The Methodist Church was the official name adopted by the

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

denomination formed in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

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

southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

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 on a national basis. ...

(which had split in 1844 over the issue of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and the impending

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same 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 polici ...

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. During the American Civil War, the southern denomination was known briefly as The Methodist Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America) along with the earlier separated Methodist Protestant Church of 1828. 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 Book of Hymns'' was the official hymnal of The Methodist Church, later the United Methodist Church, in the United States, until it was replaced in 1989 by ''The United Methodist Hymnal''. Published in 1966 by The Methodist Publishing Hous ...

''. 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 denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...

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

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. 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 is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

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