The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England, as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces liturgical worship, holiness, and evangelical elements.
Statue of John Wesley in Savannah, Georgia, where he served as a missionary
Barratt's Chapel, built in 1780, is the oldest Methodist church in the United States built for that purpose. The church was a meeting place of Asbury and Coke.
The ordination of Bishop Francis Asbury by Bishop Thomas Coke at the Christmas Conference establishing the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1784
19th-century Methodist hymnal, Barratt's Chapel
The mainline Protestant churches are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States and in some cases in Canada largely of the theologically liberal or theologically progressive persuasion that contrast in history and practice with the largely theologically conservative Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Charismatic, Confessional, Confessing Movement, historically Black church, and Global South Protestant denominations and congregations. Some make a distinction between "mainline" and "oldline", with the former referring only to denominational ties and the latter referring to church lineage, prestige and influence. However, this distinction has largely been lost to history and the terms are now nearly synonymous.
Eucharist observed by a congregation of the United Methodist Church, a typical mainline Protestant denomination and one of the "Seven Sisters of American Protestantism".
Washington National Cathedral, an Episcopal cathedral in Washington, D.C.
A Congregational church of the United Church of Christ denomination in Farmington, Connecticut
Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, D.C belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America