The United Methodist ChurchMy home church is United Methodist. I've been going there since I was a child because that's where my mother went to church. While researching this article, I discovered a lot of interesting things about my church. There are many points and questions that I agree with and many that I disagree with. Writing this has really made me think hard about my denomination and whether it is right for me. The United Methodist Church shares a common history and heritage with other Methodist and Wesleyan organizations. The lives and ministry of John Wesley and his brother Charles mark the origin of their common roots. Both John and Charles were Church of England missionaries to the colony of Georgia and arrived in March 1736. This was their only opportunity to visit America. Their mission was far from a complete success and both returned to England disillusioned and discouraged, Charles in December 1736 and John in February 1738. Both Wesley brothers had transformative religious experiences in May 1738. In the years that followed, the Wesley succeeded. to lead a vibrant revival movement within the Church of England. As the Methodist movement grew, it became apparent that their ministry would extend to the American colonies as some Methodists undertook the grueling and dangerous journey across the Atlantic to the New World. Organized Methodism in America began as a secular movement. Among its early leaders were Robert Strawbridge, an immigrant farmer who organized labor around 1760 in Maryland and Virginia, Philip Embury and his cousin Barbara Heck, who began labor in New York in 1766, and Captain Thomas Webb, whose works played a determining role in the Methodist movement. beginnings in Philadelphia in 1767. The American Revolution had a profound impact on Methodism. John Wesley's Toryism and his writings against the revolutionary cause did not improve Methodism's image among those who supported independence. In addition, a number of Methodist preachers refused to bear arms to aid the patriots. When English independence was won, Wesley recognized that changes were needed in American Methodism. He sent Thomas Coke to America to supervise the work with Asbury. Coke brought with him a prayer book entitled The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America, prepared by Wesley and incorporating his revision of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England. Two other preachers, Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey, whom Wesley had ordained, accompanied Coke.