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Page 1 of 2  The Organization of The United Methodist Church
Three Branches
The United Methodist Church is organized with the General Conference as its legislative branch; a Council of Bishops, somewhat like an executive branch; and a nine-member Judicial Council, the judicial branch. The United Methodist Church has no single general officer or executive, although the Council of Bishops elects a president who serves for two years.
Local Churches and Districts
The heart of our local church ministry is continuing – and extending—Jesus Christ’s ministry and outreaching love. Each congregation in the United States is part of a district, an administrative program grouping of around 100 churches with a full-time superintendent. A charge conference governs each local church, with a church council as the year-round supervisor.
Annual Conferences
United Methodism is organized into annual conferences or regional bodies that meet yearly for legislative purposes. They are the primary link in the church’s connectional structure. Annual conferences approve programming and budget, elect delegates to General and jurisdictional conferences, and examine and recommend candidates for ministry. The annual conference is composed of clergy members, lay members elected by each charge, diaconal ministers, conference presidents of United Methodist Women and United Methodist Men, conference and district lay leaders, and presidents of young adult and youth organizations. The denomination has 62 annual conferences in the United States and 71 in Europe, Africa, and the Philippines.
Jurisdictional and Central Conferences
Five geographic jurisdictions (regions) in the United States include eight to fifteen annual conferences each. Jurisdictional conferences meet simultaneously every four years 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. United Methodists in Africa, Europe, and the Philippines call the comparable geographic division a “central conference.”
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