Methodist / United Methodist History

At least 603 recordings in this collection are related to the Methodist / United Methodist Church, providing a varied and deep insight. Included are these special recordings:

  • The 1939 merger that created The Methodist Church
  • The 1968 merger of the E.U.B. and The Methodist Church
  • Earl Kent Brown’s 10-part series on American Methodism, and 5-part series on John Wesley’s Methodism
  • Albert Outler’s 4-part series on Evangelism in the Methodist Tradition

To find programs on Methodism, go to our Audio Programs page and use the search system drop-downs:

Subject: look for History: Methodist, Central Jurisdiction, U.M General Conference, and Wesley, John – or any other subject you wish.

Selected Speakers: find such speakers as Earl Kent Brown, Fred Corson, Van Bogard Dunn, Judith Craig, Alvin Deer, William Boyd Grove, Charlene Kammerer, Leontine Kelly, Harry Lambdin, Joseph Lowery, Frederick Maser, Albert Outler, William Quick, Ellen Johnson Sirlief, Forrest Stith, Prince Albert Taylor, James Thomas, C. Dale White, and Woodie White.

Randomly-chosen Methodist History Program:

The Character of Christian Waiting

Speaker(s): Leontine T. C. Kelly, introduced by unknown person

Description: Leontine T. C. Kelly (1920-2012) was an American bishop of the United Methodist Church. She was the second woman elevated to the position of bishop within the UMC, and the first African-American woman bishop of the church. After being a school teacher in Virginia for eight years, Kelly became a Certified Lay Speaker in Virginia in the late-1960s, served the Galilee Church (1969–75), and was ordained a deacon by William R. Cannon in 1972 and an elder by W. Kenneth Goodson in 1977. Kelly served on the staff of the Virginia Conference Council on Ministries (1975–77), directing social ministries. She then served as pastor of Asbury-Church Hill in Richmond, Virginia seven years before becoming Assistant General Secretary of the U.M. General Board of Discipleship with the portfolio of Evangelism. She was elected to the episcopacy by the Western Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1984.

Length: 26:47
Recording Date: November 14 1976
Recorded at: Duke University Chapel, Durham NC