United Methodist Church - Timeline Event
Time Period
1968
Description
In 1968, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged together to form the United Methodist Church (UMC). Although the Methodist Episcopal Church already had approximately 10 million members at the time, it sought more Christian unity after successfully reuniting two denominations that split during the Civil War. The Evangelical United Brethren Church was a denomination with German Pietist origins with approximately 775,000 members, and they also were interested in uniting with other denominations. In 1960, both denominations participated in the Consultation on Christian Union, a movement to unite 10 Protestant denominations. Although the consultation failed, the event helped the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church to realize their theological similarities and merge together.
Today, the UMC is the largest Methodist denomination and the second largest Protestant denomination (behind Southern Baptists) in the United States.
See more information here.
Today, the UMC is the largest Methodist denomination and the second largest Protestant denomination (behind Southern Baptists) in the United States.
See more information here.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Methodist/Pietist Family: Other ARDA LinksMethodist/Pietist Family: Religious Family Tree
Related Dictionary Terms
Methodist-Pietist FamilyPhotographs
Methodist General Conference- Hathi Trust- from Separated Brethren by William J. Whalen
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Page Community United Methodist Church- Wikimedia Commons- photo by Wolfgang Staudt (CC BY 2.0)
Book/Journal Source(s)
Queen, Edward, Stephen Prothero and Gardiner Shattuck, 1996. The Encyclopedia of American Religious History New York: Facts on File.Web Source(s)
https://www.umc.org/Official website
Web Page Contributor
Benjamin T. GurrentzAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in Sociology
