A United Methodist Church (UMC) was formed around 1968 as a result of a merger between a Evangelical United Brethren and a Methodist Church which were themselves the effects of mergers. A Methodist Church was formed within 1939 as the symptom of the merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church.

Organization

A UMC is organized into conferences. A greatest level is known as a General Conference & is the just organization which could speak officially for the UMC. A General Conference meets each tetrad years (quadrennium). Legislative changes come recorded in The Book of Discipline which is revised fallowing every General Conference. Non-legislative results come recorded in The Book of Results, which is published fallowing every General Conference, & expire fallowing eight years unless passed once more by the subsequent session of General Conference. A previous General Conference was held within Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2004. A next General Conference is scheduled to become held within Fort Worth, Texas in 2008.

Below a General Conference come Jurisdictional & Central Conferences which besides meet each iv years. Their primary purpose is to elect & appoint bishops to serve a UMC. A United States is divided into 5 Jurisdictions: Northeast, Southeast, Northward Central, South Central & American. Outside a United States a UMC is divided into septet Central Conferences: Africa, Congo, West Africa, Central & Southern Europe, Germany, Northern Europe and Philippines.

Jurisdictions & Central Conferences come composed of Annual Conferences. the Annual Conference, about a same of a diocese in the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church or a synod in some Lutheran denominations such as a ELCA, is a basic unit of organization within the UMC. A term Annual Conference refers to a geographical region it covers too when the frequency of meeting. Clergy come members of their Annual Conference, & come appointed to a local church or even more charge annually by their Bishop at the meeting of the Annual Conference. Inside numbers of ways, a UMC operates as a confederation of the Annual Conferences, & interpretations of the Book of Discipline by of these conference are non binding upon an additional.

Annual Conferences come farther divided into Territorial dominion, from each one served by the Dominion Superintendent. A Territory Superintendents come as well appointed annually from either a ordained elder members of the Annual Conference by the Bishop. Unlike a Bishop, a Territory Superintendent is non superior inside ordination to more elders, & upon completion of their service when superintendent it habitually go to to serving local congregations.

When a General Conference is a merely organization that potty officially speak for the UMC, there are many councils, boards, commissions, & agents that the UMC operate the denomination level. These include a General Council in Finance & Administratiin (GCFA), a General Board of Pension & Health Advantages (GBOPHB), a General Boards of Church & Society (GBCS), Discipleship (GBOD), Spherical Ministries (GBGM), & Higher Education & Ministry (GBHEM), A General Commissions on Archives & History (GCAH), Christian Unity & Interreligious Concerns (GCUIC), Religion & Race (GCORR), a Status & Role of Women (GCSRW), & United Methodist Men (GCUMM), a United Methodist Publishing Home (UMPH), & United Methodist Communications (UMCom).

A principal administrators of a UMC come the bishops, who help Episcopal areas consisting of a single or even extra Annual Conferences. A Annual Conference cabinet consists of a bishop & the zone superintendents.

Clergy
A clergy includes men & women world health organization come ordained by Bishops as Elders and Deacons and are appointed to various ministries. Elders in a UMC come section of what is known as the itinerating ministry & come subject to the authority & appointment of their bishops. It usually help when pastors at local congregations. Deacons produce higher the serving ministry & might help when musicians, pedagogue, business administrators, & the total of more ministries. Elders & deacons come compulsory to obtain master's degrees prior to ordination.

There exists likewise a second clerical sequentially known as local pastors. Elders might help withinside & perform sacraments in any church when local pastors might just help in & perform sacraments in the specific church that they were appointed to by their bishop. Local pastors come non mandatory to keep around advanced degrees however are involved to require each year classes.

Laity
There are ii classes of lay membership in the UMC: Baptized Members & Profession Members.

A UMC practices child baptism. Baptized Members come victims world health organization use at times been baptized as an babe or even little one, however world health organization stand non afterward professed their have faith. Baptized Members turn into Profession Members across confirmation and profession of faith. Fresh members world health organization were non antecedently baptized come baptized when section of their profession of faith, becoming Profession Members.

Baptism occurs as sacrament in the UMC, however confirmation and profession of faith are not.

A lay members of the church come super crucial in the UMC. A Profession Members come a portion of wholly major decisions in the church. General, Jurisdictional, Exchange, & Annual Conferences come a lot called upon to keep close at h& an equal total of temporalty and clergy.

Around the local church, tons decisions come manufactured by an administrative board or even council. This council is manufactured higher of temporalty representing various more organizations in a local church. A elder or even local pastor sits on the council but only as a non-voting member.

Beliefs
United Methodist beliefs come similar to numbers of mainline Protestant denominations. Although United Methodist beliefs keep around evolved above instance, these beliefs may be traced to the writings of the church's founders, John Wesley and Charles Wesley (Methodist), Philip William Otterbein and Martin Boehm (United Brethren), and Jacob Albright (Evangelical). Sustaining a formation of the United Methodist Church within 1968, theologian Albert C. Outler led the team which systematized denominational doctrine. Outler's operate proved polar in a operate of union, & he is largely considered the foremost United Methodist theologiser.

A official doctrinal statements of United Methodism come: the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church; the Confession of Faith of the Evangelistic United Brethren Church; the General System of the Methodist Societies; the Standard Sermons of John Wesley; and John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Just released Testament.

A basic beliefs of the United Methodist Church include: Triune God. God is a single God inside ternary souls: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Scripture. A writings in the Old Testament and New Testament are the divine word of God. Sacraments. A UMC recognizes deuce sacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion. A Church typically practices infant baptism & recognizes baptisms from more denominations, and as well practices open communion. Inclusivity. A UMC includes & welcomes population of 100% races, cultures, and ages. Free will. A UMC believes that population, spell corrupted by sin, are loose to make their have options because of God's prevenient grace. Grace. A UMC believes that God gives his love freely to a lot population. This was the major emphasis of John Wesley.

A UMC is considered one of a supplementary liberal and tolerant denominations with respect to race, gender, and ideology.

1 source of considerable contentiin within a church (when in great deal of mainline Protestantism) is its official positions on homosexuality. When it stands, a Book of Discipline declares queerness to exist as "incompatible with Christian teaching," prohibits a ordination of "practicing, self-avowed homosexuals," forbids clergy from either blessing or even presiding all over equivalent-sex unions, & forbids a have of UMC facilities for equivalent-sex union ceremonies. Failing efforts keep around been mass produced to liberalize a church's position at each general conference since a union, beginning around 1972; delegates from either annual conferences on a East & West Coasts usually vote to run sol, however come outnumbered by people from the South, Midwest, & overseas.

the United Methodist Church allows for a wide range of theological & political beliefs. For instance, Republican President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are practicing United Methodists as are Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton and former Senator John Edwards.

Ecumenical relations

Based on data from a United Methodist Book of Discipline, a United Methodist Church is upright of these branch of the universal Christian church. So, a United Methodist Church move around ecumenical relations with more denominations. These are a member of two the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches as well as Churches Uniting in Christ.

Around April 2005, The United Methodist Council of Bishops approved "A Proposal for Interim Eucharistic Sharing." This page is the foremost step toward full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which the UMC bishops hope may happen by 2008. A ELCA approved this equivalent document within August 2005. [http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/unitedmethodist/index.html] A church is likewise around dialogue by using a Episcopal Church for full communion by 2012. [http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=7664]

See Also
:Category:Universities and colleges affiliated with the United Methodist Church Connectionalism List of Methodist Bishops List of Methodist theologians Lay speaker Order of St. Luke Social Creed (Methodist) UMCOR The Upper Room Wesley Foundation