The UMC is also an international church with a growing presence in 165 countries. According to 2006 figures more than 3.5 million members reside outside the United States. In fact, most of the church's growth over the last several years has come in places like Africa and the Philippines. Over the past 10 years non-U.S. membership grew by over 223% contributing greatly to the overall growth of the UMC, which had a 11.5 million worldwide membership in 2006.

In the last decade the UMC established Africa University, which became the first United Methodist-related university in Africa and Zimbabwe's first private university, and more recently Russia United Methodist Theological Seminary was established in Moscow.

The Minnesota Conference of the UMC has recently entered into a partnership with Russian United Methodists. One of the Minnesota Conference initiatives is to fund a multi-purpose building for the United Methodist Church of St. Petersburg, Russia. The building will be used for worship, education, district and conference meetings, and as a center for outreach and evangelism.  

River Hills has endeavored to fulfill the UMC's mission by being a welcoming community to those new to the church and nurturing one for long-time members. We also follow the church's action orientation with our commitment to mission projects both locally and abroad. River Hills has a covenant relationship with missionaries in the Ukraine, sponsors a yearly youth mission trip and participates in many local missions programs, including a weekly free meal held at the church for those in need.