Fifty years ago, the “other” United Brethren church pretty much disappeared, leaving us as the only United Brethren player on the field. It was April 23, 1968, when the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged with the Methodist Church to become the United Methodist Church. Some EUBs grumble that it was less a merger and more like being wholly absorbed by the Methodists.

There were actually two denominations called the Church of the United Brethren in Christ between 1889 and 1946, when the other group merged with the Evangelical Association to become the Evangelical United Brethren. (My second piano teacher, in Harrisburg, Pa., was an EUB pastor’s wife. She used to fall asleep in her wood rocker while I went through my lesson.)

A few EUB congregations refused to go along with the 1968 merger, and instead joined our group. In the process, they lost legal title to their church buildings and had to start over. Some of them, including a cluster around Columbus, Ohio, became (and remain) good, strong churches.

When we began in 1800, we had a good relationship with Francis Asbury and his Methodist folks. They tried to get us to merge with them, but we resisted. We also entertained the idea of merging with the Evangelical Association, which also started in 1800. So our groups had been circling each other for a long time. The EA and Methodist mergers didn’t happen until long after our group split off in 1889.