The Global Methodist Church (GMC), founded in 2022 as a conservative alternative to the United Methodist Church (UMC), has now grown to include more than 6,000 congregations across several nations.
The denomination announced the milestone on October 10 through its official Facebook page, celebrating “6,000 pulpits preaching the Gospel” and “6,000 altars where hearts are renewed.” The post 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.”
This marks another major step in the GMC’s rapid expansion, less than three years after its official launch on May 1, 2022, following long-standing division within the UMC over biblical authority and human sexuality.
The Global Methodist Church was formed by clergy and lay leaders who sought to uphold what they describe as the historic Christian understanding of Scripture, particularly in relation to marriage and ordination. Its founders said the denomination exists “to offer a vibrant witness to the transforming power of Jesus Christ,” remaining rooted in the Wesleyan tradition.
For decades, the United Methodist Church had been deeply divided over whether to permit same-sex marriage and the ordination of clergy in same-sex relationships. While UMC votes repeatedly affirmed traditional teaching, enforcement varied widely, leading to increasing conflict between conservatives and progressives.
In 2020, a group of 16 UMC leaders from across theological lines proposed the “Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation,” a plan that would allow congregations to leave and form a new denomination with financial support. But pandemic-related delays prevented formal approval.
By March 2022, organizers of the Global Methodist Church decided not to wait for further UMC action and launched independently that May. Thousands of congregations — primarily former UMC churches — quickly joined the new movement.
By January 2024, GMC Transitional Connectional Officer Keith Boyette reported more than 4,200 congregations, a number that has now increased by nearly 50% in under 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.
The denomination’s first Convening General Conference, held in September 2024, established its permanent governance framework and approved the Book of Doctrines and Discipline, outlining the GMC’s theology, organizational structure, and practices. The denomination describes it as a “living document” that will evolve as the movement grows.
The mission of the Global Methodist Church is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly.” The church emphasizes scriptural holiness, the grace of God, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
According to its founding vision, the GMC seeks “to spread scriptural holiness across the globe and to carry forward the faith once delivered to the saints.”
Adapted from CDI.
