Interested in Becoming a Member of Woodlawn?
Peruse the resources below to inform your decision and see if we're right for you!
Woodlawn UMC Facts
Our church recently celebrated its 70th birthday, as it was chartered in 1955. Back in it’s beginning, our onsite preschool building (Jack & Jill) was the original church building. Since then, we’ve grown quite a bit. We currently have ~700 members, and our average in-person worship attendance across our traditional & contemporary services is 272 weekly. Our online average is even heftier at ~902!
Check out our 2025 Impact Report below to see exactly what Woodlawn was up to last year!
United Methodist Beliefs
The United Methodist Church is a mainline protestant religion that spans nearly every continent of the world. We believe in:
GRACE
United Methodists believe in three stages of Grace (God’s gift of love):
Prevenient — God loved us before we even knew it.
Justifying — God’s love that forgives us of our sins, bringing us into right relationship with God.
Sanctifying — God’s love that moves us closer to God and transforms us every day.
SACRAMENTS
United Methodists observe two sacraments:
Baptism and Holy Communion. We recognize baptism at any age, including infant baptism and all forms therein. Communion is an open table available to all who love Jesus.
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Matthew 22:37-39
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as yourself.” (CEB)
JOHN WESLEY
United Methodists claim John Wesley as the founder of the denomination. He had 3 Basic Rules of Methodism:
Do No Harm; Do Good; Stay in Love with God.
Christian Beliefs
As Christians, we believe in:
GOD
We believe there is one true and living God who is eternal, holy, all-powerful, and ever-present. God is the maker and preserver of all things — both what is seen and what is not seen.
JESUS
We believe Jesus is the one and only Son of God, the Word that became flesh, and the savior of ALL humankind. He was crucified, died, was buried and resurrected, and rose into Heaven.
HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit is at work in the world and lives of persons. It transforms, empowers, and guides believers. Through the Holy Spirit, we experience the fruit of the Spirit and spiritual gifts.
THE BIBLE
We believe the Bible is the guideline for personal discipleship and is viewed through the lens of Tradition, Experience, and Reason to inform our faith and interpret Scripture.
These 4 traits make up what is called the Wesleyan Quadralateral: the basic structure of our faith.
5 Essential Practices of Christian Life
Here at Woodlawn, we encourage all of our members to:
Pray/Worship
We offer 2 Sunday services: a Traditional Service in the Sanctuary (with an online livestream option) @ 9 AM, and a Contemporary Service in the Worship Center @ 10:15 AM. We also have a daily prayer chain email that you can submit prayer requests to or subscribe to pray daily over the needs of our church family.
WorshipStudy/Grow
We have many options to help you study scripture and grow in your faith. We hold Woodlawn on Wednesday (WOW) every Wednesday, featuring classes for all ages, Children's Sunday School @ 10:15 am, Youth Sunday School @ 9am, and many different Adult Sunday School Classes & Small Groups. Click the button below or hover "Connect" tab in the home menu to see all that we have available!
Study/GrowServe Others
We have many ways that you can serve, inside the church and out in the community!Inside the church, we have numerous volunteer opportunities through serving on committees, teams, and our various in-house ministries like children, youth, or Stephen Ministers.Outside of the church opportunities include the Woodlawn Thrift Shop, the DCFS Food Pantry, Derby Operation Holiday — all these ministries were started and continue to be led by Woodlawn members (& fall under our tax exempt status).
Serve - Interest InventoryGiving of Your Resources
We have many ways to support the church through donation! You can give to our operating or capital budget, or you can give to the special Moment for Missions each Sunday. Moment for Missions highlight ministries inside & outside of the church that need our financial support. Memorials are also a wonderful way to share resources, to honor a loved one and continue honoring their memory well into the future.
GiveShare Your Faith
We encourage you to share your faith with those in the church and beyond it. Enjoy communing with other members during Coffee & Fellowship (between worship services) or at Second Sunday Breakfast each month. We also encourage you to invite people from outside the church to join you in our activities and worship!
Additional Resources
We’ve moved our church directory online to Elexio (Church Management Software). By accessing this directory, you’re able to contact any of our church members, as easy as clicking a button!
To access our Elexio portal:
- Make sure you’ve shared your email with us at some point (either through attendance forms or email contact with one of our staff members).
- Visit this hyperlink HERE.
- Click “Forgot Password”
- Enter the email you’ve previously shared with us.
- Follow the instructions from the email to set up a new password.
- Download the app, available on the App Store and Google Play.
- When you go to log-in, type “woodlawnumc” as the domain name.
And you’re in!
Interested in our upcoming events and small group meetings?
Subscribe to see what we have going on at Woodlawn each week, or check out our past newsletters to see what life at Woodlawn has been like.
Once you’re ready to take the leap, new members are invited to take their membership vows in front of the church service of their choice (if they are comfortable with that). Those vows include:
- According to the grace given to you will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world? “I will.”
- As a member of Christ’s universal church, will you be loyal to the United Methodist church and do all in your power to strengthen its ministries? “I will.”
- As a member of Woodlawn UMC, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness? “I will.”
The 2026 Handbook of The United Methodist Church is now available. The resource is designed to help people understand who United Methodists are, how we are connected and how we live out our shared mission together. We hope it helps you understand our denomination. If you have questions, you may get in touch with Pastor Kim.
Ready to take the leap and become a member of Woodlawn UMC?
Fill out the form below, and someone from the office will contact you shortly!