What We Believe

United Methodists share basic theological affirmations, also known as We believe statements, with all Christian communities:

 

GOD

We believe in one God who created the world and all that is in it. We believe that God is the ruler of the universe. We believe that God is loving and that we can personally experience God’s love and grace. We describe God in three persons (commonly known as The Trinity): Father, Son and Holy Spirit or Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

 

JESUS

We believe in the mystery that Jesus was both fully human and fully God. We believe that Jesus was conceived in Mary, who was a virgin at the time of conception, and is the Son of God. We believe that Jesus was crucified for our sins, died, buried and three days later was raised from the dead, and that the risen Christ lives today, seated in heaven with the Father. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior and through a relationship with God through Christ we have forgiveness of sin and a new and abundant life. We believe that all Christ-followers are called to pattern their life after Jesus’ with the help of the Holy Spirit.

 

THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Holy Spirit is God present with us and resides in every follower of Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit awakens us to God’s will and empowers us to live obediently to God’s will. We believe that the Holy Spirit nurtures in us certain marks of the character of a Christ-follower, namely: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – commonly called The Fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)

 

THE CHURCH

We believe that the church is the Body of Christ – an extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world today. We believe that the mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We believe that the local church is the redemptive community of Christ-followers in which the Word of God is preached, the sacraments are administered and God’s grace is celebrated.

 

THE BIBLE

We believe that the Bible is God’s Word and is the primary authority for our faith and life.

 

 

 

WHAT MAKES UNITED METHODISTS UNIQUE

 

GRACE

United Methodists emphasize grace in theology and in following Christ. Grace can be defined as God’s unconditional, undeserved, unearned, unlimited love given to us without cost and at work in our lives and in the world. The New Testament authors are clear that we are saved by grace (through faith in Jesus Christ) and not by the good things we do or the good people we are. God’s grace permeates our lives and we try to extend that grace in our lives and in our relationships.

 

FAITH AND GOOD WORKS

We believe that faith and good works must go hand-in-hand. What we believe must be confirmed by what we do and how we live. As stated above, our good works do not provide us with salvation – they are evidence of our faith in God, our love for God and our attempts to incarnate the love of God to the world.

 

MISSIONS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

We believe that the Christian faith calls us to serve others and to show what God’s kingdom looks like here on earth. We believe that God’s love and command compels us to go to all people all over the world as servants and evangelists – showing and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also believe that Christian faith and ethics demand justice for all people and that we work to right social wrongs like hunger, poverty and other injustices.

 

CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP

We believe in living out what Jesus called the greatest commandments: to love God and to love our neighbors. Loving God and loving our neighbor are two sides of the same coin. Loving God means living in a growing relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We nurture this relationship through habits like: prayer, worship, Bible study, fasting, Christian fellowship and ministry.

 

Loving our neighbor means responding to specific needs of our community, country and world; we consider others’ needs on par with our own. Loving our neighbor means more than random acts of kindness. It is a lifestyle cultivated in response to God’s grace and love in our lives. United Methodists understand that our neighbors are more than the people who live next door; they live in other communities in other countries, they may be of different faiths, they may speak a different language and have different customs, they may even call us enemy, but we still understand them to be our neighbor.

 

To learn more about the United Methodist Church visit 10thousanddoors.org