Jacob Albright

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Part of a series on Evangelical United Brethren
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Jacob Albright (originally German Jakob Albrecht) (1759 - May 17, 1808) was an American Christian leader, founder of the Evangelical Association (later the Evangelical Church), born near Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

A German Lutheran in his heritage, he was converted in about 1790 to Methodism. Preaching and forming classes among his converts in the German settlements, he was ordained a minister in 1803 by representatives from these classes and elected bishop at the first annual conference held by his followers in 1807.

The movement did not take the name Evangelical Association until after Albright's death. Albright's Methodist followers formed their own German-speaking church due in part to a lack of cooperation with the English-speaking majority of American Methodists. The Evangelical Church united in 1946 with the United Brethren in Christ to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church and that body in turn united with The Methodist Church in 1968 to form United Methodist Church.

Albright is thus considered one of the founders of the United Methodist Church.

Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania is a United Methodist affiliated school. One of the highest scholarships the college awards is the Jacob Albright Scholarship, which gives students $20,000 per year.

The main source for his life is a short biography written in 1811 by George Miller, an elder of the Evangelical Association. A biography of his evangelistic work, including experiences where he was rejected by his listeners, is entitled Jacob Albright: The Evangelical Pioneer. It is by Robert Sherer Wilson, AB, TAB, published 1940 in Myerstown, PA Church Center Press of the Evangelical Congregational Church of Myerstown, under Woodring, Messersmith, and Maurey. [1] [2]