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| Methodist Church | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Mainline Protestant andEvangelical |
| Orientation | Methodism |
| Polity | Connectionalism (modifiedepiscopal polity) |
| Associations | Federal Council of Churches |
| Merger of | Methodist Episcopal Church theMethodist Episcopal Church, South and theMethodist Protestant Church (1939) |
| Separations | Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches (1939) Fundamental Methodist Conference, Inc. (1942) Evangelical Methodist Church (1945) Association of Independent Methodists (1965) |
| Merged into | United Methodist Church (1968) |
TheMethodist Church was the official name adopted by theMethodistdenomination formed in theUnited States by the reunion on May 10, 1939, of the northern andsouthern factions of theMethodist Episcopal Church along with the earlier separatedMethodist Protestant Church of 1828.[1] The Methodist Episcopal Church had split in 1844 over the issue ofslavery and the impendingCivil War inAmerica. During the American Civil War, the southern denomination was known briefly asthe Methodist Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America.
Its book of liturgy used for the reunited denomination wasThe Book of Worship for Church and Home, editions of which were published in 1945 and later revised in 1965. They had two official hymnals, the first beingThe Methodist Hymnal, published in 1935 and 1939 by the same three church bodies that later became The Methodist Church. It was replaced in 1966 byThe Book of Hymns.
The Methodist Church then later merged with theEvangelical United Brethren Church on April 23, 1968, to form theUnited Methodist Church (UMC) with its headquarters, offices and publishing houses inNashville, Tennessee. Over the next few years most of the individual local congregations in the two bodies under the names of "Methodist Church" or "Evangelical United Brethren Church" changed the latter part of their name to: "------ United Methodist Church". The new UMC became one of the largest and most widespread denominations in America.[2] Earlier in 1946, some Methodists formed theEvangelical Methodist Church, separating from the Methodist Church, citing the influence ofmodernism in that church as the reason for entering into schism.[3]
The Evangelical Methodist Church, which separated from the Methodist Church in 1946 over issues of polity and "modernism," is a congregationally governed group.
