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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.

Evangelical United Brethren Church Bishop Reuben H. Mueller (left) and Methodist Bishop Lloyd C. Wicke join hands on April 23, 1968, symbolizing the merger between the two denominations. 1968 file photo courtesy of the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History; cropped from original.
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Ask The UMC-FAQs

When was The United Methodist Church created?

The United Methodist Church was created on April 23, 1968, when The Evangelical United Brethren Church and The Methodist Church joined to form a new denomination.

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Portrait of Helenor M. Davisson, courtesy of Archives and History (edited from original); portrait of Anna Howard Shaw, courtesy of the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Libraries.
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Ask The UMC-FAQs

When did the church first ordain women?

Women served as preachers from the beginnings of the Methodist movement.

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Early Methodism

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