The United Methodist Church’s (UMC’s) denominational structure contains executive (bishops), legislative (General, Jurisdictional, and Annual Conferences), and judicial (the Judicial Council) branches. Many of the terms used to describe the various parts of the denomination and its structure are specific to the denomination. Much of the political structure and operation of the denomination, however, are unfamiliar and confusing to most lay (non-clergy) members. The lay members are instead more familiar with their specific congregation or local church, and many local congregations themselves are unfamiliar with the policy-making bodies and process of the denomination as a whole.

There are three general terms that describe United Methodists (UMs) and their involvement within the denomination. A lay member (or laity) is an individual United Methodist who has been baptized, has taken membership vows in a local congregation, and is not ordained. The term clergy is used to denote United Methodists who have been ordained, or have had ministerial orders conferred upon them by a Bishop of the United Methodist Church. A bishop in the United Methodist Church is a general superintendent of the denomination, an elder (ordained minister) elected to the office by lay and clergy delegates of a Jurisdictional or Central Conference. Bishops are responsible for seeing that the rules, regulations, and responsibilities developed by the General Conference are understood and carried out.

The UMC is a connectional denomination, which means that all leaders and congregations are connected in a network of loyalties and commitments that undergird but extend beyond local concerns and congregations. It is a network of interdependent relations among persons and groups on local, regional, national and international levels.

General Conference (GC)

General Conference (GC) is the top legislative body of the United Methodist denomination and meets once every four years. Delegates to GC, both lay and clergy, are elected by their Annual Conferences. General Conference creates the rules and policies of the denomination.

Jurisdiction

A jurisdiction is one of the five geographic divisions within the United States. Jurisdictions within the US are Northeast, North Central, Southeast, South Central, and the Pacific Northwest. See Map I. (coming soon) Jurisdictional Conferences meet concurrently, once every four years. Jurisdictions are made up of smaller geographic units called Annual Conferences.

Annual Conference (AC)

An Annual Conference (AC) is both a geographic area and an annual gathering. It is the basic unit of the UMC. There are 65 annual conferences in the US. Geographically, an annual conference includes all local UMCs within a given geographic area, and each annual conference is broken down into districts, over which District Superintendents preside. District Superintendents are appointed by the local Bishop.

As a gathering, Annual Conference is the once-a-year meeting of laity and clergy representatives of all the UMCs within the geographic area. When clergy are moved to new appointments, these assignments are most frequently announced at Annual Conference, and clergy and their families move to the new congregation following the close of the Annual Conference gathering.

UM clergy are members of an annual conference but are not members of local churches. Instead, they are assigned or appointed by local bishops to local churches and are not called by congregations to serve their specific churches. The UM method of appointment is referred to as an itinerant system. Clergy members are itinerant, or traveling clergy; the bishop periodically moves them from one church (or appointment) to another within the Annual Conference. Clergy members often have little input or choice in this process.

Annual Conferences are made up of districts and sub-districts, smaller geographic areas within an annual conference.

Local church

A local church is the smallest unit of the UM organizational structure. Local church is used at times to mean both a specific church building and the congregation housed in a specific building.

Each local church has its own governing bodies, frequently called Administrative Boards or Administrative Councils, and these bodies have their own committees (such as Education, Staff-Parish, Worship, and Education committees) and officers (such as Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and member). These bodies and persons determine the policies, procedures, and programs specific to their own local churches based on the policies, procedures, and programs of the UM denomination.

Judicial Council

The Judicial Council (JC) is the "Supreme Court" of the UMC and consists of nine persons elected by General Conference. Its primary function is to determine whether actions and proposals of local churches, bishops, clergy, and GC comply with the Discipline. The Judicial Council cannot create legislation; it can only spell out, clarify, and/or define legislation.

The Discipline (informal reference to The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church) is the operating policies and procedures manual of the UMC; it is the only official and authoritative book of law of the denomination. It is updated every four years following General Conference to reflect the changes made during General Conference.

The Social Principles of the UMC is the document setting forth the basic position of The United Methodist Church on important social issues. The Social Principles document is reviewed by each General Conference and is printed in full in each revised edition of The Discipline. In most instances, the Social Principles are considered guiding principles for the denomination and are not treated as law.

Unofficial Organizations

There are organized groups of UMs working together for specific purposes/goals that are NOT official, recognized UM organizations.

Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) refers to a grass-roots network (organization) of UM-related groups, churches, and individuals who have come together to work for full inclusion of all, regardless of gender orientation or identity, in the life of the UM church. This group was formerly known as the Reconciling Congregations Program (RCP). RMN is made up of United Methodists and UM churches, agencies, annual conferences, and groups but it is not an official, recognized United Methodist organization. Reconciling Congregations (RCs) (conferences, agencies, etc.) are congregations or bodies that have studied the issue of homosexuality and the church and have voted to become an organization that states openly that it welcomes all, regardless of gender orientation or identity. (Gender identity may not have been included in the decision-making study and process of the oldest RCs, but it is now included in the focus of the RMN organization.)

I use the phrase welcoming congregations to refer to those UM congregations that are open and accepting of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation and/or identity, in the life of their congregations but have not taken the formal step of voting to become a Reconciling Congregation. Some of these welcoming congregations may be in the process of becoming Reconciling Congregations, others may have no intention of taking that step, and others may fall somewhere in between.

The Parents Reconciling Network (PRN) is a relatively new organization, formally organized in 2000, under the umbrella of the RMN. Its purpose is to provide a support network and educational materials for parents and families of GLBT children and to advocate for the full inclusion of their children within the life of the denomination.