Origin from 1908
Twenty three years after Henry Appenzeller arrived in Korea and founded the first Methodist mission there in 1885, already recorded here, and twenty four years before three British Methodist churches united at the Royal Albert Hall in 1932, also recorded here, American Methodism committed itself formally to social reform. Meeting in Baltimore in May 1908, the Methodist Episcopal Church's General Conference adopted a Social Creed drafted chiefly by the Chicago pastor Harry F. Ward on behalf of the newly formed Methodist Federation for Social Service, calling for the abolition of child labor, a living wage in every industry, protection from dangerous machinery and occupational disease, and one day of rest in seven. The General Board of Church and Society, the United Methodist Church's own successor social witness agency, preserves the creed's text as the founding statement of Methodism's institutional commitment to social holiness. Charles Howard Hopkins's standard academic history of the Social Gospel movement, published by Yale University Press, treats the 1908 creed as the movement's clearest denominational triumph, later expanded and adopted by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America as a model for other Protestant bodies.
Facts
Dates
StatusEstablished marks the Methodist Episcopal Church's General Conference adopting the Social Creed at Baltimore in May 1908, committing American Methodism institutionally to social reform, a milestone between Henry Appenzeller founding the first Methodist mission in Korea in 1885, already recorded here, and three British Methodist churches uniting at the Royal Albert Hall in 1932, also recorded here. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Americas directly: "Twenty three years after Henry Appenzeller arrived in Korea and founded the first Methodist mission there in 1885, already recorded here, and twenty four years before three British Methodist..."
This source names Chicago directly: "a Social Creed drafted chiefly by the Chicago pastor Harry F."
This source names Churches of Christ directly: "adopted by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America as a model for other Protestant bodies."
Korea, Regions This source names Korea directly: "after Henry Appenzeller arrived in Korea and founded the first Methodist mission there in 1885, already recorded here, and twenty four years before three British Methodist churches united at the..."
This source names Yale University directly: "Social Gospel movement, published by Yale University Press, treats the 1908 creed as the movement's clearest denominational triumph, later expanded and adopted by the Federal Council of the Churches..."
Occurred In
Spread Event Of
Adds a milestone in Methodist history between Henry Appenzeller founding the first Methodist mission in Korea in 1885 and three British Methodist churches uniting at the Royal Albert Hall in 1932, both already recorded here: the Methodist Episcopal Church's General Conference adopting the Social Creed at Baltimore in May 1908, committing American Methodism institutionally to social reform.
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