United Methodist Church Timeline
An illustrated bar chart timeline of the antecedent denominations of The United Methodist Church can be downloaded at this link: PDF chart
A Word version of the timeline below can be requested at gcah@gcah.org.
UMC HISTORY |
|
USA HISTORY |
BEGINNINGS INFORMAL |
|
THE AMERICAN COLONIES |
John Wesley is born. |
1703 |
Jonathan Edwards born. |
Charles Wesley is born. |
1707 |
England and Scotland unite to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain. |
Martin Boehm is born. |
1725 |
First recorded scalping of Indians by whites in North America by New Hampshire militiamen. |
Philip William Otterbein is born. |
1726 |
Benjamin Colman preached an execution sermon to pirates in Boston. |
John Wesley attends Oxford University.
|
1729 |
King George I crowned. |
|
1732 |
Georgia Colony founded.
|
John Wesley serves as chaplain to Georgia Colony. |
1735 |
Paul Revere born |
John Wesley learns Spanish in order to preach to the Native Americans in Georgia who were taught by Spanish Catholic missionaries.
|
1736 |
Anna Lee born, founder of the Shakers. |
John and Charles Wesleys' conversion in London. |
1738 |
Ethan Allen born.
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RENEWAL MOVEMENT WITHIN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND |
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|
Formation of Methodist Societies in and around London. |
1739 |
Slave revolt in South Carolina. |
John Wesley's first conference of preachers. |
1744 |
King George's War between the British and French in North America begins. |
Francis Asbury is born. |
1745 |
King George's War continues. |
Thomas Coke is born. |
1747 |
King George's War continues. The war ends in 1748. |
Otterbein arrives in America. |
1752 |
Colonies adopt the Gregorian calendar. |
Otterbein's conversion, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. |
1754 |
French and Indian War.
|
John Wesley baptizes two African American slaves which breaks the color barrier for Methodist societies. |
1758 |
British captured Fort Duquesne in present-day Pittsburgh. |
Jacob Albright is born. |
1759 |
British capture Quebec. |
Methodist colonists arrive in America.
|
1760 |
Briton Hammon’s A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man-Servant to General Winslow, of Marshfield, in New England: Who Returned to Boston, After Having Been Absent Almost Thirteen Years is published and is regarded as the first work of prose written by a black American. |
Robert Strawbridge organizes a Methodist class. |
1763 |
Treaty of Paris I. |
Barbara Heck helps to establish a Methodist congregation in New York City which is a forerunner to the John Street Church.
|
1766 |
Repeal of Stamp Act.
|
St. George's Society founded. |
1767 |
Townsend Act. |
John Street Church in New York City is built. |
1768 |
Treaty with the Iroquois Indians to acquire much of the land between the Tennessee and Ohio rivers is signed. |
Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmore arrive in America.
|
1769 |
Virginia's resolutions. |
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|
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION |
George Whitefield dies at Newburyport, Massachusetts on his seventh visit to America.
|
1770 |
Boston Massacre. |
Francis Asbury arrives in America. |
1771 |
Benjamin Banneker, American black mathematician and surveyor born. |
First conference of American Methodist preachers. George Shadford and Thomas Rankin sail for America. |
1773 |
Boston Tea Party. |
Lovely Lane Chapel built in Baltimore. |
1774 |
First Continental Congress. |
|
1775 |
Revolutionary War. |
Thomas Coke named by Wesley as the first superintendent for America. |
1776 |
Declaration of Independence. |
|
1783 |
Articles of Peace, Treaty of Paris II. |
ORGANIZATION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH |
|
THE NEW NATION |
Initial call to the Christmas Conference originates at Barratt's Chapel.
|
1784 |
Plan to divide Western territories for new states.
|
Formation of black congregations.
|
1787 |
Constitutional Convention. |
Charles Wesley dies. |
1788 |
Constitution adopted. |
Bishops Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke visit President Washington.
|
1789 |
George Washington inaugurated. |
Jacob Albright's conversion.
|
1790 |
First United States patent issued. First United States census. The census reports that 697,897 slaves and 59,466 free African Americans in the United States.
|
John Wesley dies. |
1791 |
Bill of Rights. Vermont statehood. |
First quadrennial General Conference of American Methodists.
|
1792 |
Postal Service, Mint, and Military Draft established. |
|
1793 |
Eli Whitney invents the Cotton Gin.
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Beginning of the camp meeting movement at Rehoboth, North Carolina.
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1794 |
John Jay's treaty with England.
|
Albright began his first preaching tour.
|
1796 |
Tennessee is the 16th state admitted to the Union. |
OTTERBEIN AND BOEHM FOUND THE CHURCH OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST (a.k.a UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH)
|
1800 |
National capital moved to Washington, D.C. |
EXPANSION, REVIVALS, REFORMS AND SCHISMS |
|
WESTERN EXPANSION |
Cane Ridge Camp Meeting, the Great Revival in the West begins. |
1801 |
Thomas Jefferson inaugurated. |
First conference of the Evangelical Association meets and "ordains" Albright. |
1803 |
Marbury vs. Madison case.
|
EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION ORGANIZED
|
1807 |
Embargo Act. |
Methodists adopt a constitution.
|
1808 |
Slave importation prohibited.
|
First Discipline and Catechism of the Evangelical Association is printed. |
1809 |
James Madison inaugurated.
|
Evangelical Association holds first German camp meeting. |
1810 |
Postal services consolidated under uniform private contracts. |
Martin Boehm dies.
|
1812 |
War of 1812. |
William Otterbein dies.
|
1813 |
James Madison sworn in for second term. |
Thomas Coke dies.
|
1814 |
Washington, D.C. burned by British Army.
|
First General Conference of United Brethren Church in Christ - Discipline and Confession of Faith adopted.
|
1815 |
Battle of New Orleans. |
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ORGANIZED
|
1816 |
Indiana statehood. |
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|
ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS |
First publishing house for the Evangelical Association starts in New Berlin, Pennsylvania. Negotiations for a potential merger between the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Association at the "Social Conference."
|
1817 |
James Monroe inaugurated. |
Formation of Methodist Missionary Society - mission to Wyandott Indians in Ohio officially established. |
1819 |
Florida acquired from Spain. |
Reformers debate roles of bishops and laity in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
|
1820 |
Missouri Compromise.
|
AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ORGANIZED
|
1821 |
Emma Hart Willard found Troy Female Seminary, first endowed school for girls. |
Zion's Herald begins publication, first Methodist weekly newspaper. |
1823 |
Monroe Doctrine. |
"Reformers" exit to form the associated Methodist Churches. |
1828 |
Tariff of Abominations.
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Primitive Methodists begun mission to America.
|
1829 |
Andrew Jackson inaugurated. |
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH ORGANIZED |
1830 |
First locomotive steam engine put into service.
|
Indian Conference formed by Methodist Episcopal Church's General Conference. |
1832 |
Black Hawk War begins.
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Melville Cox begins first overseas mission in Liberia.
|
1833 |
Sewing machine invented.
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The United Brethren Publishing House is formed.
|
1834 |
McCormick invents the mechanical reaper.
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Phoebe Palmer institutes a weekly prayer meeting in her home.
|
1835 |
Texas Revolution from Mexico begins. |
Der Christliche Botschafter, the first Evangelical Association newspaper, begins publication. |
1836 |
Texas gains independence.
|
Ann Wilkins goes to Liberia. |
1837 |
Depression. |
Evangelical Association missionary society founded. |
1838 |
Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminole Native-Americans were forcibly removed from their homeland in the Southeast and Appalachian Mountains. |
First Methodist regional historical society founded.
|
1839 |
Mississippi enacts the Married Women's Property Law. |
Newbury Bible Institute (Vermont) is founded, the first American Methodist seminary, forerunner of Boston University School of Theology.
|
1840 |
The Hawaiian kingdom is recognized as an independant country by Europe and the USA.
|
The Ladies' Repository, the first Methodist periodical for women, is published.
|
1841 |
William Henry Harrison inaugurated, dies. |
Radical abolitionists exit to form Wesleyan Methodist Church.
|
1842 |
Massachusetts Labor Union. |
Methodists North and South split over twin issues of slavery and episcopacy.
|
1844 |
Samuel Morse invents the telegraph. |
METHODIOST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH, ORGANIZED
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1845 |
Florida statehood. Texas annexed.
|
Baltimore Colored Mission Conference organized by the Methodist Protestant Church. |
1846 |
Iowa statehood.
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A United Brethren quarterly conference gives Charity Opheral a preacher's license.
|
1847 |
Utah settled by Mormons.
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The Evangelical Association begins publishing The Evangelical Messenger.
|
1848 |
Forerunner of the Associated Press is founded in New York.
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Jarena Lee's journal is published. |
1849 |
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland.
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Five Points Mission is established in New York City.
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1850 |
Compromise of 1850.
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Lydia Sexton is voted "recommendation" as a "pulpit speaker" by the General Conference for The Church of the United Brethren in Christ. |
1851 |
Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol.
|
Earliest call yet discovered for deaconess as an order in the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Zion's Herald, March 17, 1852 issue. |
1852 |
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin. |
Church of the United Brethren in Christ's Missionary Society founded.
|
1853 |
Envelopes made by paper folding machine. |
The first missionaries for the United Brethren Church are sent to Sierra Leone.
|
1855 |
Abolitionists in New England and other parts of the North form the Emigrant Aid Societies to send anti-slavery activists into Kansas, where they can vote to keep it free. In Georgia and Alabama similar societies send in settlers who will vote in defense of slavery.
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Methodist Episcopal Church 's General Conference gives presiding elders authority to employ African American pastors.
|
1856 |
Pottawatomie Massacre.
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Church of the United Brethren in Christ General Conference passes a resolution that no woman should be allowed to preach. |
1857 |
Dred Scott decision.
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The Ladies' China Missionary Society supports a girls school in China, and two unmarried teachers, Sarah and Beulah Woolston, are sent by the Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Society.
|
1858 |
Minnesota is the 32nd state admitted into the Union. |
Young J. Allen and wife, missionaries for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, arrive in China to establish a mission.
|
1860 |
Abraham Lincoln elected.
|
|
|
CIVIL WAR |
North Central College founded - Evangelical Association.
|
1861 |
Richmond, Virginia, becomes the official capital of the Conferderacy. |
Amanda Hanby Billheimer, daughter of United Brethren bishop William Hanby, sails for Sierra Leone with her husband. She is the first woman foreign missionary for the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. |
1862 |
Battles of Shiloh, Antietam. |
|
1863 |
Emancipation Proclamation.
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Full clergy rights for black preachers with Frank B. Smith admitted to the New England Annual Conference.
|
1864 |
Sherman takes Atlanta. |
Evangelical Mission to Switzerland formed.
|
1865 |
Abraham Lincoln assassinated.
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|
|
RECONSTRUCTION |
Drew Theological Seminary established.
|
1866 |
National Labor Union. |
National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness is founded.
|
1867 |
United States buys Alaska. |
Otis Gibson begins work with Chinese in California.
|
1868 |
14th Amendment - Rights of Citizens.
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The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church is formed.
|
1869 |
Trans-Continental Railroad.
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|
|
EXPANSION |
COLORED METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ORGANIZED (Name changed to CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH in 1952)
|
1870 |
15th Amendment - Right to Vote. |
Alejo Hernandez becomes the first Mexican ordained deacon by a Methodist body - Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
|
1871 |
Congress approves the Indian Appropriations Act. |
Lay representation won in Methodist Episcopal Church.
|
1872 |
Arbor Day (April 10) is celebrated for the first time in Nebraska.
|
William and Clementina Butler establish a mission in Mexico for the Methodist Episcopal Church.
|
1873 |
Depression. |
The Women's Christian Temperance Union is formed.
|
1874 |
First structural steel bridge built in St. Louis. |
Mission to Japan begun by the Evangelical Association.
|
1875 |
American Express adopts the first private pension plan in American industry. |
Anna Oliver is the first woman to receive a degree from Boston School of Theology.
|
1876 |
United States Centennial.
|
Emily Beekin is sent to Sierra Leone as the first missionary of the United Brethren's Woman's Missionary Society.
|
1877 |
Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.
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Women's Foreign Missionary Society of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is recognized. |
1878 |
Carl Sandburg, American poet, is born.
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Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Protestant Church is recognized. |
1879 |
Methodist President Rutherford B. Hayes signs bill to allow women lawyers to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
|
First Test Case: Ordination of women in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
|
1880 |
New wave of immigrants arrive. |
First Ecumenical Methodist Conference - London.
|
1881 |
Beginning of Civil Service reform. |
Board of Church Extension is started by the Methodist Episcopal Church. |
1882 |
Rockefeller gains oil trust.
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Woman's Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association is recognized. |
1884 |
United States Naval War College founded.
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First denominational historical society formed - Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
|
1885 |
First sky scraper built in Chicago.
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Ella Niswonger is the first woman ordained in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
|
1889 |
First practical dishwasher manufactured.
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Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is recognized. |
1890 |
Sherman Anti-Trust Act. |
Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the United Evangelical Church is recognized. |
1891 |
International Copyright Act passed.
|
Lay delegates of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ are admitted to General Conference which includes two women.
|
1893 |
American businessmen and lawyers in Hawaii stage a revolt, backed by U.S. troops. |
The UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH officially breaks away from the Evangelical Association. |
1894 |
Pullman Company strike. |
Mrs. Hartman from Oregon is the first female member of an Evangelical Association annual conference. |
1895 |
Wilhelm Rontgen discovers x-rays. |
Seven missionaries of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ's Woman's Missionary Association are massacred in Sierra Leone.
|
1898 |
Spanish-American War. |
Church of the United Brethren in Christ establish s a mission in Puerto Rico.
|
1899 |
Guam, Philippines and Puerto Rico annexed. |
Full laity rights for women - Methodist Episcopal Church.
|
1900 |
Hawaii Territory organized. |
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|
INDUSTRIALIZATION |
Ella Niswonger is elected the first woman clergy delegate to the Church of the United Brethren in Christ's General Conference. |
1901 |
Theodore Roosevelt inaugurated. |
Puerto Rico Mission organized.
|
1902 |
The United States ended its occupation of Cuba.
|
Evangelical Association creates Deaconess Society.
|
1903 |
Wright brothers fly. |
Methodist Episcopal Church women are given laity rights and admitted as delegates to General Conference.
|
1904 |
Roosevelt corollary to Monroe Doctrine. |
Joint Methodist hymnbook, Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
|
1905 |
Theodore Roosevelt inaugurated for second term. |
Methodist Protestant Church begins work in India.
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1906 |
Pan-American Conference.
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First Methodist Social Creed adopted.
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1908 |
Model T introduced by Ford Motor Company.
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The Brotherhood, A Church of the United Brethren in Christ men's fellowship group, is organized.
|
1909 |
William Taft inaugurated.
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Women's Missionary Council of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is created from the former Woman's Foreign and Home Missionary Societies. |
1910 |
Boy Scouts of America founded.
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Gum Moon Home for Women begun in San Francisco. |
1912 |
Arizona and New Mexico are granted statehood. |
Lake Junaluska Assembly is opend for Southern Methodists.
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1913 |
Woodrow Wilson inaugurated.
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|
WORLD WAR I |
Candler School of Theology is founded.
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1914 |
Wilson proclaims United States neutrality. |
First black bishops elected and a woman is granted local preacher status in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
|
1920 |
18th Amendment - Prohibition of alcohol enacted. States ratification took place in 1919.
|
EVANGELICAL CHURCH FORMED
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1922 |
Colonel Charles Young, one of the first African Americans to graduate from West Point, dies in Lagos, Nigeria. Young was also the first African American to become a colonel in the United States Army. |
"Local" ordination of women in the Methodist Episcopal Church. |
1924 |
Teapot Dome Scandal.
|
|
|
GREAT DEPRESSION |
Southwest and Central West annual conferences formed. |
1929 |
Stock Market Crash.
|
|
1933 |
Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated.
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The Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church issue a joint hymnal.
|
1935 |
Works Progress Administration (WPA) formed.
|
METHODIST CHURCH ORGANIZED |
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WORLD WAR II |
Formation of the Methodist Church, union of the Methodist Episcopal Churches, North and South, and the Methodist Protestant Church.
|
1939 |
Hitler signs an order authorizing involuntary euthanasia. |
First meeting of the Central Jurisdiction. |
1940 |
Benjamin Davis becomes the first African American general in the United States Army. |
Puerto Rico Provisional Conference organized.
|
1941 |
Pearl Harbor attacked and the United States declares war on Japan and Germany. |
Church of the United Brethren in Christ begins Hispanic work in Tampa. |
1942 |
World War II continues. |
California Oriental Provisional Conference organized. |
1945 |
United Nations organized. |
EVANGELICAL UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH ORGANIZED |
|
COLD WAR |
Merger of the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Women are denied ordination in the new church.
|
1946 |
The Philippines, a United States protectorate, gains its independence. |
The Methodist Church launches Advance for Christ and His Church which is seen as a continuation of The Crusade for Christ. |
1948 |
Bell Labs invents the transistor.
|
Oriental Provisional Conference organized. |
1950 |
Korean War. |
Hymnario Metodista is published.
|
1955 |
Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott.
|
Full clergy rights for women in the Methodist Church (Maude Keister Jensen is the first ordinant).
|
1956 |
Suez Canal crisis. |
El Interprete debuts.
|
1958 |
Explorer 1 launched. |
Alaska Methodist University opens. |
1959 |
Alaska and Hawaii statehood. |
Central Jurisdiction forms a committee to study ways of eliminating the jurisdiction. |
1960 |
John F. Kennedy elected. |
Cuban missionaries recalled, native pastors follow. |
1961 |
First manned space flight.
|
|
|
VIETNAM WAR |
Methodist Church of Ceylon becomes autonomous. |
1963 |
Kennedy assassinated. |
Beginning of end for the Central Jurisdiction.
|
1964 |
24th Admendment - Elimination of Poll Tax.
|
Evangelicals launch Good News Movement. |
1966 |
National Organization for Women founded.
|
Margaret Henrichsen - First woman district superintendent in the United States.
|
1967 |
Long Hot Summer. |
THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH ORGANIZED |
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|
Union of Methodist Church and Evangelical United Brethren Church. General Commission on Archives and History, General Commission on Religion and Race and General Council on Ministries created.
|
1968 |
Democratic Convention riots in Chicago. |
Methodist churches in Cuba, Malaysia-Singapore, Pakistan, Chile, and Argentina become autonomous. |
1969 |
Moon landing. |
United Methodist Women formed.
|
1971 |
26th Amendment - Right to Vote for 18 Year Olds. |
First full General Conference of The United Methodist Church.
|
1972 |
Richard Nixon re-elected.
|
A committee of four Hispanic pastors coordinates work in Florida. |
1973 |
Vietnam cease-fire.
|
National Federation of Asian American United Methodists formed. |
1974 |
Nixon resigns.
|
Ethnic Minority Local Church emphasis begins.
|
1976 |
United States Bicentennial. |
Marjorie Matthews - First woman elected bishop. |
1980 |
Ronald Reagan elected. |
General Commission on Archives and History opens permanent headquarters at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.
|
1982 |
Equal Rights Admendment defeated. |
Bicentennial of The United Methodist Church.
|
1984 |
Continental U.S. relays news feeds for stations on Ku-Band satellites. |
The United Methodist Hymnal is published.
|
1989 |
Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons. |
Fifty women serve The United Methodist Church as district superintendents.
|
1990 |
End of Cold War. |
|
|
INFORMATION AGE |
The United Methodist Church Book of Worship is published.
|
1992 |
William Jefferson Clinton elected. |
Victor L. Bonilla becomes Puerto Rico's first autonomous bishop. |
1993 |
Internet expands with World Wide Web. |
General Commission on United Methodist Men formed. |
1996 |
William Clinton re-elected. |
General Conference held in Cleveland, Ohio. |
2000 |
George W. Bush elected. |
|
2001 |
Terrorists attack the United States. The World Trade Center and Pentagon hit by commercial jets. Start of the War on Terrorism by the United States and its allies. |
Autonomous Protestant Methodist Church of Cote d' Ivoire gains United Methodist status.
|
2004 |
San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
|
United Methodist Women becomes a general agency of the denominaton. It replaces the former General Board of Global Ministries' Women's Division. |
2012 |
Barack Obama re-elected.
|
General Board of Discipleship becomes Discipleship Ministries. |
2013 |
Boston Marathon bombing.
|
2014 |
The Affordable Care Act, goes into affect for millions of Americans, the largest expansion of the social welfare state in decades.
|
|
A number of gay ministers publicly declare their sexuality prior to General Conference.
|
2016 |
Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge occupied.
|
Judicial Council rules against Oliveto and upholds Book of Discipline ban on openly gay ministers from serving in the denomination. The decision fails to bring together both sides of the issue. Oliveto, however, remains in good standing until an administrative or judicial process is complete.
|
2017 |
Inauguration of Donald Trump. |