The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England, as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces liturgical worship, holiness, and evangelical elements.
An episcopal see is, in the usual meaning of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
The Methodist Protestant Church (MPC) is a regional Methodist Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1828 by former members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, remaining Wesleyan in doctrine and worship, but adopting congregational governance.
The Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) was a North American Protestant church from 1946 to 1968. It was formed by the merger of the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The United Brethren and the Evangelical Association had considered merging off and on since the early 19th century because of their common emphasis on holiness and evangelism and their common German heritage. In 1968, the United States section of the EUB merged with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church, while the Canadian section joined the United Church of Canada.
Silas Comfort Swallow was a United States Methodist preacher and prohibitionist politician who was a lifelong opponent of slavery.
The Christian Methodist Episcopal (C.M.E.) Church is a historically black denomination within the broader context of Wesleyan Methodism founded and organized by John Wesley in England in 1744 and established in America as the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784. It is considered to be a mainline denomination. The CME Church was organized on December 16, 1870 in Jackson, Tennessee by 41 former slave members with the full support of their white sponsors in their former Methodist Episcopal Church, South who met to form an organization that would allow them to establish and maintain their own polity. They ordained their own bishops and ministers without their being officially endorsed or appointed by the white-dominated body. They called this fellowship the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America, which it remained until their successors adopted the current name in 1954. The Christian Methodist Episcopal today has a church membership of people from all racial backgrounds. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology.
John William Hamilton was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1900. He was the chancellor of American University from 1916 until 1922. He was the older brother of Franklin Elmer Ellsworth Hamilton, who was also both a Methodist Bishop and the Chancellor of American University.
Dionisio Deista Alejandro (1893–1972) was the first Filipino Bishop of the Methodist Church, elected in 1944.
Paul Elliott Martin was an American bishop of the Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1944. He also distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor and district superintendent, as well as by notable service to his denomination.
Jashwant Rao Chitambar was the first Indian bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of North and South India, elected in 1930.
Don Wendell Holter was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1972. He was born in Lincoln, Kansas, a son of Henry O. and Lenna Mater Holter.
James Osgood Andrew was elected in 1832 an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After the split within the church in 1844, he continued as a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Frederick Buckley Newell was an American bishop of The Methodist Church, elected in 1952.
The General Conference, in many Methodist denominations, is the denomination's top legislative body for all matters.
William Angie Smith was a bishop of The Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1944.
Raymond LeRoy Archer, was an American bishop of The Methodist Church. He was elected in 1950.
John Wesley Lord was an American bishop of the Methodist Church, elected in 1948. Lord was active in the Civil Rights Movement, he marched with Martin Luther King, he met in the White House with John F. Kennedy, and he pushed for the racial integration of the Methodist Church. He was a vice president of the National Council of Churches and was active in the World Health Organization.
William Turner Watkins was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS) and of The Methodist Church, elected in 1938. He also distinguished himself as a Methodist pastor, as a university professor, and as an editor.
Reverend Stephen George Roszel was a Methodist preacher and leading member of the Baltimore Conference.
Irvine Garland Penn was an educator, journalist, and lay leader in the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States. He was the author of The Afro-American Press and Its Editors, published in 1891, and a coauthor with Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, and Ferdinand Lee Barnett of The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbia Exposition in 1893. In the late 1890s, he became an officer in the Methodist Episcopal Church and played an important role advocating for the interests of African Americans in the church until his death.
