Methodist Episcopal Church, South and South and was criticized for holding slaves. The 1844 General Conference voted to suspend Bishop Andrew from exercising his episcopal office until he gave up the slaves. Southern delegates to the conference disputed the authority of a General Conference to discipline bishops. The cultural differences that had divided the nation during the mid-19th century were also dividing the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 1844 dispute led Methodists in the South to break off and form a separate denomination, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC,S). The statistics for 1859 showed the MEC,S had as enrolled members some 511,601 whites and 197,000
Reformed Episcopal Seminary doctrine." The seminary emphasizes what they describe as "classical Anglicanism lived out in the world through worship, evangelism, and discipleship." The seminary further describes itself as Evangelical, Catholic, Reformed, Ecumenical and Episcopal, defining the terms this way: The seminary's first location was at the corner of 43rd and Chestnut streets in West Philadelphia alongside the magnificent Christ Memorial Church (pictured at right.) Currently the seminary is in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. It consists of three buildings, including one dorm house for students. Also resident on campus are the offices of the Reformed Episcopal diocese of the Northeast