The Methodist Church was the official name adopted by the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

denomination formed in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by the reunion on May 10, 1939, of the northern and southern factions of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

along with the earlier separated Methodist Protestant Church of 1828. The Methodist Episcopal Church had split in 1844 over the issue of

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

and the impending

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. During the American Civil War, the southern denomination was known briefly as the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. Its book of liturgy used for the reunited denomination was ''The Book of Worship for Church and Home'', editions of which were published in 1945 and later revised in 1965. They had two official hymnals, the first being ''The Methodist Hymnal'', published in 1935 and 1939 by the same three church bodies that later became The Methodist Church. It was replaced in 1966 by '' The Book of Hymns''. The Methodist Church then later merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church on April 23, 1968, to form the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

(UMC) with its headquarters, offices and publishing houses in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Over the next few years most of the individual local congregations in the two bodies under the names of "Methodist Church" or "Evangelical United Brethren Church" changed the latter part of their name to: "------ United Methodist Church". The new UMC became one of the largest and most widespread denominations in America.The Constitution of The United Methodist Church, Preamble footnote, as found in ''The Book of Discipline'' of the United Methodist Church, 1984, page 20. Earlier in 1946, some Methodists formed the Evangelical Methodist Church, separating from the Methodist Church, citing the influence of

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

in that church as the reason for entering into schism.

References

1939 establishments in the United States Former Methodist denominations History of Methodism in the United States Methodist denominations established in the 20th century Christian organizations established in 1939 Methodist Church, The United Methodist Church predecessor churches {{Methodist-stub