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In the early years of the church, Sunday School work was conducted at the local church level. The 1865 General Conference created the Sabbath School Association to provide a more coordinated effort. It provided financial support, publication of study material, the organization of local Sabbath schools, the holding of conventions, and the proper selection and training of teachers.

In 1881, the Sunday School Association became the General Sabbath School Board, which, in 1905 became the General Sunday School Board.

The 1893 General Conference created the Young People's Christian Union to unite the young people's Christian societies of the entire church and authorized the publication of a periodical called The Young People's Watchword. In 1908, the name was changed to the Young People's Christian Endeavor Union.

The Men's Movement was a lay movement within the church that functioned at the local church level. In 1907, the first session of the Men's Convention was held at the First United Brethren Church, Dayton, Ohio. The 1909 General Conference decided that there should be a more unified denominational program. The Department of Sunday School, Brotherhood, and Young People's Work was established to take over the work of the General Sunday School Board, the Men's Movement, and the Young People's Christian Endeavor Union.

The General Conference of 1869 created the Board of Education. In 1871, the board founded Union Biblical Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. It then became Bonebrake Theological Seminary in 1909, and now is United Theological Seminary. The Board raised and distributed money to needy ministry students and helped support the financial and management needs of the church's colleges, seminaries, and academies.

The 1913 General Conference made the Board of Education a distinct department of the church and elected W.E. Schell its secretary.

In 1929 the Board of Education and the Department of Sunday School, Brotherhood, and Young People's Work were united to form the Board of Christian Education. When the Church of the United Brethren in Christ merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946, both Church's Boards of Christian Education were brought together to form the Board of Christian Education of the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

The purpose of the Women's Society of World Service was to unite all the women of the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Christian fellowship, to make Christ known throughout the world, to develop a personal responsibility for the whole task of the Church through a program of education, service, prayer and giving for the maintenance and advancement of the missionary work of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (Discipline 1951).

When the Church of the United Brethren and the Evangelical Church merged in 1946, the Home Mission and Church Erection Society, the Foreign Missionary Society, and the Women's Missionary Association of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and the Missionary Society, Women's Missionary Society, and the Board of Church Extension of the Evangelical Church were united to form the Board of Missions of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The Women's Division acted independently from the Board. It did this through the Women's Council of the Women's Society of World Service. A convention was held every four years prior to the General Conference at which the Women's Council met and nominated council members who would have governing power between conventions. The nominees were presented to the General Conference for election to the Board of Missions.

When the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church merged in 1968, The Woman's Society of Christian Service and The Wesleyan Service Guild of the Methodist Church and the Women's Society of World Service of The Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to form the Women's Society of Christian Service and Wesleyan Service Guild. Administrative responsibility was assigned to the Women's Division of the Board of Missions. In 1972, the women's organizations in The United Methodist Church merged to form one inclusive organization called the United Methodist Women.