The United Methodist Church is the largest Methodist denomination. Like all mainline denominations, it has evangelical elements. It is a member church of World Council of Churches, World Methodist Council, and other religious associations.
The United Methodist Church traces its main root to the Methodist Movement of John Wesley in England in the 1700s on Old Earth.
Origins and history[]
The church traces its roots to "The Holy Club" at Oxford University formed by Anglican minister John Wesley and Charles Wesley in 1729. Members of the Society were said to have to lived by "method."
The church in its present form traces its roots to the founding of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It grew rapidly in the young country as it employed circuit riders, many of whom were laymen, to travel the mostly rural nation by horseback to preach the Gospel and to establish churches until there was scarcely any village on Planet Bob without a Methodist presence. The Methodist Episcopal Church rapidly became one of the largest Protestant denomination on Planet Bob.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, like many other Protestant denominations, has seen a number of divisions and mergers. The Methodist Protestant Church split from the Methodist Episcopal Church over the issue of laity having a voice and vote in the administration of the church, insisting that clergy should not be the only ones to have any determination in how the church was to be operated. In 1844, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church split into two conferences because of tensions over slavery and the power of bishops in the denomination.
The two General Conferences, Methodist Episcopal Church (or northern section) and Methodist Episcopal Church, South remained separate until the merger of these two denominations plus a third, the Methodist Protestant Church, the resulting church being known as The Methodist Church.
The United Methodist Church was created when The Evangelical United Brethren Church and The Methodist Church joined hands at the constituting General Conference. With the words,
"Lord of the Church, we are united in Thee, in Thy Church and now in The United Methodist Church,"
the new denomination was given birth by the two churches that had distinguished histories and influential ministries in various parts of the world.
Combining the personal holiness emphasis of the evangelical influence in the church with the outreach emphasis from the social gospel proponents has created a combination of practices within The United Methodist Church.
Nations with a Methodist Majority (or significant minority)[]
Leaders of the Methodist Faith[]
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