The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, 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 liturgical, holiness, and evangelical elements.
A bishop is a senior role in many Methodist denominations that have an episcopal polity.
Paul Elliott Martin was an American Bishop of The Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church, elected in 1944. He also distinguished himself as a Methodist Pastor and District Superintendent, as well as by notable service to his denomination.
Gregory Vaughn Palmer is an American Bishop of The United Methodist Church, elected in 2000. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Herbert Palmer, is also a United Methodist pastor.
Robert Tsugio Hoshibata is a Bishop of The United Methodist Church (UMC), the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. He was elected to the episcopacy in 2004. His first assignment was as Bishop of the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the UMC. He currently serves as Bishop of the Phoenix Episcopal Area, Desert Southwest Conference for the UMC.
Larry Martin Goodpaster is a Bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 2000.
Robert Eric Hayes Jr. is an American bishop of the United Methodist Church (U.M.C.), currently serving in the Oklahoma Annual Conference. Before being elected to the episcopacy in 2004, Hayes served as treasurer of the Texas Annual Conference. He has served as a pastor, district superintendent, and college chaplain.
An annual conference in Methodism is a regional body that governs much of the life of the "connectional church". Annual conferences are composed primarily of the clergy members and a lay member or members from each charge. Each conference is a geographical division. In general, the smaller states in the United States hold one conference each, while larger states often include two or more conferences. Several annual conferences are held in other nations as well.
The Evangelical Methodist Church (EMC) is a Christian denomination in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The denomination reported 399 churches in the United States, Mexico, Burma/Myanmar, Canada, Philippines and several European and African nations in 2018, and a total of 34,656 members worldwide.
The Evangelical Church of North America (ECNA) is a Wesleyan-Holiness, Protestant Christian denomination headquartered in Clackamas, Oregon. As of 2000, the Church had 12,475 members in 133 local churches. The Church sponsors missionaries in seven countries.
An episcopal area in the United Methodist Church (UMC) is a basic unit of this denomination. It is a region presided over by a resident bishop that is similar to a diocese in other Christian denominations. Each annual conference in the UMC is within a single episcopal area; some episcopal areas include more than one annual conference. Episcopal areas are found in the United States as well as internationally. In some cases, such as the Western Jurisdiction of the US as well as some places internationally, an episcopal area covers a very large territory.
Joel Neftali Martinez is an Hispanic-American Bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1992. Prior to his election to the episcopacy, Rev. Martinez gained notability as a Pastor and District Superintendent in the Methodist and United Methodist Churches and as a denominational official in the area of ethnic ministries.
Kathleen Baskin-Ball was an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. She was ordained as deacon and probationary member of the North Texas Conference in 1983 and as elder and full member of the North Texas Conference in 1988. She received national recognition for her preaching, especially to youth. She was a keynote speaker at Youth2007, the international youth conference of the UMC. She was also recognized regionally as the first female minister in North Texas to demonstrate high membership and worship attendance growth while serving as senior pastor of a large church. She had a notable career record of growth in membership, worship attendance, and people joining by profession of faith. Baskin-Ball died on December 2, 2008, after two years' illness with cancer.
Methodist viewpoints concerning homosexuality are diverse because there is no one denomination which represents all Methodists. The World Methodist Council, which represents most Methodist denominations, has no official statements regarding sexuality. British Methodism holds a variety of views, and permits ministers to bless same-gender marriages. American Methodism concentrates on the position that the same-sex relations are incompatible with "Christian teaching", but extends ministry to persons of a homosexual orientation, holding that all individuals are of sacred worth. The following denominations are members of the World Methodist Council.
Rev. Dr. James W. “Jim” Moore (1938-2019) was a bestselling author of over 40 books, Abingdon Press' top selling author. He was a preacher and pastor, an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. He served as Senior Pastor of St. Luke's United Methodist Church –Houston from 1984 to 2006. In 2006, after 50 years of active ministry, he retired from full-time ministry in the Texas Conference of the UMC and moved to the Dallas area. At the time of his death, he was serving as Minister in Residence at Highland Park United Methodist Church.
The Jurisdictional Conferences are a collection of Annual Conferences of The United Methodist Church located inside the United States.
B. Michael Watson is a bishop of The United Methodist Church, elected in 2000. He served as resident bishop of the North Georgia Annual Conference, which comprises 1,000 churches, more than 1,500 clergy members, and more than 320,000 lay members. He retired in 2016 and currently serves as ecumenical officer of the Council of Bishops.
Grant J. Hagiya is a Bishop in the United Methodist Church, having been elected to that position in 2008.
The Michigan Area Conference is one of 54 Annual Conferences of The United Methodist Church in the United States. They are one of 10 members of the North Central Jurisdiction. The Michigan Area Annual Conference represents more than 830 local United Methodist churches with approximately 130,000 members in total. The Michigan Area Conference Center is located in Lansing.
Frank Beard is an American United Methodist Church bishop serving the Illinois Great Rivers Conference.
