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The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism.
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- Evangelical United Brethren Church
Learn about the origins and development of The United Methodist Church, a denomination that traces its roots to the Wesley brothers and the United Brethren in Christ. Explore the stories, resources and online course that help you understand our history and heritage.
The United Methodist Church was created over 50 years ago when The Evangelical United Brethren Church and The Methodist Church united to form a new denomination. But the early beginnings of Methodism date back to 1736 when John and Charles Wesley came to the New World to spread the movement they began as students in England.
In America, the United Methodist Church and Free Methodist Church, as well as the Primitive Methodist Church and Wesleyan Methodist Church, have a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high church to low church in liturgical usage.
- Overview
- History
- Governance and clergy
United Methodist Church, in the United States, a major Protestant church formed in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by the union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. It developed from the British Methodist revival movement led by John Wesley that was taken to the American colonies in the 1760s. In 2018 the church’s global membe...
The autonomous Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1784 in Baltimore, Maryland, with Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury as superintendents (later called bishops). The church grew rapidly, but various schisms developed. In 1830 a dissenting group organized the Methodist Protestant Church, a nonepiscopal church. The slavery question caused a larger disruption, and in 1845 in Louisville, Kentucky, southern Methodists organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Movements toward reunion of the Methodists began in the 1870s but advanced slowly. In 1939 the Methodist Church was organized by union of the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the Methodist Protestant Church. The merger in 1968 that formed the United Methodist Church brought together the Methodist Church, primarily of British background, and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, primarily of German background but very similar to the Methodists.
Women were given limited clergy rights in 1924 and were accepted for full ordination in 1956. In 1980 the United Methodist Church elected its first woman bishop, and it has elected more since.
In 2019, at a special session of the General Conference, leaders voted to affirm the traditional stance against homosexuality, and a proposal to allow individual churches autonomy in decisions regarding gay clergy and same-sex marriage was voted down. As a result of the significant division within the denomination following this vote, in early 2020 church leaders proposed splitting the church to resolve the debate.
The church is episcopally governed; the bishops are elected by the Jurisdictional Conferences, which, like the General Conference, meet every four years. Each episcopal area has an Annual Conference and District Conferences, each with its superintendent. The episcopal areas are combined into five jurisdictions that cover the country.
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Formerly, ministers were ordained first as a deacon, then as an elder. Since 1996, when the transitional diaconate was abolished, ministers have been ordained as either a deacon or an elder. Both are permanent clergy orders that are distinct in character but equal in authority.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Who We Are. The United Methodist Church is a worldwide connection of approximately 10 million members in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. We are the person next door, the church on the other side of the country, and the worshiping community across the globe.
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