The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784. Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke were the first bishops. Circuit riders, many of which were laymen, traveled by horseback to preach the gospel and establish churches until there is scarcely any crossroad community in the United States without a Methodist expression of Christianity.
The church split over the question of slavery in 1848 with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South being formed in southern states.
In 1939 the two branches, together with the Methodist Protestant Church united to form the Methodist Church.
In 1968 the Methodist Church united with the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) church, which were spiritual descendents of German-speaking Methodists, to form the United Methodist Church.
There are many offshoots of the original Methodist Episcopal Church in the US. For more detail see: Methodism.
