United Methodist Church Structure
Each local church is governed by a charge conference with an administrative board as the year-round supervisory agency. A council on ministries coordinates the program of the congregation. In smaller churches, the board and the council are combined. There are 36,771 organized congregations in the United States, and 4,446 in Europe, Africa and the Philippines.
Each church in the United States and Puerto Rico is in one of 529 districts, which are administrative and program groupings of about 40-80 churches. Each district has a full-time superintendent who is an ordained minister.
This is the name for both the territory covered by, and the legislative body of, a given region. There are 68 annual conferences in the United States, and 42 in Europe, Africa and the Philippines.
The conference approves program and budget for its area, elects delegates to General and Jurisdictional conferences, and examines and recommends candidates for ministry. A bishop, the presiding officer of a conference, annually appoints all ordained ministers in her or his episcopal area.
Annual conference members are ordained ministers in "full connection"; lay delegates to annual conference are elected by each pastoral charge. Each charge elects at least one lay member; churches with more than one ordained minister on staff are entitled to one additional lay member for each additional clergyperson.
Elected by jurisdictional conferences every four years, bishops are superintendents of their respective episcopal areas. There are 50 active bishops and episcopal areas in the United States and Puerto Rico, and 17 in Europe, Africa and the Philippines. Episcopal areas include one or more annual conferences.
The Council of Bishops is the corporate expression of episcopal leadership, which supervises and promotes the temporal and spiritual interests of the entire church.
There are five geographic jurisdictions (geographic divisions) in the United States, with 8-13 annual conferences in each. Jurisdictional conferences meet simultaneously every four years (next July 15-20, 1996) to elect and assign bishops and some members of general church agencies, and, in some cases, to develop jurisdictional programs. Members of the jurisdictional conferences are General Conference delegates from that region, plus additional delegates -- an equal number of lay people and ordained ministers -- elected by the region's annual conferences.
The structure of the United Methodist Church resembles that of the U.S. government. General Conference is the legislative branch; Judicial Council is the "supreme court." The Council of Bishops is similar to the executive branch but, although the Council has a president, elected each year, there is no single general officer or executive of the United Methodist Church.
General agencies are similar to U.S. cabinet departments, but are primarily accountable to the General Conference rather than to the Council of Bishops. Their staffs are governed by boards of directors who are lay and clergy elected jointly by General Conference and regional organizations.
The church's "Supreme Court" interprets church law and determines constitutionality of proceedings at all levels of church life. Its nine members are elected by General Conference and usually meet twice a year.
The United Methodist Church is a member of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America and of the World Council of Churches. It also participates in the Consultation on Church Union (COCU), where nine U.S. denominations are discussing steps to greater union. Combined membership of COCU churches is about 20 million in 82,000 congregations.
Lay members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,611,902 Ordained ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,481 Ordained women clergy under appointment. . . . . . 4,465 Enrolled in UM-related seminaries. . . . . . . . . 5,813 Diaconal ministers . . . . . . . . . . . (approx.) 1,400 Active bishops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Active women bishops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Organized churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,771 African-American members . . . . . . . .(approx.)319,165 Hispanic members. . . . . . . . . . . . .(approx.) 42,797 Native American members . . . . . . . . .(approx.) 17,457 Asian American members. . . . . . . . . .(approx.) 45,271 Pacific Islanders . . . . . . . . . . . .(approx.) 7,220
Lay members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,145,719 Ordained ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,630 Active bishops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Annual and provisional conferences . . . . . . . . . . 42
North Central Jurisdiction South Central Jurisdiction
Central Illinois . . 144,215 Central Texas. . . 138,272
Detroit. . . . . . . 113,067 Kansas East. . . . . 78,880
East Ohio. . . . . . 197,283 Kansas West. . . . 100,056
Iowa . . . . . . . . 205,634 Little Rock. . . . . 70,024
Minnesota. . . . . . 108,031 Louisiana. . . . . 128,803
North Dakota . . . . . 17,920 Missouri East. . . . 83,743
North Indiana. . . . 118,558 Missouri West. . . 114,020
Northern Illinois. . 135,713 Nebraska . . . . . 109,608
South Dakota . . . . . 32,951 New Mexico . . . . . 51,772
South Indiana. . . . 136,684 North Arkansas . . . 81,932
Southern Illinois. . . 54,290 North Texas. . . . 150,199
West Michigan. . . . . 80,931 Northwest Texas. . . 74,399
West Ohio. . . . . . 301,494 Oklahoma . . . . . 254,017
Wisconsin. . . . . . 115,347 Oklahoma Indian. . . .7,853
Rio Grande . . . . . 14,870
TOTAL. . . . . . . l,762,118 Southwest Texas. . 105,943
Texas. . . . . . . 580,588
TOTAL. . . . . . .1,844,979
Northeastern Jurisdiction
Baltimore-Washington 224,046
Central Pa.. . . . . 176,760 Southeastern Jurisdiction
Eastern Pa.. . . . . 145,301
Maine. . . . . . . . . 28,465 Alabama-West Fla. . 138,280
New Hampshire. . . . . 17,839 Florida . . . . . . 343,455
New York . . . . . . 151,668 Holston . . . . . . 176,316
North Central N.Y. . . 96,860 Kentucky. . . . . . 78,927
Northern N.J.. . . . . 52,772 Louisville. . . . . 82,028
Peninsula-Delaware . . 98,091 Memphis . . . . . . 92,789
Mississippi . . . . 186,026
Southern New England . 72,020 North Alabama . . . 166,648
Southern N.J.. . . . . 80,583 North Carolina. . . 219,948
Troy . . . . . . . . . 66,158 North Georgia . . . 277,681
West Virginia. . . . 130,310 Red Bird. . . . . . 1,438
Western N.Y. . . . . . 66,516 South Carolina. . . 245,029
Western Penn.. . . . 211,877 South Georgia . . . 144,704
Wyoming. . . . . . . . 70,493 Tennessee . . . . . 112,071
Virginia. . . . . . 349,741
TOTAL. . . . . . . 1,689,759 Western N.C.. . . . 287,074
TOTAL . . . . . 2,893,155
Western Jurisdiction
Alaska Missionary . . 3,924
Calif.-Nev. . . . . . 94,291
Calif.-Pac. . . . . . 118,480
Desert Southwest. . . 51,165
Oregon-Idaho. . . . . 43,819
Pacific Northwest . . 72,182
Rocky Mountain. . . . 81,091
Yellowstone . . . . . 19,351
TOTAL . . . . . . . 484,933
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
United Methodist Church Structure
1996 United Methodist General Conference