United Methodist Church

UMC, United Methodist

C — Confessionally mixed

Overview

The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 by the merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren. The UMC holds the Methodist Articles of Religion and the EUB Confession of Faith as doctrinal standards, but decades of internal contest over sexuality, Scripture, and episcopal discipline culminated in 2022–2024 with large-scale departures of traditional congregations to the new Global Methodist Church. The remaining UMC removed its prohibitions against same-sex marriage and same-sex ordination in 2024. AskCredo places the UMC in the C-tier as a mainline Wesleyan body whose present public teaching has departed from historic Christian sexual ethics and, in its more progressive wings, from other classical doctrinal positions.

Confession / Standard

Methodist Articles of Religion

Governance

episcopal

Soteriology

arminian

Key Beliefs

Wesleyan-Arminian soteriology
Infant baptism
Wesleyan quadrilateral (Scripture/Tradition/Reason/Experience)

Distinctives

Ongoing LGBTQ split — Global Methodist Church breakaway (2022+)
Theological diversity from evangelical to progressive
Wesleyan quadrilateral subordinates Scripture to reason/experience

Background

North America · Founded 1968

Official Website

https://umc.org