Philip William Otterbein

Philip William Otterbein ( Philip William Otterbein, born July 3, 1726 Dillenburg, † November 17, 1813 in Baltimore, Maryland ) was a German -American preacher and one of the founders of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

Otterbein wandered after his ordination in 1749 were made to the Reformed clergy in 1752 to North America and served several churches in Pennsylvania. In 1770 he returned back again for a short time after Germany. From 1773 until his death he was pastor of the Second Evangelical Reformed Church in Baltimore.

1767 or 1768 it came to the fateful encounter with the Mennonite preacher Martin Boehm ( 1752-1812 ), both worked closely with the consequence and alienated from their origin denominations. While Boehm was excluded from the Mennonite Church, Otterbein was reformed pastor, but closed inwardly closely to the emerging Methodist Episcopal Church. He was involved in the 1784 launch of the first Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury. With Boehm together he made on September 29, 1800, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, who handed over to Germany since 1869.

From Otter leg nine siblings all his five brothers were also ministers.

Several churches bear his name. See Otterbein Church.