United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a Methodist–Christian denomination that is mainline Protestant today. In the 19th century its main predecessor was a leader in Evangelicalism. Founded in 1968 by the union of the Methodist Church (USA) 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. The United Methodist Church is the largest denomination within the wider Methodist movement, which has approximately 80 million adherents 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. As of 2009, worldwide membership was about 12 million: 7.7 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.