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;
Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Duncan's removal, diocesan leadership went ahead on October 4, 2008 with the necessary second vote required to amend the diocesan constitution and canons. At that convention, 119 of 191 lay deputies and 121 of 160 clergy deputies voted on the second reading of constitutional changes intended to facilitate withdrawal from the Episcopal Church. In additional votes, canonical changes were approved that were intended to move the diocese into the Province of the Southern Cone. This is similar to what happened in the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin in 2007. One member of the diocese's Standing Committee, the ecclesiastical authority in