Fact Sheet
Overview
The United Brethren church consists of about 500 churches in 14 countries, with a total membership of around 47,000.
About two-thirds of the churches are in the United States, where it all started. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana account for most of the American churches, though we have churches scattered all around the country--Florida, California, Washington, Idaho, New York, and elsewhere.
Together, all of the churches in the United States comprise a "national conference" called the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA. Its headquarters is located in Huntington, Ind., on property adjoining the church-owned Huntington University.
We have national conferences in nine other countries--Sierra Leone, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Guatemala, Canada, and Hong Kong. All of those national conferences, like the United States, are self-governing. We also have churches in countries where we haven't yet organized an official conference--India, Macau, Thailand, Myanmar, El Salvador, Haiti, Germany, and Costa Rica.
All national conferences are entitled to representation at General Conference, our highest governing body. General Conference meets every three years (most recently in January 2010). It consists of two representatives from each national conference (a total of 20 people). The highest officials from each national conference comprise an International Executive Committee, which conducts any business during the period between General Conferences.
Official Name:
Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International (for the worldwide fellowship, which includes churches in about 18 countries).
Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA (for the United States churches and their mission districts).
Founded: 1767, in Lancaster, Pa.
Total Churches: 500
- United States: 200
- Elsewhere: 300
Total Membership: 47,300
- United States: 25,000
- Elsewhere: 22,300
Total Attendance: 41,500
- United States: 25,150
- Elsewhere: 16,350
Most UB Churches are Located: Of the 200 UB churches in the United States, 180 are located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, northern Indiana, and Michigan.
Beyond the US borders, we have churches in: Canada, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Thailand, Costa Rica, Haiti, Guatemala, and Germany.
Higher Education: The United Brethren church, USA, owns Huntington University, a Christian liberal arts school with about 1200 students, located in Huntington, Ind.
Basic Documents
- Our Confession of Faith, which was adopted in 1815 and has never been changed, spells out the fundamental doctrines we cling to.
- We also have a brief Constitution, which was adopted in 1841 and has been amended only a few times. Then there’s the Discipline, which goes into a lot of detail about membership standards, church organization, and other things.
- At the international level, there is a set of four documents which bind the various national conferences together: the Confession of Faith of 1815, the Core Values, the International Constitution, and the International By-laws.
Oversight
Governing bodies operate at various levels, with the US National Conference at the top. Here's a list of these groups, with links to their constituencies.
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