United Methodists in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America are organized into regional conferences. Each regional conference has the additional ability to:
- Set minimum qualifications and educational requirements for ordained and licensed ministers
- Set minimum qualifications and educational requirements for specialized lay ministries
- Set qualifications for professing membership and standards of conduct to remain professing members
- Structure its own regional, annual, district and charge conferences consistent with the laws of their countries
- Establish its own hymnal and ritual, including the rites of marriage and burial
- Create its own judicial court for matters arising from sections of the Book of Discipline it has adapted, and document rules and processes for adjudicating formal complaints against clergy and lay members.
Locate contact information
Use our directory to find information about regional conference episcopal areas and/or annual conferences:
Learn more about regionalization by visiting UMC.org/Regionalization.
The United Methodist Church has nine regional conferences:
- Africa: East Africa, Mid Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa
- Asia: Philippines
- Europe: Central and Southern Europe, Germany, Nordic-Baltic-Ukraine
- North America: United States
Each of them contains several annual conferences and often several countries. Each has a number of bishops fixed by decision of General Conference. Since the creation of The United Methodist Church in 1968, all bishops are equal, whether elected in the U.S. or outside the U.S. Together they form the Council of Bishops.
Until 2025, when the constitution was amended to regionalize the church's structure, regional conferences outside of the U.S. were called "central conferences." The Methodist Episcopal Church established the first two central conferences in Asia (India in 1885, China in 1897). The next was in Europe (1908). Central conferences in Africa and Latin America began in the 1920s.
Concurrently with the establishment of the Africa and Latin America central conferences, some annual conferences outside the United States became or were made autonomous. This happened in Mexico, Japan, Korea, and later, throughout all of Latin America, and all of Asia except for the Philippines, where a United Methodist central conference has remained.
Africa
Africa includes four regional conferences:
- Southern Africa: 4 episcopal areas
- Mid Africa: 5 episcopal areas
- East Africa: 2 episcopal areas
- West Africa: 3 episcopal areas
Contact Information for episcopal areas in Africa
Learn about the history and development in Africa
Asia
Asia has one regional conference:
- Philippines: 3 episcopal areas
Contact Information for episcopal areas in the Philippines
Learn about the history and development in Asia
Europe
Europe has three regional conferences:
- Central and Southern Europe: 1 episcopal area
- Germany: 1 episcopal area
- Nordic-Baltic-Ukraine: 1 episcopal area
Contact Information for episcopal areas in Europe
Learn about the history and development in Europe
The U.S.
The U.S., made up of five jurisdictions (North Central, Northeastern, South Central, Southeastern and Western), became a regional conference in 2025 when The UMC's Constitution was amended. This shift places the U.S. alongside the other regions of the church, rather than above them. These changes are substantial and will take time to fully implement. The inaugural meeting of the U.S. Regional Conference will take place in late 2028 or early 2029.
Contact information for Annual Conferences in the U.S.
