This Week in Texas Methodist History  Dec. 31

Houston Post Writer Predicts Methodist Union in 1918   Jan. 6, 1918

100 years ago this week Houstonians opened the January 6 issue of the Houston Post and found an in-depth article on the prospects for reunion of the various Methodist bodies which had been separated since the departure of the Methodist Protestants and the division of Episcopal Methodism into Northern and Southern branches.

The writer was H. L. Millis, (1888-1942) Religion Editor of the Post.  Perhaps you are wondering why a man of draft age was not serving in January 1918.  Millis claimed a deferment because of deafness. 

The feature article adds a great deal of context to the three meetings of the era in which the MEC, MECS, and MP churches sent delegates to discuss reunion possibilities.     Millis provides the insight that World War I has produced a feeling of national unity so that the grievances of the Civil War were lessened.  Millis also opines that the spirit of industrial cooperation evidenced in the war effort has influenced not just industrial operations, but also churches.   “Cooperation is substituted for commercial rivalry. . .it is probable that lessons learned during the war will be continued in practice. . .we shall not return to the haphazard methods of everyone for himself and “the devil take the hindmost.”    “.. .unification of Methodism will mean it will be unnecessary to maintain sets of general officers, with the attendant heavy expense.   It will mean the stopping the duplication of efforts in many fields, especially along the border states. .. .where frequently a Northern and Southern church face each other across the street, . . . in many cases each one starving the preacher.” 

Millis also pointed out that the real obstacle to reunion was the race question.   Millis believed that the African American members of the MEC would be combined with CME, AME, and AMEZ into three organizations similar to the Central Jurisdiction which was finally established in the 1939 unification.  Millis correctly pointed out that such a plan would create problems concerning the equity of disbursement of the MEC educational institutions to the new regional African American conferences. 

Millis was, of course, mistaken in his optimism that a grand reunion of Methodists would occur in 1918.   His article is full of perceptive insights on the issue, but his prediction of reunion in 1918 did not occur.