Formed in 1939 through the union of The Methodist Episcopal Church, The Methodist Epsicopal Church, South and The Methodist Protestant Church. This union brought together three important streams of American Methodism, which had separated from one another in the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1968 The Methodist Church merged with The Evangelical United Brethren Church to form The United Methodist Church. In its twenty-nine years between 1939 and 1968, The Methodist Church extended its ministry. This was the period of the development of strong and effective general agencies, and increase in the educational standards for clergy and the outreach of the denomination through its colleges, universities, hospitals and homes.
Source: A Dictionary for United Methodists, Alan K. Waltz, Copyright 1991, Abingdon Press. Used by Permission.
