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;
St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Provo, Utah) St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Provo, Utah) St. Mary's Episcopal Church, in Provo, Utah, is a congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The church building was built in 1907; in 1962, was added to make room for a new church office, parish hall, Sunday school, and the church library. Reverend George Townsend, the first resident Episcopal cleric in Provo, organized St. Mary's Episcopal Mission in 1892. It was during this period that he began gathering broken and discarded bricks to build what is now the original church. While the architect