Nearly 4,000 women pastors serve in The United Methodist Church. The first United Methodist woman bishop, the late Marjorie Matthews of the Wisconsin Area, was elected in 1980. The denomination is one of the most ethnically diverse mainline churches, with nearly 1 million people globally from African, Asian, Native or Indigenous, Hispanic and Pacific-Island heritages. Pastors are not required to wear robes in The United Methodist Church, although many do. For More Information InfoServ is a toll-free hotline with answers to most questions related to the church, from agency phone numbers to membership statistics.
Links are available to many church agencies and publications.
It also includes phone numbers and addresses of churchwide agencies. Cokesbury also offers a series of pamphlets that address frequently asked questions-baptism, communion, mission about the church, available in bulk quantities.