About the United Methodist Church

Organized religion is complicated. For centuries, deeply faithful and loving people have followed Jesus’ example – to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. And for centuries, religion has been used as a weapon – to justify slavery, create systems that discriminate, and uphold policies that harm and oppress.

We are United Methodists. The United Methodist Church is the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States and includes approximately 12.5 million members worldwide. When a denomination is as large as the UMC is there will be deeply problematic parts of it and deeply transformational parts of it. So, here’s part of our authentic history.

The United Methodist Church had its beginnings in the 1500s in England. In the 1700s, John Wesley, a minister in the Church of England preached a “method” for the practice of Christian faith, which included devotion to prayer, study of the Bible, and helping others. He and the first “Methodists” supported prison reform and the abolition of slavery. His central message was, “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”

In 1735, John Wesley traveled with his brother, Charles, also an Anglican minister, to America where he trained preachers, called Circuit Riders, to travel by horseback to the most remote areas of the colonies to deliver the Good News of the Gospel in open areas and tents.

It is important to understand that the formation of the United States as a country and the United Methodist Church as a denomination are interwoven. This means our UMC history is wedded to the deep sins of the United States. And for this, we repent. We repent that pastors of our denomination who served as officers in the Union army committed genocide by killing Native American peoples. We repent that members of our denomination enslaved Black people, segregated Black people, and refused to include Black people in the full life of the church. We repent that members of our denomination actively participated in enacting and enforcing segregation and Jim Crow laws. We repent that women were only granted full clergy rights in the denomination in 1956. We rejoice that a vote was taken at General Conference in Spring 2024 to remove all exclusionary language about LGBTQ+ participation in clergy, membership and ministries of the United Methodist Church. Now we can truly say across our denomination “All are Welcome!”

All human made institutions have their flaws. The United Methodist Church certainly has flaws. We invite you to explore more about United Methodism and our community at Edmonds UMC. We are sure that what you will find at Edmonds UMC a brave community worshiping God, growing in faith, and serving the world. 

We would love to hear from you!