Remembering the Christmas Conference

This is Barratt's Chapel, the cradle of Methodism in America and the oldest surviving church building in the United States built by and for Methodists is located in Frederica, Delaware. A star in the floor of the Chapel commemorates the historic meeting of Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke. It was here that the sacraments of baptism and communion were administered for the first time by ordained Methodist clergy.

Following their first service together, Coke and Asbury adjourned to the home of Philip Barratt's widow, across the field from the Chapel. That evening they formulated plans to call all the Methodist preachers together for a meeting in Baltimore on Christmas Day. At this Christmas Conference of 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized.