Editing Methodist Protestant Church (section)

===Reunification and organized dissent===

After the formation of the Methodist Protestant Church, the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] had become further fractured by the corresponding division of the nation during the [[American Civil War]]. At the conclusion of that military conflict, the corresponding division between Northern and Southern Methodist Episcopal Churches remained.  While discussion toward reunification went forward slowly, many of the democratic reforms of church governance were adopted which had led to a separate Methodist Protestant Church.  Consequently, the reunification process was broadened to include all three major "streams" of American Methodism, and resulted in a Uniting Convention being convened in 1939 with representatives of the General and Annual Conferences of the three separate bodies as delegates.

Some of the original differences between Methodist Protestant Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church remained unresolved.  Additionally, many Methodist Protestants objected to liberalization on the part of the Methodist Episcopal Church with respect to the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures, the deity of Christ and Wesley's teachings on the work of the Holy Spirit. This opinion was the minority view in most Methodist Protestant Annual Conferences, the Mississippi Conference being the sole exception.  The Uniting Convention proceeded to effect the merger, which formed [[The Methodist Church (USA)|The Methodist Church]], which in 1968 merged with the [[Evangelical United Brethren]] to form the [[United Methodist Church]]. Those who objected to the merger continued as the Methodist Protestant Church.