Methodists and the Origins of Endorsement of Protestant Military Chaplains

The first Methodist endorsements took place in 1906 when Bishop Earl Cranston of the Methodist Episcopal Church asked for permission to review qualifications of applicants from his church for the chaplaincy. The Catholic and Episcopal churches had already received similar authorities, and President Theodore Roosevelt granted it to the Methodist Episcopal Church as well.

The Federal Council of Churches was formed in 1908. Among its three-dozen denominations were the three Methodist bodies which would later form the Methodist Church. The General Committee on Army and Navy Chaplains of the Federal Council began endorsing applicants for military chaplaincy in 1917 as the United States prepared to enter World War I. Bishop William F. McDowell of the Washington Area served as its chairman and Dr. E. O. Watson, a member of the South Carolina Conference, served as its secretary. Bishop McDowell reviewed applications on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church with the assistance of Dr. John R Edwards and Dr. Fred C. Reynolds. Bishop Walter Lambuth reviewed applications from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South with the help of Dr. G. C. Emmons. Later, Dr. John Paul Tyler from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South served on the General Committee.

Reorganized in 1940 as the General Commission on Army and Navy Chaplains, it continued to serve as the endorsement channel for Methodist applicants until August 1944. Now independent from the Federal Council of Churches, its leaders included Methodist bishops who also came to shepherd the denomination’s own endorsement activities. Bishop Adna Leonard served as Chairman of the General Commission until his death in 1943 and Bishop Bromley Oxnam served as the President of the Federal Council of Churches. Even after the Methodist Church began sending their endorsements directly to Army and Navy in 1944, the General Commission continued to provide endorsements for chaplains from smaller denominations, with the Methodist Church still bearing over 25% of the cost of its operations.

The Methodist Commission on Chaplains was born on December 31, 1940, and vastly expanded the denomination's role in recruiting, assessing, endorsing, equipping, and supporting military chaplains.

Sources

Chaplains of the Methodist Church in World War II [Methodist Commision on Chaplains, Washington DC, 1948]

Volume 3 of the official history of the Army Chaplaincy, Up from Handymen, The United States Army Chaplaincy 1865-1920, by Earl F. Stover [Office of the Chief of Chaplains, Washington, DC, 1977]

Chaplains of the United States Army by Roy Honeywell [Office of the Chief of Chaplains, Washington, DC, 1958]

The Service of Chaplains to Army Air Units, 1917-1946, by Daniel B. Jorgensen [Office, Chief of Air Force Chaplains, 1961]

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