1703 – John Wesley is born in Epworth, England, to Samuel Wesley, an Anglican priest, and Susanna Wesley, a devout Christian.

1726 -- John Wesley, having graduated from Oxford University in England, is elected a fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford.

1728 -- John Wesley is ordained a priest of the Church of England (Anglican Church)

1735 -- John and Charles Wesley sail to the American colony of Georgia as missionaries to the pioneers and Indians.

1737 – John Wesley returns to England, his Georgian mission a failure.

1738 – While attending a religious society meeting on Aldersgate Street, Wesley has a deep religious experience – “I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ.”

1740 – The Anglican Church refuses to let John and Charles Wesley preach in church and denies Methodist converts communion.   The Wesleys begin preaching outdoors.

1741 – John Wesley organizes a network of traveling preachers who make the rounds to distant communities, telling the good news and bringing men and women to faith.

1742 – John Wesley divides the Methodist societies into classes under lay leaders.

1743 – John Wesley writes the “General Rules of the United Societies.”

1744 – The first conference between the Wesleys and their preachers is held to settle questions about doctrine and discipline.   Conferences become annual events.

1784 – John Wesley begins to ordain ministers for America – an act which deepens the split between Methodists and the Anglican Church.

1766 – Methodist in America begins as a lay movement.   In New York a small Methodist society is started by Phillip Embury and Barbara Heck.

1767 – Philip Otterbein, a minister of the German Reformed Church who served German settlers in Pennsylvania and later in Baltimore, meets Martin Boehm, a powerful Mennonite preacher who has studied Wesley’s writings.

1768 – The first Methodist Church in the Colonies is built – John Street Church in New York.

1760s – Other Methodist societies are organized, by Robert Strawbridge in Maryland, by Thomas Webb in Philadelphia, and by Deveraux Jarrat in Virginia.

1769 – John Wesley sends his first preachers to America to take charge.

1770s – Revolutionary War in Colonies.  Wesley supports England in the war, so in many colonies it is dangerous to be Methodist.   All of the British preachers except Francis Asbury return to England.   Asbury works tirelessly and at great risk to keep the Methodist societies together, riding thousands of miles to preach and organize throughout the Colonies.  By war’s end, Methodist Church membership has grown to 15,000.

1784 – On Christmas Eve, 60 American Methodist preachers gather in Baltimore, Md., to form the Methodist Episcopal Church.   They vow allegiance to the U.S. government and adopt John Wesley’s Articles of Religion and Sunday Service.   Thomas Coke is elected superintendent.  Francis Asbury is ordained deacon, elder and superintendent during the conference.   Otterbein assists Coke in these ordinations.

1816 --  The African Methodist Episcopal Church is founded in Philadelphia by Richard Allen and Daniel Coker as a result of discrimination that prevented early Black Methodists from serving the gospel as they wished. 

1822 – The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is created in New York by Black members of the John Street Church.

1828-1830 --  The Methodist Protestant Church forms out of the Methodist Episcopal Church, out of the concern of those who want lay people to share power with clergy in governing the church.

1843 – Growing hostilities between southerners and radical abolitionist members of the Methodist Episcopal Church over the issue of slavery interfere with conference work.  When moderate members prohibit discussion of slavery, the radicals withdraw and form the Wesleyan Methodist connection.

1845 – Southerners organize the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.   Doctrine, policy and discipline remain the same as those of the northern church except on the divisive issue of slavery.

1870 – The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church is created, mainly from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.    In 1954 the name would change to Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

1939 – The Methodist Protestant Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South pass a Declaration of Union and create The Methodist Church.

1946 --  The United Brethren Church and the Evangelical Church join together at the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

1968 – The Evangelical United Brethren Church and The Methodist Church join to form The United Methodist Church.