World Methodist Council

In 2016, the World Methodist Council was made up of 80 member denominations:{{cite web|url=https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/WMC_2016_Annual_Report.pdf | title= Minutes of the 21st World Methodist Conference |date=2016 | accessdate=January 6, 2025}}

{{pie chart

| thumb=right

| title =Denominational sub-families at the World Methodist Council

| label1 =United Methodist Church

| value1 =22.84

| color1 =#c2593c

| label2 =Other Methodist denominations

| value2 =46.15

| color2 =#b33512

| label3 =United Churches

| value3 =31.01

| color3 =#9712c7

}}

The WMC is made up of around 80 member denominations.

In 2014 it was estimated that together, the member denominations had about 39,745,196 members and 51,286,152 adherents.{{cite web|url=https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/statistical-information/|title=Statistics of World Methodist Council|date=9 November 2019 |accessdate=July 8, 2020 | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20200710163106/https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/statistical-information/ | archivedate=July 10, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.expositorcristao.com.br/concilio-mundial-metodista-um-deus-uma-fe-um-people-a-mission|title=About the World Methodist Council|accessdate=July 8, 2020}}

According to the most up-to-date statistics available, among member denominations, the United Methodist Church represents 22.84% of individual members, other Methodist churches are 46.15% and united churches represent 31.01% of individual members.

However, some of the largest WMC member denominations face a rapid decline in membership between 2000 and 2024.{{cite web|url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/nov/23/united-methodist-church-membership-in-us-falls-by/ |title=United Methodist Church membership in the US falls 21.9% in 2023|date=23 November 2024 |accessdate=January 6, 2025}}

In 2018, the WMC disclosed that its 80 member denominations represented an estimated 80 million people{{cite web|url=http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/about/member-churches/|title=Member Churches|publisher=Worldmethodistcouncil.org|access-date=17 December 2018}} These numbers would supposedly include around 60 million members and 20 million adherents.{{cite web |title=Member Churches |url=http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/about/member-churches/ |publisher=World Methodist Council |access-date=17 June 2013}}{{Needs verification|date=November 2023|reason=There is no such number as 60 million or 20 million on this page.}}

Still, the 2018 figures oppose all independent statistics, based on national censuses.

A 2011 report by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life estimated that members of Methodist churches (excluding United churches) represent 3.5% of the world's approximately 801 million Protestants, or about 27,234. 000 people.{{citation|author=Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life|date=December 19, 2011 |url=http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Christian/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf|title=Global Christianity|pages=21, 70|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120104124710/https://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Christian/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf|archivedate=January 4, 2012}}

According to Christianity Global: A Guide to the World's Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, in 2020, there were 31,683,000 Methodists in the world (not including United Churches), corresponding to 0.4% of the global population and 14,706,000 members of the Holiness Movement (0.2% of the world population), with a total of 46,389,000 members of the Methodism and Holiness Movement, or 0.6% of the global population .{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdFTEAAAQBAJ&dq=Global+Christianity%3A+A+Guide+to+the+World%E2%80%99s+Largest+Religion&pg=PR1 |title=Global Christianity: A Guide to the World's Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe|author=Gina A. Zurlo|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |page=5|date=2022 |isbn=9780310113614 |accessdate=January 2, 2025}}

The WMC does not represent all Methodists in the world and the organization's member united and uniting churches total only 10.390 million members, according to their own denominational statistics.

Therefore, WMC statistics from 2014 are considered more reliable compared to independent sources.

The highest organ of the World Methodist Council is the World Methodist Conference, which meets every five years. The next Conference, the 22nd, will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2024.{{cite web |url=https://worldmethodistconference.com/ |title=Welcome to the Conference|work=The World Methodist Conference |accessdate=December 26, 2022}}

The 21st Conference was held in 2016 in Houston, Texas in the United States. The theme was "ONE". Organized around four sub themes – One God, One Faith, One People, One Mission.{{cite web |url=http://worldmethodistconference.com/press-and-media/ |title=Press and Media - About the 21st World Methodist Conference (past) |publisher=The World Methodist Conference |access-date=11 October 2017}}

The 2011 conference, gathered under the theme "Jesus Christ - for the Healing of the Nations", was held in August 2011 in Durban, South Africa.[http://www.turnersconferences.com/conferences/WMC2011/index.asp 2011 World Methodist Conference] On 24 July 2006, Sunday Mbang stepped down as chairperson of the council and John Barrett took over his position as well as elected president for the council.{{cite news|url=http://www.umc.org/site/c.gjJTJbMUIuE/b.1885819/k.29EA/World_Methodist_Council_elects_Barrett_as_chairperson.htm|title=World Methodist Council elects Barrett as chairperson|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010025736/http://www.umc.org/site/c.gjJTJbMUIuE/b.1885819/k.29EA/World_Methodist_Council_elects_Barrett_as_chairperson.htm|archive-date=10 October 2006|author-last1=LaBarr|author-first1=Joan B. |publisher=United Methodist Church|date=24 July 2006}}

In 2006, it formally approved the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

Current officers are:

• General secretary: Bishop Ivan M. Abrahams
• President: Rev. Dr. Jong Chun Park
• Vice-President: Gillian Kingston
• Treasurer: Kirby Hickey
• Youth and young adult coordinator: Sam Murillo

The World Methodist Council has offices in Waynesville, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; New York City; and Atlanta, Georgia.

The World Methodist Council has eight standing committees:

• Ecumenics and Dialogue is engaged in ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, the Salvation Army and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. It is also working towards a dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Church and with certain Pentecostal churches.
• Education is concerned with education in churches and with Methodist educational institutions. It has organized an international Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges, and Universities promoting quality and value-centered education. The association links representatives from over 700 Methodist related schools and colleges all over the world.
• Evangelism is coordinating worldwide evangelism efforts of Methodist churches
• Family Life is concerned with applying Christian values to issues like relationships in marriage, rights of children, rights of the aged, prevalence of violence and changing roles of women and men in society;
• Social and International Affairs is focusing currently on economic justice or injustice. It has worked out the World Methodist Social Affirmation which was approved in 1986 and is part of the literature of several Methodist denominations.
• Theological Education focuses on training for ministry based on basic Christian beliefs and distinctive emphases from the Wesleyan tradition.
• Worship and Liturgy encourages the study of liturgy and forms of worship, especially issues as language and culture, corporate and private worship, music and liturgy, cultural influences, and balancing Christian tradition with local emphasis. Develops hymnals and resources.
• Youth and Young Adults focuses on empowering young people, taking its motto from 1st Timothy 4;12 and Ephesians 4:12–13: "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set and example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ."

The World Methodist Peace Award is the highest honor bestowed by Methodists around the world. Since 1977, it is given annually by the World Methodist Council. This award is given to individuals or groups "who have made significant contributions to peace, reconciliation and justice".Museum of Methodism and John Wesley's House, [https://www.wesleysheritage.org.uk/object/world-methodist-peace-award/ World Methodist Peace Award], accessed 27 December 2022

Recipients of the World Methodist Peace Award include Habitat for Humanity International, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Boris Trajkovski, former President of Macedonia; the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome, and the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina.

Image:World methodist council 9058.JPG; nearby is a small park, the Susanna Wesley Garden]]

One ministry of the World Methodist Council is the World Methodist Evangelism Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. It is an educational institution committed to the task of world evangelization and connected to a major university, Candler School of Theology, Emory University.

In the 1950s, area residents and Methodists from the Southeastern United States raised money for the construction of a building in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina to attract the World Methodist Council headquarters. Until the 1970s, the museum building was to go to the Lake Junaluska Assembly if no longer needed, although that plan was changed. The Royce and Jane Reynolds Headquarters building, intended to resemble the house where John Wesley lived when he was young, was added in the 1990s after a donation from the Reynolds family. The museum housed letters written by Wesley, a pulpit Wesley used,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/113379086/|via=newspapers.com|title=Here's to 100 more years for Lake Junaluska|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|date=2013-07-08|page=A7}} and a 1594 Geneva Bible, as well as ancient items from the Holy Land. Starting in 2013, with the museum having problems, the sale of the building was considered but the assembly made no formal offer. The COVID-19 pandemic finally made closing the museum necessary, and its contents went to Bridwell Library of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. In Spring 2021, the World Methodist Council sold its headquarters building, including a museum, to the assembly for $1.25 million. The World Methodist Council moved to offices in nearby Waynesville, North Carolina.{{cite news|url=https://www.themountaineer.com/news/benefactors-discuss-significance-of-world-methodist-council-building/article_d30ebaee-cddc-11eb-80dc-6b660834a921.html|title=Benefactors discuss significance of World Methodist Council building|last=Hyatt|first=Vicki|work=The Mountaineer|date=16 June 2021|accessdate=18 June 2021}}

At a Lake Junaluska Board of Trustees meeting in March 2022, Lake Junaluska Executive Director Ken Howle announced a $1.1 million gift from Anne and Mike Warren, who also gave $625,000 toward the purchase of the headquarters building and part of the Susanna Wesley Garden next door.{{cite web|url=https://lakejunaluska.com/our-story/news/whats-new/lake-junaluska-announces-1-1m-gift-for-renovations-to-former-world-methodist-council-building/|title=Lake Junaluska announces $1.1M gift for renovations to former World Methodist Council building|date=16 March 2022 |publisher=lakejunaluska.com|access-date=3 January 2023}} The gift from the Warrens helped with $2.5 million in renovations to what is now called the Warren Center, for smaller group events.{{cite news|url=https://www.themountaineer.com/news/making-the-grade-lake-junaluska-continues-multi-million-dollar-upgrades-with-new-event-venue/article_ecc2a510-8026-11ed-b479-5f2161f80fa5.html|title=Making the grade: Lake Junaluska continues multi-million dollar upgrades with new event venue|last=Johnson|first=Becky|work=The Mountaineer|date=22 December 2022}}

• List of Methodist denominations
• List of the largest Protestant denominations

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Each of the internal conferences listed is considered a member of the World Methodist Council, even though it is a body part of the United Methodist Church.

adherents are unbaptized people who participate in worship services. In Credobaptist denominations, the children of members, not yet baptized, are counted as adherents.

Including 4,526,440 members (4,238,097 professed members and 288,343 baptized members) in the United States of America, according to 2023 statistics and 4,560,882 members in other countries in 2022.

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• [http://www.worldmethodist.org/IslamStatement.htm Statement on "Wesleyan/Methodist Witness In Christian and Islamic Cultures"] 2004
• [http://www.worldmethodist.org/EvangelismEmphasis.pdf Brochure World Evangelism Emphasis], 2004

• {{Official website|https://worldmethodistcouncil.org}}
• [http://www.worldmethodist.org World Methodist Evangelism]
• [http://www.wmei.ws/ World Methodist Evangelism Institute]
• [http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=63h World Methodist Peace Award]

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Category:International bodies of Protestant denominations

Category:Methodist denominations established in the 19th century

Category:Methodist organizations

Category:Religious organizations established in 1881