The United Methodist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States. The largest Methodist denomination in the world, it has a presence in nearly 130 countries. As of 2007, worldwide membership was about 12 million members: 8.0 million in the United States, 3.5 million in Africa, Asia, and Europe. In the United States, it ranks as the largest mainline church, second largest Protestant church, and third largest Christian Church overall. It remains the only Christian denomination or body to have congregations in every county or equivalent in the United States.

The United Methodist Church traces its main root to the Methodist Movement of John Wesley in the Church of England in the 1700s, and continues to resemble Anglicanism in many ways. The first official organization in the United States occurred in Baltimore in 1784 with the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church at the Christmas Conference, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the leaders.

It is a member church of the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council, and other religious associations. It has both mainline and evangelical elements.