Official Social Principles Book Now Available for Purchase
Teaming up with The General Board of Church and Society, Cokesbury has completed the editing and production of the official book, Social Principles of The United Methodist Church 2025-2028.
First adopted by the 1972 General Conference, the official Social Principles document stands in the Wesleyan tradition of forthright moral witness and ethical action.
The Social Principles articulate The United Methodist Church’s ethical aspirations for the common good in public policies and personal commitments. Through them, we seek to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and to desire for our neighbors what we desire for ourselves.
During an eight year timeframe (2012-2020), The General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), mandated by General Conference to uphold and promote the Social Principles, managed a global process to revise the Social Principles in their entirety. The results of this momentous effort was adopted by General Conference in Charlotte, May 2024.
More Succinct, Theologically Grounded and Globally Relevant
Reflected in the new document, the 2025-2028 Social Principles address global social concerns, embracing the diverse contexts of the worldwide church. Thousands of United Methodists with different backgrounds from around the world, offered input to recognize their context as well as the contexts of other communities across the connection, fostering a common language and understanding that strengthens relationships and social witness.
The book is structured into four sections: The Introduction, The Social Principles, Study Exercises, and Related Resources. Designed so it may be used as a study for individuals and small groups, the book includes the full text of the 2025–2028 Social Principles, Our Social Creed and a companion litany, and a six-session study guide with discussion questions.
With the official book available in English only, GBCS has posted online the 2025 - 2028 Social Principles full text in nine languages at www.umcjustice.org.
Cokesbury 2025-2028 Social Principles Process and Additional Educational Resources
After the adoption of the revisions to the Social Principles during General Conference—the first comprehensive updates to the Principles in 50 years—The General Board of Church and Society collaborated closely with Cokesbury to publish the official text of the Social Principles in The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church 2020-2024.
Following that, GBCS and Cokesbury partnered together to bring to life the newly revised edition of the handbook, Social Principles of The United Methodist Church 2025-2028, which published in June 2025. This theologically grounded resource is an important and timely reflection of the Church’s official teaching positions on social, economic, and political concerns of the worldwide community, succinctly covering a wide spectrum of topics such as the environment, science, government, poverty, racism, justice, income inequality, human sexuality, substance abuse, and more, connecting them to Wesleyan history, Scripture, and theology.
The hope is that this new edition will help faithful United Methodists truly reflect our lived realities, ensure more intentional dialogue between reflection and practice, encourage engagement with the world through a Wesleyan ethical lens, motivate us to promote values that are grounded in compassionate justice and affirm the goodness of life and the honor and dignity of all beings.
Given the tens of thousands of requests for information and study materials on the Social Principles, you can order Social Principles of The United Methodist Church 2025-2028 from Cokesbury, as well as additional essential United Methodist resources, here.
