United Methodist History
On April 23, 1968, The United Methodist Church was created when Bishop Reuben
H. Mueller, representing The Evangelical United Brethren Church, and Bishop
Lloyd C. Wicke of The Methodist Church joined hands at the constituting General
Conference in Dallas, Texas. With the words, "Lord of the Church, we are united
in Thee, in Thy Church and now in The United Methodist Church," the new
denomination was given birth by two churches that had distinguished histories
and influential ministries in various parts of the world.
Theological traditions steeped in the Protestant Reformation and Wesleyanism,
similar ecclesiastical structures, and relationships that dated back almost two
hundred years facilitated the union. In the Evangelical United Brethren
heritage, for example, Philip William Otterbein, the principal founder of the
United Brethren in Christ, assisted in the ordination of Francis Asbury to the
superintendency of American Methodist work. Jacob Albright, through whose
religious experience and leadership the Evangelical Association was begun, was
nurtured in a Methodist class meeting following his conversion.