United Methodism

★468★

United Methodist Church

℅ Council on Ministries
601 W. Riverside Ave.
Dayton, OH 45406

In 1968, with the formation of the United Methodist Church, for the first time in over a century a majority of those Americans in John Wesley's lineage found themselves in one organization. The United Methodist Church is the successor to five of the larger formerly existing bodies in the Wesleyan tradition, namely the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, United Brethren in Christ, Evangelical Association, and Methodist Protestant Church. (Three of these churches merged in 1939; the other two formed one church in 1946; then those new churches formed the United Methodist Church in 1968.)

History. Apart from the Methodist Episcopal Church, those formed earliest were the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Association. The United Brethren in Christ formed as a result of the work of Philip Otterbein, a German Pietist, with the help of Martin Boehm. Otterbein and Boehm began evangelistic work among the German immigrants in Pennsylvania. The growth of the work led in 1789 to a first meeting of preachers connected with the work. In 1800 these meetings became an annual affair and the ministers agreed that Otterbein and Boehm should superintend the work. They began to use the name United Brethren in Christ. Otterbein had been associated with Francis Asbury and the Methodists, taking part in the ordination of Asbury, the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

A second German-speaking group developed through the work of Jacob Albright in Pennsylvania. A movement gathered around his preaching, and in 1803 a conference of those acknowledging Albright as leader was held. This meeting was the beginning of what became the Evangelical Association.

The Evangelical Association suffered a schism in 1894 when the United Evangelical Church was formed. This schism was largely overcome by the 1922 merger that produced the Evangelical Church. In the 1930s, the United Brethren in Christ entered into merger negotiations with the Evangelical Church, and in 1946 a merger was effected which resulted in the formation of the Evangelical United Brethren.

Within the Methodist Episcopal Church agitation on lay rights and the appointment system (by which a bishop assigns a minister to his church) led to widespread protest, particularly in New England and the Western states. Several dissident periodicals were begun, and leaders such as Asa Shinn, Dennis Dorsey, and Nicholas Snethen pressed for reform along more democratic lines. Following the 1828 General Conference, when it became obvious that the church was not going to move in the direction of reform, schism occurred.

Congregations using the name Associated Methodist Churches were formed. These in turn formed the Methodist Protestant Church two years later. A non-Episcopal form of government termed "connectionalism" was worked out. Lay representation at conference (the legislative body) was given. The annual conference assumed the duty of stationing the ministers, a duty formerly left to the bishop.

A second schism of the Methodist Episcopal Church occurred in 1844, when the General Conference voted to divide itself and form two General Conferences of one church. This split, one of the most unusual in church history, was prompted by heated debates about slavery and the power of bishops. The result was two churches, the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and a tremendous amount of animosity existed in those areas where both had congregations. A major issue, long blocking reunion, was the denial by many northern Methodists of the legitimacy of the General Conference action and the right of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South to share the tradition. (In general, until 1939 the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) continued to call itself the Methodist Episcopal Church, and that is how it will be referred to throughout this work.)

Continual attempts at reunion of the Methodist Protestant Church and the Methodist Episcopal Churches, North and South, were frustrated until the 1930s. Finally in 1939 a reunion did occur and the Methodist Church (1939-1968) was organized. It was this body that merged with the Evangelical United Brethren in 1968 to form the United Methodist Church.

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, Methodist women have served their congregations as unordained evangelists. When the Methodist Church was established in 1939, it was decided that women could be trained for the ministry and ordained, but that they could not become "members of conference," that is, ministers guaranteed an appointment to a congregation and thereby guaranteed a salary. In 1956 women were given full ministerial status. Ordained women thereafter could be "members of conference" and received annual appointments to churches.

Schism in Methodism has centered around two issues: centralized government and race. The protest of episcopal and clerical authority was the first issue to disturb the harmony of the Methodists. The first protest centered on the Rev. James O'Kelly, a prominent minister, who refused to accept Asbury's appointments. O'Kelly broke away in 1792 and formed the Republican Methodist Church, which eventually became part of the Christian Church. Other schisms, now defunct, based on protest of the centralized authority of the Methodist Episcopal Church, occurred in 1792 in Charleston, South Carolina, where William Hammett led a group in forming the Primitive Methodist Church, (not to be confused with the presently existing church of the same name); in 1814 with the Reformed Methodist Church led by Pliny Brett of Vermont; and in 1820 in New York City where Samuel Stillwell and his nephew William Stillwell formed the Methodist Society.

During the twentieth century, Methodists became affiliated with the ecumenical movement. This movement, in tune with the reunionist tendencies of Methodism otherwise, became the occasion of schisms, protesting the growth of a "super" church or the loss of Methodist distinctives. In 1939, when the non-episcopal Methodist Protestant Church moved into the Methodist Episcopal Church, a number of congregations remained out of the reunion and formed new denominations.

Race has been the second point at issue among American Methodists. The first blacks joined the Methodist Episcopal Church during Wesley's lifetime; Methodism moved freely among blacks in the 1700s and early 1800s. In the decades prior to the Civil War, the church established a slave mission which brought many thousands of black people into the church. The Methodist Episcopal Church became the major tool for the education of blacks and the development of their organizational skills. The church's very success in evangelizing both slaves and free black people prior to the Civil War made it a victim of the same social upheavals which split the nation at various times. It should be noted that racial schisms have affected American religion whenever a large proportion of non-Caucasians have become part of a family group. Methodists join Baptists, Holiness churches, Pentecostals, and Buddhists in racial separations. Some Methodist churches are segregated; some are integrated. The United Methodist Church is integrated.

During the period 1880-1914, Methodism was rent by a number of schisms related to the Holiness Movement, a revivalistic movement centered on Wesley's doctrine of perfection. According to that doctrine, after a person is saved, he or she should go on to be perfected in love and receive the "second blessing," an experience certifying holiness. The growth of the holiness movement and of its child, the Pentecostal movement, resulted in two new family groups: the holiness churches, discussed in chapter seven, and the Pentecostal churches, discussed in chapter eight.

Beliefs. While affirming the central theological propositions of Western Christianity, Methodists have generally placed greater emphasis upon piety and religious experience than doctrine. While accepting the faith as defined in the Twenty-five Articles of Religion sent by John Wesley to the American church, it has done so in a spirit of freedom, accepting no statement of doctrine as final or free from error. Generally, Methodists accept four landmark documents as definitive of the Wesleyan tradition: the Twenty-five Articles, the early minutes of the British Wesleyan Conference, John Wesley's Sermons (in which he outlined his basic doctrinal stance), and Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the NewTestament. There are two sacraments, baptism (form optional but usually by sprinkling) and holy communion. Communion is open to all Christians, and congregations vary widely on the number of communion services held (some quarterly, some monthly, and a few weekly). To these are added the General Rules of the Methodist Church, an early definition of Methodist practice. During the twentieth century, the Social Creed, first adopted by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and quadrennially revised, has become the major statement of Methodist policy in the political, economic, and social arenas.

Organization. The United Methodist Church is governed by the General Conference, a representative body of an equal number of lay and clerical members, which meets quadrennially. This body legislates for the entire church and its decisions are printed in The Discipline, the church's rulebook. It assigns tasks to the various boards and agencies and sets policy within which every organization within the church operates. Between meetings, the Council on Ministries guides and coordinates the church nationally and internationally. The United Methodist Publishing House is a major publisher of religious literature through Abingdon Press.

Geographically, the church is divided into a number of annual conferences, each being assigned the task of implementing the church's programs in a particular area through the numerous congregations. The annual conference has the responsibility, through the bishop and the district superintendents, of appointing all ministers to pastor churches or to various special tasks. Ministers join one annual conference and assume a covenant of reciprocal accountability. The annual conferences have broad freedom for developing their own program within the guideline of The Discipline. Annual conferences are organized locally along the same pattern of boards and agencies as established by the General Conference.

Within the United States, conferences are divided into five geographical jurisdictions. A jurisdictional conference meets quadrennially following General Conference. It is assigned the major task of electing new bishops for the jurisdiction. (Conferences outside the United States are organized into seven central conferences which meet for the election of bishops.) Following the jurisdictional conference, the bishops collectively assign each to a particular episcopal area, consisting of one or two annual conferences in the jurisdiction.

The work of the United Methodist Church worldwide is delegated to the Board of Global Ministries. Missionary work is carried on in most countries of the world, though there has been an increasing tendency to grant foreign conferences (of which there were 31 as of 1983) an autocephalous status. In those areas, the Board of Global Ministries works cooperatively under the guidance of local leadership in establishing and staffing any work. Also under the Board of Global Ministries is the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) which has gained international acclaim for its ability to respond to emergencies and natural disasters with relief assistance.

The United Methodist Church has been a leader in the ecumenical movement. It is a member of both the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. It has signed a corcordat with the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas (directly represented in the United States by the United Wesleyan Methodist Church of America, a member of the Caribbean Conference of Churches).

Membership: The church reports a membership of 8,495,378. It also has 36,361 churches, and 53,601 ministers.

Educational Facilities: Theological seminaries:

Boston School of Theology, Boston, Massachusetts.
Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia.
Drew University, the Theological School, Madison, New Jersey.
Duke University, the Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina.
Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia.
Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois.
Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado.
The Methodist Theological School of Ohio, Delaware, Ohio. Perkins School of Theology, Dallas, Texas.
Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri.
School of Theology at Claremont, Claremont, California.
United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio.
Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C. (Gammon Theological Seminary participates with three other schools in the Interdenominational Theological Center, the largest facility for training black ministers in the United States.)

Predominantly black colleges:

Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina.
Bethune-Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Florida.
Claflin College, Orangeburg, South Carolina.
Clark College, Atlanta, Georgia.
Dillard University, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Huston-Tillotson College, Austin, Texas.
Meharry Medical College, Austin, Texas.
Morristown College, Morristown, Tennessee.
Paine College, Augusta, Georgia.
Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rust College, Holly Springs, Mississippi.
Wiley College, Marshall, Texas.

Colleges and Universities:

Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan.
Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, Alaska.
Albion College, Albion, Michigan (no longer affiliated).
Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania.
Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania.
American University, Washington, D.C.
Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas.
Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, Alabama.
Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Centenary College, Hackettstown, New Jersey.
Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana.
Central Methodist College, Fayette, Missouri.
Columbia College, Columbia, South Carolina.
Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa.
Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell, South Dakota.
DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana.
Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia.
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Ferrum College, Ferrum, Virginia.
Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida.
Greensboro College, Greensboro, North Carolina.
Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Hawaii Loa College, Kaneohe, Hawaii.
Hendrix College, Conway, Arkansas.
High Point College, High Point, North Carolina.
Huntington College, Montgomery, Alabama.
Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Kansas Wesleyan, Salina, Kansas.
Kendall College, Evanston, Illinois.
Kentucky Wesleyan College, Owensboro, Kentucky.
LaGrande College, LaGrande, Georgia.
Lambuth College, Jackson, Tennessee.
Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pennsylvania.
Lycoming College, Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois.
McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois.
McMurry College, Abilene, Texas.
Methodist College, Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi.
Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa.
Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio.
Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska.
North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
North Central College, Naperville, Illinois.
Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio.
Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio.
Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Otterbein College, Westerville, Ohio.
Pfeiffer College, Misenheimer, North Carolina.
Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia.
Randolph-Macon Women's College, Lynchburg, Virginia.
Rocky Mountain College, Billings, Montana.
Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music.
Winchester, Virginia.
Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa.
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas.
Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas.
Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.
Tennessee Wesleyan College, Athens, Tennessee.
Texas Wesleyan College, Fort Worth, Texas.
Union College, Barbourville, Kentucky.
University of Denver, Denver, Colorado.
University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana.
University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington.
University of the Pacific, Stockton, California.
Virginia Wesleyan College, Norfolk, Virginia.
Wesley College, Dover, Delaware.
Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia.
Westmar College, Le Mars, Iowa.
Westminister College, Salt Lake City, Utah.
West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, West Virginia.
Willamette University, Salem, Oregon.
Wofford College, Spartansburg, South Carolina.

Periodicals: The Circuit Rider. Available from United Methodist Publishing House, Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202.

United Methodism

United Methodist Church

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