In 1889, a controversy over membership in secret societies such as the Freemasons, the proper way to modify the church's constitution, and other issues split the United Brethren into majority liberal and minority conservative blocs, the latter of which was led by Bishop Milton Wright (father of the Wright Brothers).
The Wright-led faction (The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Old Constitution) continues today as a denomination of about 550 congregations, with 47,300 members in fifteen countries.