UB Factsheet

The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is a conservative evangelical denomination consisting of about 200 churches in the United States, and another 300 churches scattered among 17 other countries.

Official Name

In the US: Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA.
Internationally: Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International.

Founded

1800 in Frederick, Md., but we trace our roots to 1767.

The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is the first denomination to begin in America. Other denominations existed at the time, but they were transplanted from Europe.

Organization

• General Conference: the highest governing body worldwide, with 2 representatives from each of the 10 national conferences.
• US National Conference: the highest governing body for the United States churches. A business meeting is held every two years.
• Executive Leadership Team: A group of 13 persons who conduct business between sessions of the national conference.
• Bishop: the highest leader for the US churches, elected every four years by the US National Conference.

Total Churches

United States: 200
Elsewhere: 300

Attendance

United States: 23,000
Elsewhere: 22,000

Location

• Of the 200 UB churches in the United States, 180 are located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, northern Indiana, and Michigan. (See chart)
• 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, Liberia, France, and Germany.

National Office

About a dozen people work at the US National Office in Huntington, Ind.

Higher Education

The United Brethren church, USA, has one denominational college: Huntington University, a Christian liberal arts school with about 1200 students. It is located in Huntington, Ind.

Governing Documents

• The Discipline is our “manual of operations.” It includes a Confession of Faith (the basic doctrines we cling to), Constitution, and By-laws.
• The Pastoral Ministry Handbook spells out policies regarding the various types of ministerial licenses, procedures for stationing ministers, and other policies regarding clergy.
• A set of four documents bind the various international conferences together–Confession of Faith, Core Values, Constitution, and By-Laws.

Related Websites

• • UB.org. Our official, flagship site.
  • UBGlobal.org. Our UB Global site, for our international ministries.
  • UBCentral.org. Where we publish UB-related news.
  • Huntington.edu. The site for our denominational college, Huntington University.
  • Facebook.com/unitedbrethren. The Facebook page for the US National Conference.
  • Facebook.com/ubglobalministries. The Facebook page for UB Global.