Union Methodist Episcopal Church:  At the General Conference of 1912 at St. Mary R.M.U.E. Church in Savannah, Georgia, a sharp disagreement arose.  the difference were not resolved and a group of Ministers and delegrates renounced the leadership of the Presiding Bishop and walked out of the conference on May 6, 1912.  On July 26, 1913, the group assembled in convenmtion under the leadership of Reverend Joseph A. Ellison.  Business conducted at the convention included the adoption of the name Union Methodist Church, the election of Reverend Ellison as President, and the election of Reverend W. C. Kershaw as Secretary.

On August 18, 1913, the Church was registered in the Office of the South Carolina Secretary under the name UNION METHODIST CHURCH OF THE STATE OF S.C. as an eleemosynary corporation.  The corporation is currently in good standing and no further amendments or filings are reflected on the corporatin records of the state.

On May 4, 1914, the first general conference of the Union Methodist Church was convened at Shiloh U.M. Church Charleston, South Carolina.  At this conference, the law creating the office of president was repealed.  The Episcopacy in all its form was adopted, and so the Union Methodist Episcopal Church was formed.  Therefore, we are Methodists governed by a book of Discipline that sets forth the bylaws of the Church.  The Episcopacy outlines our organizational structure that includes Bishops, General Officers, Presiding Elders, Pastors, and Layperson.