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The United Methodist Church is a Protestant denomination in the United States. The United Methodist Church was founded in Dallas, Texas in 1968. The Church was founded through a union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

The Methodist Episcopal Church (1784-1939) was the main predecessor of the United Methodist Church.The organization was founded in 1784 in the United States by John Wesley (1703-1791), but over time the organization fractured. In 1939 the Church was reorganized by a union of the Methodist Protestant Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South to form the Methodist Church.

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (WFMS of the MEC) was founded in Boston Massachusetts in 1869 by Mrs. Lewis Flanders; Mrs. Thomas Kingsbury; Mrs. William B. Merrill; Lois Lee Parker; Mrs. Thomas A. Rich; Mrs. H.J. Stoddard; Mrs. William Butler (Clementina Rowe Butler); and Mrs. P.T. Taylor. The aim of the organization was to support missionary work for the Church through fundraising for and organization of missions across the world. By 1903 the organization had placed missionaries in China, Japan, Korea, Africa, Bulgaria, Italy, South America, Mexico, and the Philippines.

The Woman's Home Society of the Methodist Epipcosal Church was incorporated in 1884 in Cincinnati, Ohio by Eliza G. Davis , Elizabeth Rust, E.J. Fowler Willing, M.E. Ampt, and Louisa Hemeseth. Over time the organization spread to include missions and schools across the United States. The organization practiced outreach through educational, medical, and religious services. The various chapters worked with immigrants, orphanages, black Americans, and others.