826-50: Growth and Division
American Methodism was part of The Second Great Awakening. Local churches and classes sprung up wherever a few women and men gathered under the direction of class leaders and lay preachers. Ordained circuit riders visited regularly and administered the sacraments. The Sunday school movement began to flourish. In the same years, divisions over slavery deepened resulting in schism at the 1844 General Conference. In 1845, delegates from the Southern states organized the Methodist Episcopal Church South. It was not the first division in the young church over social and theological issues. The Methodist Protestant Church was founded in 1828 and The Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1841. Methodist missions were established in Argentina, Brazil, China, Dahomey (Benin), Fiji, Germany, Ghana, Liberia, Samoa, Sweden, Switzerland and Togo.
1851-75: War and the Aftermath
The American Civil War took a heavy toll, especially in the South, although both churches eventually rebounded. The Freedmen’s Aid Society and the Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church organized to serve the newly freed slaves. The Methodist Episcopal Society organized in Denmark, and the Free Methodist Church of North America began in New York. Helenor M. Davisson was ordained deacon in 1866 in the Methodist Protestant Church, the first clergywoman in the Methodist tradition. Methodism reached Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Hawaii, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), New Guinea, Norway, Portugal and Uruguay.
1876-1900: Missions and Dreams
Both the northern and southern churches emphasized mission work in the United States and internationally. Missionaries established schools for former slaves and their children. Women began forming missionary societies and raising funds. Missionaries Isabella Thoburn, Susan Bauernfeind and Harriett Britten and administrators Belle Harris Bennett and Lucy Rider Meyer motivated churchwomen to support home and foreign mission. The push began for increased participation in decision-making by lay men and women.
Bishop William Taylor worked in Angola, Bolivia, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru. Bishop James M. Thoburn pioneered ministries in Malaysia and the Philippines. Thoburn founded the first Christian women’s college in India. Methodist missions spread to Costa Rica, Cuba, Hungary, Korea, Mozambique, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Russia. In 1898, Bishop Joseph Crane Hartzell stood atop Mount Chiremba in then Rhodesia and dreamt of hundreds of African youth running to school in the valley below.
1901-25: Healing Begins
The churches began to heal some of the early schisms. The Evangelical Association and the United Evangelical Church became The Evangelical Church in 1922. While there was growing theological ferment between liberal Protestant theology, fundamentalists and a conservative group termed neo-orthodox, Methodists worked together in mission. In 1908, the Methodist Episcopal Church adopted The Social Creed to express outrage over the miserable lives of millions of workers. Methodist missionaries reached Albania, Belgium, Borneo, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Java, Latvia, Lithuania, Manchuria, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Serbia and Sumatra. The Primitive Evangelical Methodist Church of Guatemala formed. Bishop Hartzell launched missions in Algeria and Tunisia.
1926-1950: Coming Together
The push toward reunification continued as The Methodist Episcopal Church, The Methodist Protestant Church and The Methodist Episcopal Church South forged a plan of union. The final proposal included dividing a united church into six administrative units, called jurisdictions. Five were geographical. One, the Central Jurisdiction, was racial, including all African American churches and annual conferences wherever they were located in the United States. Though troubling to many, the proposal was accepted. The three churches united in April 1939 to become The Methodist Church (USA). Missions extended into Burundi and Rwanda. The North Africa Provisional Conference was established. In response to World War II’s devastating effects, the 1940 General Conference of The Methodist Church approved forming the Methodist Committee on Relief.
The United Methodist Church is a product of a worldwide mission that began some 300 years ago. It starts in England, travels to the American continent with the colonists and quickly spreads around the globe.
1725-50: A Movement Begins
An Oxford Fellow, John Wesley was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1728. He and his brother Charles were sons of an Anglican clergyman, the Rev. Samuel Wesley, and a woman of great strength, faith and character, Susanna Wesley. In 1729, Charles Wesley formed a small group at Oxford, known as the Holy Club. John soon became leader of the group, which he later regarded as the first expression of Methodism. As he led others, John struggled with assurance of his own salvation. In 1736, the Wesley brothers embarked on an ill-fated missionary trip to Georgia. John left Georgia in disgrace, but with deep admiration for the Moravians he met on the voyage to America.
On May 21, 1738, Charles had a life-transforming experience. Three days later, on May 24, during a service at a church on Aldersgate Street in London, John felt his heart “strangely warmed” and became assured of his salvation. Soon after, his friend and revivalist George Whitefield convinced him to preach in the fields. John was soon preaching to miners, farm workers, day laborers and others who often found themselves less than welcome inside church buildings. John organized the converts into societies, bands and classes. He began training lay preachers to lead them. In 1744, John initiated the first annual conference to bring together his preachers.
1751-75: Crossing the Ocean
As the movement grew, so did pressure to separate the Methodists from the Church of England. John Wesley refused and remained an Anglican priest until his death. The Wesleyan movement spread to America and in 1771, Francis Asbury arrived to begin 45 years of ministry, much of it to people on the frontier. Among those with whom Asbury bonded was Philip William Otterbein, a German clergyman. Emigrating from Ireland and providing leadership to what would become the Methodist Episcopal Church were Philip and Margaret Embury and Paul and Barbara Heck. New York City’s Wesley Chapel opened in 1766. It is still an active congregation, now John Street United Methodist Church. The first annual conference was held in Philadelphia in 1773. William Watters became the first native-born American itinerant preacher.
1776-99: A Church is Born
John Wesley utterly opposed the American Revolution. In the aftermath, with American Methodists having few options to receive the sacraments, Wesley appointed lay preachers Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey for ministry in America and commissioned Thomas Coke as superintendent of America’s Methodists. Wesley charged Coke to commission Asbury to serve with him as Wesley’s deputies. Asbury refused to accept the assignment unless he was elected by the free vote of the American preachers. His election came in the Christmas Conference of 1784, and the Methodist Episcopal Church was born. In 1785, the first Book of Discipline was published. The young Methodist Episcopal Church experienced its first division in 1794 as some African American members left, after facing racial discrimination. They officially formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1816, under the leadership of Richard Allen. In 1821, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was founded in New York City. Missionaries began reaching the Channel Islands, France and Spain.
1800-25: The Church Grows
Asbury, now calling himself Bishop, was the undisputed leader of the American Methodists until his death in 1816. In 1808, the denomination’s first Constitution was written and a publishing house was established. Revivalism and camp meetings drew new converts. While Asbury led the growth of Methodism into the frontier, Otterbein and Martin Boehm founded The United Brethren in Christ denomination in 1800. Daniel Coker organized a Methodist Society for freed slaves headed to Liberia. Missionaries traveled to Australia, the Dominican Republic, Gambia, Haiti, India, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Tonga.
1826-50: Growth and Division
American Methodism was part of The Second Great Awakening. Local churches and classes sprung up wherever a few women and men gathered under the direction of class leaders and lay preachers. Ordained circuit riders visited regularly and administered the sacraments. The Sunday school movement began to flourish. In the same years, divisions over slavery deepened resulting in schism at the 1844 General Conference. In 1845, delegates from the Southern states organized the Methodist Episcopal Church South. It was not the first division in the young church over social and theological issues. The Methodist Protestant Church was founded in 1828 and The Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1841. Methodist missions were established in Argentina, Brazil, China, Dahomey (Benin), Fiji, Germany, Ghana, Liberia, Samoa, Sweden, Switzerland and Togo.
1851-75: War and the Aftermath
The American Civil War took a heavy toll, especially in the South, although both churches eventually rebounded. The Freedmen’s Aid Society and the Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church organized to serve the newly freed slaves. The Methodist Episcopal Society organized in Denmark, and the Free Methodist Church of North America began in New York. Helenor M. Davisson was ordained deacon in 1866 in the Methodist Protestant Church, the first clergywoman in the Methodist tradition. Methodism reached Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Hawaii, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), New Guinea, Norway, Portugal and Uruguay.
1876-1900: Missions and Dreams
Both the northern and southern churches emphasized mission work in the United States and internationally. Missionaries established schools for former slaves and their children. Women began forming missionary societies and raising funds. Missionaries Isabella Thoburn, Susan Bauernfeind and Harriett Britten and administrators Belle Harris Bennett and Lucy Rider Meyer motivated churchwomen to support home and foreign mission. The push began for increased participation in decision-making by lay men and women.
Bishop William Taylor worked in Angola, Bolivia, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru. Bishop James M. Thoburn pioneered ministries in Malaysia and the Philippines. Thoburn founded the first Christian women’s college in India. Methodist missions spread to Costa Rica, Cuba, Hungary, Korea, Mozambique, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Russia. In 1898, Bishop Joseph Crane Hartzell stood atop Mount Chiremba in then Rhodesia and dreamt of hundreds of African youth running to school in the valley below.
1901-25: Healing Begins
The churches began to heal some of the early schisms. The Evangelical Association and the United Evangelical Church became The Evangelical Church in 1922. While there was growing theological ferment between liberal Protestant theology, fundamentalists and a conservative group termed neo-orthodox, Methodists worked together in mission. In 1908, the Methodist Episcopal Church adopted The Social Creed to express outrage over the miserable lives of millions of workers. Methodist missionaries reached Albania, Belgium, Borneo, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Java, Latvia, Lithuania, Manchuria, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Serbia and Sumatra. The Primitive Evangelical Methodist Church of Guatemala formed. Bishop Hartzell launched missions in Algeria and Tunisia.
1926-1950: Coming Together
The push toward reunification continued as The Methodist Episcopal Church, The Methodist Protestant Church and The Methodist Episcopal Church South forged a plan of union. The final proposal included dividing a united church into six administrative units, called jurisdictions. Five were geographical. One, the Central Jurisdiction, was racial, including all African American churches and annual conferences wherever they were located in the United States. Though troubling to many, the proposal was accepted. The three churches united in April 1939 to become The Methodist Church (USA). Missions extended into Burundi and Rwanda. The North Africa Provisional Conference was established. In response to World War II’s devastating effects, the 1940 General Conference of The Methodist Church approved forming the Methodist Committee on Relief.