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
Episcopal Relief & Development Project, and fundraising campaigns. Episcopal Relief and Development began a "Hurricane Harvey Response Fund" to provide support for communities affected by Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in Texas on August 26, 2017, where more than 185,000 homes were damaged and 9,000 destroyed. One of the immediate ways Episcopal Relief & Development and its partners help individuals is by handing out gift cards to local stores so that people can choose what they need the most. Episcopal Relief and Development’s most recent 2016 financials, annual summaries and 990 federal tax returns are available online. According to its 2015 federal tax return,