United Methodist Church

United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church 'cross and flame' logo
Classification	Mainline Protestant
Orientation	Methodism
Polity	Connexionalism (Modified episcopal polity)
Associations	World Council of Churches, Churches Uniting in Christ, Christian Churches Together, National Council of Churches, Wesleyan Holiness Consortium World Methodist Council
Region	Worldwide: divided into 122 Annual Conferences, and 69 Episcopal Areas.
Origin	1735
Merger of	The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
Congregations	34,892
Members	Worldwide: 12.1 million (7,183,193 in the United States; 4.4 million in Africa, Asia, and Europe).
Official website	umc.org

The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a mainline Protestant denomination, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor—the Methodist Church—was a leader in Evangelicalism. It was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, United States, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces both liturgical and evangelical elements. It has a connexional polity, a typical feature of a number of Methodist denominations.

The United Methodist Church, with at least 12 million members as of 2014, is the largest denomination within the wider Methodist movement of approximately 80 million people across the world. In the United States, the UMC ranks as the largest mainline Protestant denomination, the largest Protestant church after the Southern Baptist Convention, and the third largest Christian denomination. In 2014, its worldwide membership was distributed as follows: 7.2 million in the United States, and 4.4 million in Africa, Asia and Europe. It is a member of the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council, and other religious associations. In 2015, Pew Research estimated that 3.6% of the US population, or 9 million adult adherents, self-identify with the United Methodist Church revealing a much larger number of adherents than registered membership.