A Brief History

In 1941 the Council of Bishops, realizing the critical conditions facing the world, created the Methodist Emergency Committee. Among its responsibilities was the recruitment and endorsement of military chaplains. By 1942 the need for large numbers of chaplains led the Council of Bishops to establish The Methodist Commission on Chaplains as one of its agencies. For the next 30 years, the commission was charged with recruitment, endorsement, and pastoral support for Methodist chaplains. Its first chairman, Bishop Adna W. Leonard, was killed in 1943 in a plane crash en route to Iceland to visit Methodist chaplains and their troops. The tradition of using bishops to support chaplain ministry still continues.

About the same time, the Methodist Church helped lead the major twelve Protestant denominations in the USA in the formation of the General Committee on Chaplains, later to become the General Commission on Chaplains in the Armed Forces. This agency, partially funded by the Council of Bishops, became the conduit between the Protestant faith community and the armed forces. The Commission on Chaplains moved its chaplains to active duty through the General Commission on Chaplains. In 1968, as a part of the uniting process, the title and function of The Commission on Chaplains was broadened to become The Commission on Chaplains and Related Ministries. This expanded commission continued under the management of the Council of Bishops.

As a part of the major restructuring of church agencies directed by General Conference in 1972, the Commission on Chaplains and Related Ministries was separated from the Council of Bishops and became the Division of Chaplains and Related Ministries of The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Funding during the transition period was severely limited. The movement of the agency in 1980 from Washington, D.C. to Nashville with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry allowed complete integration into the life and work of the board.

By action of the 1996 General Conference, the Division of Chaplains and Related Ministries became the Section of Chaplains and Related Ministries of the Division of Ordained Ministry.

In 2003 in the latest reorganization at GBHEM, the name United Methodist Endorsing Agency (UMEA) was adopted. This provides greater clarity with other faith groups and to those outside the organization of who we are and where our ministry is focused.