I just returned to the United Methodist Church.

[Brigid]

2. Liberal? Kind of depends on how you define it.

Ordaining women? Yes, since the '50's.
Contraception? Yes.
Same-sex marriage? No.
Ordination of gays and lesbians? No.

We are theologically fairly conservative but open-minded. We believe in inclusiveness. We are varied in our viewpoints, as are our ministers, though I have yet to hear of one railing about the social issues that get the conservative evangelicals riled up. My church would rather spend its time and resources running a soup kitchen, a weekly farmer's market in summer (this neighborhood is something of a food desert, with fresh produce not being all that easy to find). We also have a ministry with trained volunteer laypeople who assist those dealing with grief or loss or a sudden crisis such as a catastrophic illness in the family. Work like this is what we Methodists consider important.

Methodist churches tend to be smaller than what you may be used to if you are a cradle Catholic; mine is somewhat unusual in that it is fairly large. It is also rather more ornate than most; with its layout, it could pretty easily be converted into a Catholic church. Most are smaller and more simply decorated than ours. After all, John Wesley used to preach anywhere and everywhere, and we practically invented circuit riding and the "tent revival."

And we Methodists have a reputation for lively singing too -- most Methodist churches have good choirs that do a variety of music styles. And we have hymnals full of the works of Charles Wesley -- even Catholics have been known to use a few of his more famous ones.

And diversity? We haz it. I saw whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians -- everybody. And there was an older gentleman in the pew in front of me who was from Haiti, of all places. He had apparently just celebrated his 85th birthday.

Check out http://www.umc.org/ for more. You can probably find a link to the website of that nearby church you mentioned, or just Google its name to find out more about that particular church.