Fifty years ago Evangelical United Brethren EUB Bishop

Fifty years ago, Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) Bishop Rueben H. Mueller and Methodist Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke joined hands over a table laden with symbols---the Bible, hymnals, books of Discipline and a 307 - page "Plan of Union. " 1, 300 delegates and 10, 000 visitors met in Dallas, Texas on April 23, 1968 proclaiming the formation of the newly-constituted United Methodist Church. 10. 3 million Methodists and 750, 000 members of the EUB Church merged into one of the largest Protestant denominations in the world. Flags from fifty-three countries testified to the breadth of the new reality. At the same time, the systematic racism of the former Methodist Church's segregating Central Jurisdiction began dismantling. Fred Day, General Secretary, General Commission on Archives & History

United Methodism’s DNA Is Union! Did you know the first leaders of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches knew and supported each other? William Otterbein Greets Martin Boehm at Isaac Long’s Barn in 1767 and declares, “We are brethren!”

Union in Ministry and Friendship William Otterbein • Asbury and Otterbein’s friendship and ministries crisscrossed for thirty-nine years until Otterbein’s death. • Asbury convinces Otterbein to become pastor of Old Otterbein Church in Baltimore. • Otterbein participates in Asbury’s ordination at the 1784 Christmas Conference. • Albright, a Lutheran and future founder of the Evangelical Association Church joined a Methodist class meeting and became a licensed exhorter to German speaking churches. Eventually he leaves the Methodists to form a group known as the Albright People. Frances Asbury Jacob Albright

Union in Ecumenical Ministry • United Brethren, Evangelical Association, Methodist Episcopal, South, and Methodist Protestant Churches send delegates to the first Ecumenical Methodist Conference in London (1881), a clear sign they understood themselves to be a part of the global Methodist family. • Antecedent bodies of both Methodist and EUB streams were either charter members or early participants of the World Mission Council, World Methodist Conference, Federal Council of Churches (Now the National Council of Churches), World Council of Churches along with other ecumenical mission organizations. • Both the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches provided key leadership in all the ecumenical organizations which they were members. World Methodist Conference Methodist Church Delegates and Spouses – London, 1961

Union Attempted… • 1817 Negotiations for a merger between the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Association at the "Social Conference". • 1829 United Brethren Church and the nascent Methodist Protestant Church discuss union. • 1859 -1875 Merger discussions between the Evangelical Association and the Methodist Episcopal Church begin and eventually fail. • 1876 Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, formally meet in Cape May, New Jersey. Thus began the slow march to union in 1939. Race would be the biggest impediment. The Methodist Protestant Church would formally join the conversation 1911. • Note: Methodists over a period of time also tried to reunite with African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Churches after the latter church split off in the 19 th Century due to racial tensions and actions. Despite attempts to reunite these talks evolved into more cooperation rather than merger.

Union Successful! • 1922 Evangelical Church is created from a merger between the Evangelical Association Church (EVs) and The United Evangelical Church (UEs). The UEs split from the EVs in 1894. • 1939 Methodist Church is created from a merger between the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Methodist Protestant Church. • 1946 Evangelical United Brethren Church is created from a merger between the United Brethren Church and the Evangelical Church. • 1968 The United Methodist Church is created from a merger between the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The original name was to be the Evangelical United Methodist Church but another denomination was already using it. 1939 Methodist Union, Kansas City, Mo. 1946 EUB Union, Johnstown, Pa.

Union Can Take Time… • Negotiations to form the UMC start in 1958. After the Plan of Union was accepted, annual conferences of both churches vote to merge. • Conversations to form the 1939 Methodist Church start in 1876 between the MEC & MECS. Talks to include the MP Church came later. • The United Brethren Church and Evangelical Church begin negotiating merger in 1926. It would take 20 years for union to officially happen for a variety of reasons not the least being the Great Depression & WW II.

Union Because Of Similarities • Both churches had an administrative connectional hierarchy system. • Both churches embraced an ecumenical spirit of cooperation with other denominations and like-minded groups when it came to mission work, especially overseas.

Union Despite Differences • Lack of knowledge about each other. TABLE OF DENOMINATION SIZE DIFFERENCES* • • • Size: The Methodist Church was considerably bigger which caused many EUBs to give pause to merge. Local church governance and structure. Structural and institutional racism. Methodist EUB Membership 10. 3 million 750, 000 Congregations 38, 800 4, 300 Annual Conferences 90 32 Episcopal Areas 46 7 *MEA I: 427

Union Forms A United Methodist Church • • Union came at a time when cultural upheaval caused division and discord in society. • Civil Rights Movement and Race riots. • Women’s Equal Rights. • Vietnam War. • Counter culture revolution divides generations. Joint Union Commission 1958 • Urban neglect/renewal. • Cold War with nuclear threat.

Union Joins Struggle Against Church Racism… • The Central Jurisdiction (CJ) was created to separate Black Methodist churches from their white counterparts. • The EUBs insisted that the CJ be completely eliminated as part of the merger. • Black churches in the Northeast were already assimilated before the 1968 merger. • Black Methodist for Church Renewal (BMCR) formed as an advocacy voice. • The Commission on Religion and Race is created in 1968 to monitor institutional racism and tokenism in the new church. Bishop James Thomas Addressing the 1968 General Conference 1961 Central Jurisdiction Annual Conference Boundaries

…and Women’s Clergy Rights • Helenor Davisson is ordained by the Methodist Protestant Church (MP) in 1866. • Ella Niswonger is ordained by the United Brethren Church (UB) in 1889. • Women ordained in the MP were forced to give up elder credentials at the 1939 mergers. • Methodist Church finally ordains women in 1956. • The 1968 merger allows former UB clergy women to revitalize their ordination credentials. Helenor Davisson Ella Niswonger

Union! • On April 23, 1968 in Dallas, Texas The United Methodist Church is born! • Albert Outler’s sermon on “Visions and Dreams” sums up the new birth of covenantal hopes and visions for the new church. Sermon. Video. • The Uniting Conference gives birth to restructuring the church or creating new commissions such as Archives & History to meet the needs of then and future ministry. A New Day For The Lord, A New Day For Peace In A United Church Outler Preaching to General Conference

Benefits from the 1968 Merger • The end of structural racism on the jurisdictional level. (Methodist) • Polity shift to management parity between laity and clergy. (EUB) • Strengthening local church structure – SPPRC and Church Administration Council. (EUB) • Creation of General Council of Ministry, forerunner of the Connectional Table and General Commission on Archives and History. (EUB) • Rise of grassroots groups reflecting various issues. • Greater opportunity for clergy. (Methodist) • General Commissions on Religion & Race (Methodist) and Archives & History (EUB) Organized.

Happy Anniversary United Methodist Church!

Acknowledgements & Resources • • The General Commission on Archives & History would like to thank everyone who helped on this project, especially our staff. A special thank you to Dr. Ken Rowe, UMC Historian extraordinaire and indispensable colleague to our ongoing work - Ministry of Memory! • Richey, Russell E. , Kenneth E. Rowe and Jean Miller Schmidt. The Methodist Experience in America: A History. Vol. 1. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010. • Behney, J. Bruce and Paul H. Eller. The History of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Kenneth W. Krueger, editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1979. • Thompson, Patricia J. Courageous Past, Bold Future. Nashville: General Board of Higher Education, The United Methodist Church, 2006. • Turner, Lynn W. Philip William Otterbein. Lake Junaluska: General Commission on Archives and History, 1976. • Wilson, Robert S. Jacob Albright. Lake Junaluska: General Commission on Archives and History, 2002. • Oxnam, Bromely “Episcopal Address Section V, Interdenominational and Ecumenical Relationships” Journal of the General Conference of The Methodist Church, (1948): pp. 163 -164. • Hotrum, Brian. The Evangelical Story: The History of The Evangelical Church. Kearney: Morris Publishing, 2006. • Together and Telescope & Messenger magazines, 1963 editions. • Encyclopedia of World Methodism. Vol 2. s. v. “General Conferences of The United Methodist Church”.