World Methodist Council | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | WMC |
Type | Communion |
Classification | Protestant |
Orientation | Methodism |
Scripture | Bible |
Theology | Wesleyan |
General Secretary | Bishop Ivan M. Abrahams |
President | Bishop Jong Cheon Park |
Vice-President | Gillian Kingston |
The World Methodist Council (WMC), founded in 1881, is a consultative body and association of churches in the Methodist tradition. It comprises 80 member denominations in 138 countries which together represent an estimated 80 million people[1][verification needed]; this includes approximately 60 million committed members (of Methodist and united and uniting churches) and a further 20 million adherents.[2][verification needed] But there is also another, contradictory, number of members of the member churches on the WMC's website: about 40 million.[3] It is the fifth-largest Christian communion[verification needed] after the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and World Communion of Reformed Churches (see list of denominations by membership).
Affiliated organizations are the World Fellowship of Methodist and Uniting Churches, the Oxford-Institute of Methodist Theological Studies, the World Methodist Historical Society, World Council of Confederation of Methodist Youth, the World Council of Methodist Men, World Methodist Council of Teens, the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women.