The lives and ministry of John Wesley (1703-1791) and of his brother, Charles (1707-1788), mark the origin of our common roots.  Both John and Charles were Church of England missionaries to the colony of Georiga, arriving in March, 1736.  It was their only occasion to visit America.  Their mission was far from an unqualified success, and both returned to England disillusioned and discouraged. 

Both of the Wesleys had transforming religious experiences in May of 1738.  In the years following, the Wesleys succeeded in leading a lively renewal movement in the Church of England.  As the Methodist movement grew, it became apparent that their ministry would spread to the American colonies as some Methodists made the exhausting and hazardous Atlantic voyage to the New World.

Organized Methodism in America began as a lay movement.  To strengthen the Methodist work of the colonies, John Wesley sent two of his lay preachers to America in 1769. Two years later two more were dispatched by Wesley to undergird the growing American Methodist societies. Francis Asbury, one of the four, became the most important figure in early American Methodism. Asbury's energetic devotion to the principles of Wesleyan theology, ministry, and organization shaped Methodism in America in a way unmatched by any other individual.

The first conference of Methodist preachers in the colonies was held in 1773. In December, 1784, the famous Christmas Conference of preachers was held in Baltimore in Lovely Lane Chapel to chart the future course of the movement in America. It was at this gathering that the movement became organized as The Methodist Episcopal Church in America.

Two other churches were being formed.  In their earliest years they were composed almost entirely of German-speaking people. In 1800 their followers formally organized the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.  The second church, The Evangelical Association was formed.  The Evangelical Association was offically organized in 1803.  These two churches were to unite with each other in 1946 and with the Methodist Church in 1968 to form The United Methodist Church.