What We Believe

The United Methodist Church is a worldwide denomination that opens hearts, opens minds and opens doors through active engagement with our world.

A United Methodist is someone who joins in mission by putting faith and love into action. We believe that God loves all people, and that we share in expressing that love. So the United Methodist tradition emphasizes God's grace. We believe that Jesus Christ is the fullest expression of God's love--showing us the fullness of God's care through Jesus' teachings, death and resurrection.

There is one eternally existing God who has three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is the creator of all that exists, both visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy of all glory and praise.  God is perfect in love, power, holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom,  justice, and mercy. He is unchangeable and therefore is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

We believe Jesus Christ is the son of God.   We also believe that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. We affirm that Jesus Christ was and is the fulfillment of the ancient hope and God's Chosen One to bring salvation to all peoples, for all time. We believe in Jesus as Savior, as the one through whom God has freed us of our sin and has given us the gift of whole life, eternal life, and salvation.

We believe the Holy Spirit is God's present activity in our midst. When we sense God's leading, God's challenge, or God's support or comfort, we say that it's the Holy Spirit at work. Today we continue to experience God's breath and God's Spirit. As one of our creeds puts it, "We believe in the Holy Spirit, God present with us for guidance, for comfort, and for strength.  We believe the Holy Spirit is changing us, by renewing and strengthening us for the work of ministry.

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 church is "the communion of saints," a community made up of all past, present, and future disciples of Christ. We believe that the church is called to worship God and to support those who participate in its life as they grow in faith.

We believe God speaks to us through the Bible and that it contains all things necessary for salvation.  We believe the writers of the Bible were inspired by God and that they were filled with God's Spirit. We believe the Bible's authority comes from the movement of God's Spirit, in times past and in our reading of it today.   For United Methodists Scripture is the primary source and standard for Christian doctrine.; Tradition is experience and the witness of development and growth of the faith through the past centuries; Experience is the individual's understanding and appropriating of the faith in the light of his or her own life experiences; Reason is the individual Christian's discerning thoughts brought to bear on the Christian faith.