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History

Ask The UMC: History of The United Methodist Church. Ask The UMC is a service of United Methodist Communications. Photo by Kathleen Barry, United Methodist Communications.

The United Methodist Church was created over 50 years ago when The Evangelical United Brethren Church and The Methodist Church united to form a new denomination. 

But the early beginnings of Methodism date back to 1736 when John and Charles Wesley came to the New World to spread the movement they began as students in England.

Learn more about the roots of our denomination and the developments that led to the church of today.

A plaque erected in Aldersgate Street, London, by the Drew Theological Seminary of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Madison, N. J., marks the probable site of John's Wesley's now famous moment of spiritual revelation. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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Ask The UMC-FAQs

What is Aldersgate Day?

This day commemorates the day when John Wesley experienced assurance of his salvation.

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The Rev. Ju-sam Ryang is called the “Asbury of Korea” because he played an important role in unifying the two Methodist denominations of Korea. Photo courtesy of the General Commission on Archives and History; graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.
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Ask The UMC-FAQs

Who are Korean pioneers in Methodist history?

In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Ask The UMC remembers two pioneering Koreans in Methodist history.

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Early Methodism

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