Methodists in the United States split in 1844 after a southern bishop acquired slaves. Northern Methodists supported barring him from office until he freed them, while southern Methodists opposed the measure, leading to a permanent division.

About 250,000 enslaved people worshipped in southern Methodist churches. After the Civil War, many left, prompting leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to encourage African Americans to form their own denomination. In December 1870, delegates from eight states met in Jackson, Tennessee, and under Bishop Daniel Payne founded the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.

In December 1870, African American Methodists from eight states gathered in Jackson, Tennessee. Samuel Watson, a delegate and eyewitness to the entire convention, recalled, “I have never seen a more harmonious conference of any kind. There was a good degree of intelligence among its members.” Guided by Bishop Daniel Payne, the delegates established the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, creating a new branch within Methodism. In 1954, the name was changed to Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

On December 21, 1870, the new church elected its first bishops, William Henry Miles and Richard H. Vanderhorst. Miles became a skilled organizer who led for twenty-two years, while Vanderhorst was a gifted preacher whose early death, eighteen months later, was widely mourned.

Also On This Day

1939 – Death of Frederick Barnabas Van Eyk, a notable Pentecostal preacher in Australia. He had recently divorced his wife and married a younger woman. Bitten by a tse-tse fly, he refused medical treatment, trusting in faith healing, and died.

1941 – The BBC airs the first play in Dorothy Sayers’ cycle The Man Born to Be King. Before it goes on air, some Christian groups call it blasphemous because an actor is to speak Christ’s lines. However, its reception among Christians will prove generally good.

2002 – Death of Wu Weizun, who had followed Christ faithfully in and out of Chinese prison camps at great personal suffering. He was nicknamed “The Chinese Epaphras.”