What We Believe

Excerpts from the Book of Discipline:

Our Doctrinal Heritage

United Methodists profess the historic Christian faith in God, incarnate in Jesus Christ for our salvation and ever at work in human history in the Holy Spirit. Living in a covenant of grace under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we participate in the first fruits of God's coming reign and pray in hope for its full realization on earth as in heaven.

Our heritage in doctrine and our present theological task focus upon a renewed grasp of the sovereignty of God and of God's love in Christ admid the continuing crises of human existence.

Our forbears in the faith reaffirmed the ancient Christian message as found in the apostolic witness even as they applied it anew in their own circumstances.

Their preaching and teaching were grounded in Scrupture, informed by Christian tradition, enlivened in experience, and tested by reason.

Their labors inspire and inform our attempts to convey the saving gospel to our world with its needs and aspirations.

Our Common Heritage as Christians:

-With other Christians we recognize that the reign of God is both a present and future reality.

-We share with many Christians communions a recognition of the authority of Scripture in matters of faith, the confession that our justifaication as siiners is by grace through faith, and the sober realization that the church is in need of continual reformation and renewal.

-With other Christians, we declare the essential oneness of the church in Christ Jesus.

Basic Christian Affirmations:

-We hold in common with all Christians a faith in the mystery of salvation in and through Jesus Christ.

-We share the Christian belief that God's redemptive love is realized in human life by the activity of the Holy Spirit, both in personal experience and in the community of believers.

-We understand ourselves to be part of Christ's universal church when by adoration, proclamation, and service we become conformed to Christ.