We’ve all heard the names John and Charles Wesley, but there are a lot of other important names in the history of Methodism you may not know. The Unsung Heroes of Methodism series tells the stories of lesser-known figures whose lives and witness still impact The United Methodist Church today, even if their names aren’t familiar to us.
This article is part of a miniseries on the founding figures in The Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB). The EUB is one of the predecessor denominations to The United Methodist Church. You can learn more about The EUB and its unique history here.
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When Francis Asbury was ordained as an elder and consecrated as a bishop at the Christmas Conference in 1784, one of the people taking part in the service was a German-American preacher named Philip William Otterbein. Asbury had been friends with this man for years and had personally requested his presence at the conference.[1] To understand why, we have to go back and take a close look at Otterbein’s ministry.
Otterbein was born in 1726 in the region of the German state of Hesse. His father was a pastor in the German Reformed tradition, which was heavily-influenced by the teaching of the Protestant reformer John Calvin. Otterbein’s family was also part of a popular Christian movement of the time known as Pietism, which had also influenced the preaching of John Wesley. The Pietists were Protestants who believed Christian conversion meant a conversion of the heart and changed lifestyle. They practiced a strict morality and engaged in regular private and communal spiritual practices outside of Sunday such as prayer meetings, fasting, and Bible readings.[2]
Otterbein and his five brothers all followed in their father’s footsteps by becoming preachers. He studied at Herborn University and was ordained in 1749.[3] In 1752 Otterbein responded to an urgent request from Pennsylvania for German-speaking preachers.[4] Though still a British colony at the time, Pennsylvania’s Quaker founders had instituted religious tolerance and encouraged immigration from all over Europe. Germans in particular, had been immigrating to Pennsylvania in large numbers.
Otterbein spent the next 15 years of his life preaching to the German-speaking populations, primarily along the Pennsylvania-Maryland Border. His preaching emphasized the role of the individual in salvation and the importance of maintaining the spiritual disciplines. He organized prayer meetings and even classes for children at the churches he served in accordance with pietist sensibilities. Otterbein was not the only preacher in the area influenced by pietism.[5]
In the County of Lancaster, a preacher from the local Mennonite community named Martin Boehm had been leading a similar movement. Sometime around 1767 Otterbein was invited to a service at Boehm’s congregation at Long’s Barn. During the sermon, Otterbein had an experience similar to Wesley’s at Aldersgate as he realized Boehm’s own beliefs and preaching closely resembled his own. Afterwards Otterbein came up to Boehm, embraced him, and said in German, “We are brothers.” Today many people mark this historic meeting as the beginning of The United Brethren in Christ, even though it would not be until many years later that Otterbein and Boehm began forming a new denomination of their own.
Otterbein continued to minister to German-speakers throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland, eventually settling in Baltimore in 1774. The Methodists were already established there and this offered Otterbein the chance to observe them up close. Otterbein was impressed with the way the Methodists organized themselves into classes and empowered laypersons to serve as leaders. That same year he met Francis Asbury for the first time, who Wesley had sent from Britain to help oversee the Methodist societies in the American Colonies. The two were kindred spirits and formed a lifelong friendship. Otterbein meanwhile began mimicking the Methodist model to organize his own followers.
In 1785 Otterbein’s community had grown so much that they erected a new church in Baltimore, which still stands to this day as Old Otterbein United Methodist Church. At first Otterbein and Boehm were both willing to work informally together in good faith while remaining faithful members of their respective church traditions, but Boehm was excommunicated in 1775 and Otterbein continued to encounter resistance for his unconventional practices and association with preachers outside his tradition such as Boehm and Asbury. Meanwhile he saw the success the Methodists had had in forming their own denomination.
Finally in 1800 Otterbein and Boehm held a conference with 11 other pastors in Frederick County, MD in which both Otterbein and Boehm were elected superintendents (later referred to as bishops) of a new Christian fellowship, which they declared The United Brethren of Christ. The name was a homage to the historic meeting of Otterbein and Boehm at Long’s Barn over thirty years earlier in which Otterbein uttered the phrase “We are brothers.” Though now technically independent, Otterbein and Boehm still refrained from referring to themselves as a “church” or “denomination”. Much like Wesley back in Britain, Otterbein still tried to maintain some connection to the denomination that had ordained him. It would not be until 1813, following Boehm’s death, that he began ordaining elders.[6]
Otterbein died on November 17, 1813. As a mark Otterbein’s friendship with Asbury and his high standing among Methodists, the Methodist Episcopal Church adjourned its general conference meeting in Baltimore the following year to attend a memorial service to Otterbein inside his old church. Asbury gave a powerful eulogy in honor of his friend.[7] One hundred and fifty-four years later The Methodist Church and The Evangelical United Brethren would officially merge to form The United Methodist Church. The United Methodist Church of today is therefore a legacy of both Asbury and Otterbein.
This content was produced by UMC.org on April 5, 2024. Philip J. Brooks is a writer and content developer at United Methodist Communications. Contact him by email.
[1] Iovino, Joe. “A Founding Brethren: Facts for United Methodists about Otterbein.” United Methodist Communications. May 15, 2018.
[2] Rowe, Kenneth E.; Richey, Russell E.; Schmidt, Jean Miller. The Methodist Experience in America Volume I: A History. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010.
[3] Idem.
[4] Iovino, Joe. “A Founding Brethren: Facts for United Methodists about Otterbein.” United Methodist Communications. May 15, 2018.
[5] Rowe, Kenneth E.; Richey, Russell E.; Schmidt, Jean Miller. The Methodist Experience in America Volume I: A History. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010.
[6] Idem.
[7] Iovino, Joe. “A Founding Brethren: Facts for United Methodists about Otterbein.” United Methodist Communications. May 15, 2018.
