Our Core Values And Beliefs
Our Core Values
Faith in Jesus Christ guides us in all things.
"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
The Holy Bible is the Word of God.
"All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16)
Prayer is central to our lives with God.
"The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)
All people matter to God and to us.
"For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10)
Loving relationship permeate our community.
"My commandment is this: Love each other as I have loved you." (John 5:12)
Giving our best honors God and inspires others.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men," (Colossians 3:23)
Small group involvement is essential for Christian growth.
"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..." (Hebrews 10:25)
Authentic worship is vital for life with God.
"Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs... Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name..." (Psalm 100:2, 4)
Unity of purpose requires commitment from every member.
"From him the whole body...grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4:16)
Every Christian is called to a life of service.
"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." ( 1 Peter 4:10)
We have a responsibility to care for God's glorious world.
"The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it." (Genesis 2:15)
Our Core Beliefs
The United Methodist Church is a doctrinal church, not a creedal one; meaning, we did not create a new creed (i.e. we believe the Apostle's Creed and similar statements of faith) but we are guided by a set of teachings about the nature of God, salvation through Jesus Christ, and the church. Among our core beliefs found in the twenty-five Articles of Religion are the following (which have been editorialized for clarity and content; for a full rendering, refer to paragraph 103 of The Book of Discipline):
Faith in the Holy Trinity--There is one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Word, or Son of God, Who Was Made Very Man--The Son, who is the Word of Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his father to us and to be sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also actual sins of me.
The Resurrection of Christ--Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all men at the last day.
The Holy (Spirit) Ghost--Proceeds from the Father and the Son and is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.
The Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation--The Holy Scripture, found in both the Old and New Testaments, contains all things necessary to salvation. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man.
Original or Birth Sins--Stands not in the following of Adam, but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually.
Free Will--The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.
The Justification of Man--We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works.
Good Works--Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit.
The Church--The visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful persons in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.
Baptism--is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church.
The Lord's Supper--is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves, but rather is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death; insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ.
