Methodist Episcopal Church, South facts for kids

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (often called MEC, S) was a Christian church in America. It formed in the 1800s because of a big disagreement over slavery. This split happened within the larger Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC).

For many years, churches in the North and South had different ideas about slavery. This led to a separation in 1845 at a big meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, existed for almost 100 years. In 1939, it joined with the original Methodist Episcopal Church and most of the Methodist Protestant Church. Together, they formed a new church called the Methodist Church. Later, in 1968, the Methodist Church joined with another group to create the United Methodist Church. This is now one of the largest Christian groups in America.

After the 1939 merger, some churches from the MEC,S did not agree with the union. In 1940, they formed the Southern Methodist Church. This smaller, more traditional church still exists today.

History of the Church

John Wesley, who started Methodism, was strongly against slavery. When the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) began in the United States in 1784, it officially opposed slavery. Many Methodist missionaries traveled through the South. They tried to convince slave owners to free the people they enslaved. In the years after the American Revolutionary War, many enslaved people were set free, especially in the Upper South.

In the early 1800s, Methodists and Baptists in the South changed their views. They wanted to gain support from local farmers and landowners. They began to say that the Bible allowed slavery. However, they also argued that Christians should treat enslaved people better.

The invention of the cotton gin made growing cotton very profitable in the South. This greatly increased the demand for enslaved people. It became very rare for enslaved people to be freed. After slave rebellions, states made it even harder to free them. Churches in the North became more and more against slavery. Some members joined the abolitionist movement, which worked to end slavery. But the southern church accepted slavery as part of the law.

The Split Over Slavery

Even in the South, Methodist leaders were not supposed to own enslaved people. In 1840, a bishop named James Osgood Andrew from Oxford, Georgia, bought an enslaved woman. He said he kept her so she would not be sold to a cruel owner. He allowed her to work on her own. The church leaders discussed this in 1840 but did not remove Bishop Andrew.

Four years later, Bishop Andrew married a woman who owned an enslaved person. This meant he now owned two enslaved people. As a bishop, he had duties in both the North and South. Many people criticized him for owning enslaved people.

In 1844, the church leaders voted to stop Bishop Andrew from working as a bishop. This would last until he no longer owned enslaved people. Southern leaders argued that the church meeting did not have the power to punish bishops this way. The different ideas about slavery that divided the country also divided the Methodist Church. This disagreement in 1844 caused the Methodists in the South to break away. They formed their own church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC,S). Leaders from the southern churches met in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 1845. There, they officially started the new church.

The Civil War and Its Impact

By 1859, the MEC,S had about 511,601 white members. It also had about 197,000 Black members, most of whom were enslaved. There were also 4,200 Native American members. In 1858, the MEC,S ran 106 schools and colleges.

The American Civil War (1861-1865) caused a lot of damage, including to church buildings. However, the war also saw many religious awakenings. These revivals started in General Robert E. Lee's army and spread across the South. Church chaplains helped the wounded after battles. John Berry McFerrin, a chaplain, remembered:

At Chickamauga, the fighting was terrible on both sides, but the Confederates won. I stayed on the battlefield for eleven days. I cared for the sick, helped the wounded, and prayed for the dying. It was an awful sight. Thousands of men were killed and wounded. They lay everywhere, shot in every way, and the wounded died every day. Many Federal soldiers were among the wounded. I helped them, prayed with them, and wrote letters to their friends in the North.

African Americans and the Church

After the Civil War, enslaved African Americans gained their freedom. Many of them left the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They joined independent Black churches like the African Methodist Episcopal Church or the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Some also joined the (Northern) Methodist Episcopal Church, which started new churches in the South. These independent Black churches sent missionaries to the South after the war. They helped the newly freed people and gained hundreds of thousands of new members.

In 1860, the MEC,S had about 200,000 African American members. By 1866, only about 49,000 remained.

In 1870, most of the remaining African American members of the MEC,S formed their own church. They separated on good terms with the white members. This new church was called the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. It has been known as the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church since 1954. This new church received about $1.5 million in buildings and properties. It had over 3,000 churches, more than 1,200 traveling preachers, and about 140,000 members.

Church Growth in the Late 1800s

The MEC,S grew steadily after 1844. In 1880, it had 798,862 members. By 1886, this number grew to 1,066,377. The church also expanded its missionary work in Mexico.

Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1901

The MEC,S usually stayed out of politics. However, in 1886, it spoke out against divorce and called for Prohibition. Prohibition was a movement to ban alcohol. The church stated:

People now see that we need both laws and moral persuasion to control the great problems caused by alcohol. We believe that allowing alcohol sales is a sin against society. It does not matter if the license fee is high or low. Stopping the making, selling, and use of alcohol would free us from the greatest problem facing our people. Removing the cause of drunkenness is the only solution. This is the most important moral issue for our people now.... We believe the church, through its newspapers, sermons, and groups, should speak and act strongly to remove this great problem.

After 1844, Methodists in the South focused more on having educated clergy. Young preachers from rural areas went to college. They were often sent to lead churches in towns. There, they could build bigger churches and earn better salaries. This made being a minister a respected profession, similar to other church leaders. They created more organized church systems to handle needs like defending slavery, helping soldiers during the Civil War, promoting temperance, and supporting colleges.

The church's numbers in 1892 showed:

• Traveling preachers: 5,368
• Local preachers: 6,481
• White members: 1,282,750
• Black members: 357
• Native American members: 10,759
  • Total members: 1,305,715
• Sunday schools: 13,426
• Sunday school teachers: 95,204
• Sunday school students: 754,223
• Churches: 12,856
• Value of churches: $20,287,112

Education and Colleges

Methodist education suffered during the Civil War. Many schools closed. Some recovered later in the 1800s. However, public education was also starting in the South during the Reconstruction Era. This meant fewer students needed church academies. Public schools were often separated by race due to Jim Crow laws.

Colleges were also in a difficult state. Most were like high schools that offered a few college classes. A big exception was Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. It had a large campus and a lot of money thanks to the Vanderbilt family. Other colleges were much smaller and poorer. These included Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, Emory College in Atlanta, Wofford in South Carolina, and Trinity in North Carolina. Trinity later received money from the Duke family and changed its name to Duke University.

The need for a theology school west of the Mississippi River led to the founding of Southern Methodist University in Texas in 1911. The church also supported several women's colleges. These were more like finishing schools until the 1900s. They then developed to meet new education standards. The oldest Methodist women's college is Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.

In March 1900, a Methodist group bought a school in Milton, Oregon. They renamed it "Columbia College." It opened in September 1900 under Methodist leadership. The school closed in 1925 due to low student numbers and lack of money. The original wooden building was replaced in 1910 by a stone building. Today, this building is the city hall for Milton-Freewater, Oregon.

Women in the Church

In the 1930s, other Methodist churches began to allow women to become ministers. However, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, did not ordain women as pastors. This was still the case when it merged in 1939 to form the Methodist Church.

Legacy of the Church

The MEC,S helped start four important divinity schools in the South. These are Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Duke Divinity School, Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. Vanderbilt separated from the church in 1914. Duke, Candler, and Perkins still have ties to the United Methodist Church. These schools welcome students from many Christian groups.

The church's publishing house, which started in 1854 in Nashville, Tennessee, later became the main office for the United Methodist Publishing House. This includes Abingdon Press and Cokesbury.

See also

• Category:American Methodist Episcopal, South bishops
• Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
• Methodist Episcopal Church
• African Methodist Episcopal Church
• African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
• Wesleyanism
• United Methodist Church