Page "Methodist Episcopal Church, South" Paragraph 8
from
Wikipedia
Ambitious young preachers from humble, rural backgrounds attended college, moved to town, and built larger churches that paid decent salaries and gave the social prestige of a highly visible community leadership position.
These ministers turned the pulpit into a profession, thus emulating the Presbyterians and Episcopalians.
They created increasingly complex denominational bureaucracies to meet a series of pressing needs: defending slavery, evangelizing soldiers during the Civil War, promoting temperance reform, contributing to foreign missions ( see American Southern Methodist Episcopal Mission ), and supporting local colleges.
As the historian of the transformation explains, " Denomination building — that is, the bureaucratization of religion in the late antebellum South — was an inherently innovative and forward-looking task.
Page 1 of 1.
1.955 seconds.