The Global Methodist Church (GMC), a denomination formed in 2022 as a conservative alternative to the United Methodist Church (UMC), announced it has grown to include more than 6,000 congregations across multiple nations.
In a post shared Friday (Oct. 10) on its official Facebook page, the denomination celebrated the milestone, calling it “6,000 pulpits preaching the Gospel” and “6,000 altars where hearts are renewed.” The statement invited believers to “join us in praying for the movement as we continue to welcome existing churches and plant new ones to spread the love of Christ to our communities and beyond.”
The announcement marks another major step in the rapid global expansion of the denomination, which was officially launched on May 1, 2022, after years of division within the UMC over questions of biblical authority and sexuality.
The Global Methodist Church was established by clergy and lay leaders seeking to preserve what they describe as the doctrinal integrity of historic Christianity—particularly the authority of Scripture and the church’s traditional teaching on marriage and ordination. Its founders said the new denomination aimed to “offer a vibrant witness to the transforming power of Jesus Christ” while remaining rooted in the Wesleyan tradition.
For decades, the UMC had been divided over whether to allow same-sex marriage and the ordination of clergy in same-sex relationships. Although denominational votes consistently upheld the traditional biblical stance, many regional leaders declined to enforce those policies, deepening the rift between theological conservatives and progressives.
In early 2020, a group of 16 UMC leaders from across the spectrum negotiated a “Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation,” which would have allowed congregations to disaffiliate and form a new conservative body with denominational funding support. However, repeated postponements of the UMC’s General Conference during the COVID-19 pandemic left the plan unapproved.
By March 2022, leaders organizing the Global Methodist Church decided not to wait any longer for the official process. The denomination launched that May, welcoming congregations leaving the UMC as well as others from various denominational and independent backgrounds.
Within months, thousands of churches—predominantly former UMC congregations—had joined the new movement. By January 2024, GMC Transitional Connectional Officer Keith Boyette reported more than 4,200 member congregations, a figure that has now grown by nearly half in less than two years.
“While most of our churches have come from the UMC, we also have new church plants and others from different backgrounds,” Boyette told The Christian Post at the time.
The GMC’s first Convening General Conference, held in September 2024, formalized its governance structure and approved the denomination’s Book of Doctrines and Discipline, which outlines its theological convictions, connectional structure, and practices. The book, according to the church, is “a living document” that will continue to mature as the movement grows.
The Global Methodist Church defines its mission as “to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly.” It emphasizes scriptural holiness, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God available to all.
According to its formation statement, the GMC seeks “to spread scriptural holiness across the globe and to carry forward the faith once delivered to the saints.”
