Methodist & Wesleyan

United Methodist

85 listed in North Carolina. What they believe, and what a service is actually like.

The United Methodist Church is a global denomination organised into conferences and led by bishops, in the Wesleyan tradition. North Carolina has two UMC conferences, and the denomination here changed substantially between 2022 and 2024, when a large number of congregations voted to disaffiliate — most of them joining the new Global Methodist Church. Any church list assembled before 2024 is unreliable on this point, which is why every listing on this site carries the date it was last checked.

In North Carolina: Any UMC list from before 2024 is unreliable — the post-2022 disaffiliation wave moved a significant number of NC congregations.

What to expect if you’ve never been

A structured service following an order of worship, usually printed in a bulletin you're handed at the door.
Hymns, often with an organ or piano and a choir. Contemporary services exist, frequently at a separate time.
A sermon of 15 to 25 minutes — shorter than in most Baptist or non-denominational churches.
Communion on the first Sunday of the month in most congregations, and an open table: you do not need to be a member or a Methodist to receive it.
The Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and a doxology recited or sung together.
Traditional to smart-casual dress, skewing dressier than the non-denominational average.

What United Methodist churches believe

Grace is available to everyone, and a person can freely respond to it or reject it.
Scripture is primary, interpreted alongside tradition, reason, and experience.
Infants and adults are both baptised, ordinarily by sprinkling; baptism is not repeated.
Bishops appoint pastors to congregations, so a church does not choose its own minister.
Christian life is a process of growth in holiness, not a single moment.

Commonly confused with

United Methodist vs. Global Methodist

The Global Methodist Church formed in 2022 for congregations leaving the UMC, primarily over the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ people — the GMC holds the traditional position. Worship style, hymnody, and Wesleyan theology are largely shared. In North Carolina this split is recent and widespread enough that many buildings changed denomination without changing anything else visible from the road.

United Methodist vs. AME Zion, AME, and CME

These are historically Black Methodist denominations with their own bishops and conferences, formed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. AME Zion is headquartered in Charlotte. They share Wesleyan theology with the UMC and are fully independent of it.

Common questions

How can I tell whether a church is still UMC?

Check the date on its listing here, and look at the church's own website and signage. Disaffiliation happened fast in North Carolina and older directories are frequently wrong.