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WHAT IS DIFFERENT OR DISTINCTIVE ABOUT BEING A UNITED METHODIST?

In addition to being committed to the basic tenets of classical Christianity, traditionally United Methodists have proclaimed the following emphases:

*The availability of God's grace for all
*The essential unity of faith and works
*Salvation is both personal and social
*The church as a community of Christ's disciples who seek to share in God's mission
*The inseparability of knowledge (intellect) and vital piety (devotion to religious duties and practices ) as components of faith
*Seeking holiness of heart and life both as individuals and in our society.
*A cooperative ministry and mission in the world often referred to as "connectionalism"
*A link between Christian doctrine and Christian living.

The United Methodist Mission

We are called by Jesus to be a growing church, leading others to be followers of Jesus Christ by devoting ourselves to worship, prayer, and biblical learning, caring for our families, serving our community, and sharing with others the message of God's grace and love.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

In 1703, John Wesley was born in the parsonage of an Anglican Church in a poor farming community in northeastern England.  His father Samuel was a pastor and his mother Susanna - a strong, intelligent woman - taught all her children at home.  They learned not only how to read and write, but to become godly people.  He attended Oxford University and at age 22 was ordained into the ministry.  At Oxford, John, his brother Charles and other students formed a religious society called the Holy Club that followed a methodical religious life-style of Bible study and fasting.  Other students teasingly called them "Methodists."
In 1735, John and Charles felt the call of God to be missionaries in Georgia.  However, after two long years of ministering to the British colonists and Indians in Savannah, a very discouraged John returned home to England.  Although he "kept all the rules in his religion", he had no joy in serving Christ and was unsure of his salvation.
One night on May 24, 1738, he reluctantly went to a prayer and Bible study meeting held on Aldersgate Street in London.  There a teacher read Martin Luther's explanation of the Book of Romans.  Wesley described in his journal what happened:
"About a quarter before nine, while the teacher was describing a change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation.  An assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

That night he found the joy and enthusiasm he previously lacked.  He and his friend George Whitefield began preaching in the open fields and city streets.  John Wesley preached at least 40,000 sermons and traveled almost 250,000 miles by horse before he died at age 87.  Those who joined the movement begun by Wesley's enthusiastic preaching continued to be called "Methodists."  Thousands of people found new life in Jesus Christ.  Orphanages and schools were set up all over England.  Methodists worked for prison reform and provided medical assistance to the poor.  Wesley staunchly opposed slavery, calling it, "the scandal of religion, of England and of human nature."  Missionaries were sent to America, the first arriving in the 1760's. 

One of the many preachers sent to America was Francis Asbury.  Arriving in 1771, he refused to leave when the Revolutionary War came.  He and other Methodist preachers like him - called circuit riders - traveled long hours on horseback in often bad weather to preach the gospel across the frontier of the United States.  Asbury lived to be an old man, but the average Methodist circuit rider lived only into his middle thirties.  The lifestyle was hard, but they considered it a privilege to preach the gospel.

In 1784 the Methodist Episcopal Church was established with Francis Asbury consecrated bishop.  It was the American beginning of the Methodist branch of today's United Methodist Church.

The other major branch of our UMC came from the Reformed tradition.  Philip William Otterbein became a preacher like his father and grandfather.  He came to America in 1752 and, like the Methodist circuit riders, risked harsh weather and hostile local people to visit German immigrants who were organized into prayer groups.  Asbury and Otterbein both preached Jesus Christ as Savior and the same basic message: Repent of your sins.  Turn to Jesus Christ and be saved.  Love God with all your heart.  Love your neighbor as yourself.

Otterbein formed what became known as the United Brethren Church.  Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Jacob Albright, became a Christian in 1791 (the year of John Wesley's death) and began preaching a message similar to that of Otterbein and Asbury.  Groups of people influenced by Albright grew into the Evangelical Church.  This church had much in common with the United Brethren.  In 1946 the two formed the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
 
In 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) and the Methodist Church merged to form the United Methodist Church.  At that time, the membership was nearly 11 million.  Today membership is about 8 million.

The United Methodist Church is divided into annual conferences.  Each annual conference is led by a bishop and a varying number of district superintendants.  These people help the bishop appoint your local pastor and are in a way the shepherds of the pastors.  Every year each annual conference has a meeting attended by all pastors and lay representatives from each congregation.  Every four years the church has Jurisdictional Conferences (five regions) and one large General Conference attended by delegates elected at Annual Conference.  The General Conference is the main lawmaking body of our church.