The Life of Rev. Philip William Otterbein: Founder of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

One of the founders of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Philip William Otterbein was a German Reformed pastor and itinerant evangelist. He was born on June 3, 1726 in Dillenburg, Germany. After attending the Reformed Seminary at Herborn, he emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1752 as a missionary to the German settlers, where he led several congregations before he was called to be pastor of the Second Evangelical Reformed Church in Baltimore, Md., in 1774. Throughout his ministry he traveled as an evangelist in Pennsylvania and Maryland. A friend of the Methodist Francis Asbury, he also worked closely with Martin Boehm, with whom he drew together the United Brethren. Otterbein and Boehm were elected the first bishops of the church, which later became the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) Church, following the merger of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Association. This denomination later merged with the Methodist Church to become the United Methodist Church. Otterbein died November 17, 1813. In addition to Otterbein UMC, Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio is also named after him.