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The Evangelical United Brethren Church came into existence in 1946 through the merger of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Church. Both denominations were products of religious revival among the German speaking populations of Pennsylvania and Maryland at the turn of the 19th century. The Church of the United Brethren in Christ arose in 1800 through the efforts of Philip Otterbein of the German Reformed Church, and Martin Boehm, a Mennonite bishop. The organization that later became the Evangelical Church was begun by Jacob Albright in 1807. His followers adopted the names Evangelical Association in 1816 and Evangelical Church in 1922.

Albright, Otterbein, and Boehm were close associates of Francis Asbury, the founder of American Methodism. With him, these leaders shared a commitment to the Arminian theology of grace, pietistic spirituality, and episcopal church organization. Only the language barrier prevented their followers from becoming Methodists. In 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren Church (numbering about 750,000 members in nearly 4,300 churches) finally joined with the Methodists to establish the United Methodist Church.

Taken from:
K. W. Krueger, ed., The History of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (1979).

Copyright © 2005 River Hills United Methodist Church
11100 River Hills Drive Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 USA
Telephone: (952) 890-2515 Fax: (952) 890-4536
E-mail: riverhills@riverhillsumc.org
Last modified: 08/27/08