Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. While itinerating in Liberia, Bishop Levi Scott ordained the first African deacons and elders in 1853. In 1856, the General Conference created a new position, the missionary bishop, to oversee the foreign mission fields. The Liberian Conference elected Francis Burns to be its missionary bishop, and he was consecrated in 1858, becoming the Methodist Episcopal Church's first African American bishop. As a missionary bishop, Burns was not considered a general superintendent of the church, and his episcopal authority was limited to his assigned field. Domestically, there were efforts among Native American tribes, such as the Wyandotte of Ohio;
Christ Episcopal Church (Gardiner, Maine) its third sanctuary, the first having succumbed to fire in 1792, and the congregation having outgrown the second. It was designed by the Rev. Samuel Farmer Jarvis in what was then termed the "Gothick" style, which was then without precedent in New England. Christ Episcopal Church (Gardiner, Maine) Christ Episcopal Church is a historic church located at 1 Dresden Avenue in Gardiner, Maine. Built in 1820 for the oldest congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine. It is the oldest known example of ecclesiastical Gothic Revival architecture in New England, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places