BELIEVE

WE BELIEVE WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS ACROSS THE WORLD AND GENERATIONS...

…In God, who is One, revealed in Three distinct and co-equal “persons”. God the Father is our Creator, God the Son is Jesus our Redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit is God with us now. God is holy, perfect and loving in all God does.

…In the indescribable gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. God (the Word) became human in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is fully God and fully human. His life, death and resurrection demonstrate God's redeeming love and victory over sin and death. Persons who confess their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord are given his inner life, the Holy Spirit. This is the source of abundant life on earth and our eternal hope in death. This gift is available without price to any person who will receive it, and is manifested in the restoration of the image of God in human beings. Guided and empowered by his Spirit, Christians continue Jesus' ministry on earth.

…The Holy Spirit is the third person within the triune God. The Holy Spirit was been present in the world since creation, but was poured out personally at Pentecost upon the early church. The Holy Spirit is God's present activity in our lives & world and empowers the Church to live as Christ's body on earth. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, comforts us when we are hurting and gives spiritual power and guidance to live out God's will on earth as it is in heaven.

…The Bible is the inspired word of God and our primary authority for Christian belief and life. It is a library of 66 books that tells the sweeping story of God's creation and redemption of the world through covenants with Israel, Jesus Christ and his Church. It perfectly reveals all things necessary for our salvation through Jesus Christ. The life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, is the aim and measure by which we rightly interpret and apply the word of God in the Christian life. The Bible is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires and trusted in all that it promises.

…Women and men are made in the image of our Creator (Genesis 1:27), and therefore are given sacred worth and dignity. Like God we have the capacity to love, communicate, and create and we can choose to accept or reject a relationship with God. All humans misuse the freedom God gives and are therefore imperfect and sinful. Sinful impulses arise in the human heart due to the disordering of desire for humans to act as our own gods. When we act upon these temptations we sin against God and our neighbor and reject our calling to serve as God's stewards in creation.

All people are therefore in need of God's forgiveness. Through the grace of Jesus Christ revealed in his death and resurrection, it is possible for us to have a reconciled relationship with God and our neighbor in life and into eternity. This gracious offer of salvation in life and death is made equally to all people without qualification. As believers grow in the Christian life, the perfect image of God, as revealed in Jesus, is being remade in us through the in working of the Holy Spirit. By God's power, the image of God can be restored in us.

…The Church is the Body of Christ, born when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples on Pentecost (Acts 2). Since that time, it has been made up of baptized believers of every nation, race and language who gather to worship the risen Christ and seek to follow his teachings. The Church, sent by God's Spirit, is an extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world and continues his ministry today. Like Jesus, the Church loves and welcomes all persons regardless of their life circumstances, and invites them to experience the transforming grace of God. The Church proclaims God's desire to forgive sins and works to relieve human suffering, as a witness to our faith in Jesus. The Church is sent into the world to be a sign of God's future breaking into the present. It exists as local congregations of many denominations that make up a universal Church family.

...Jesus instituted the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. These outward and physical activities serve as specific and primary ways God brings inward and spiritual grace into our lives. Water Baptism is the sacrament of initiation into the church, symbolizing our sins being washed away and our new identity in Jesus Christ. It is available to all persons. We believe it may be received as a child (who later confesses their faith for themselves - Acts 2:38-39) or as adult believers (Romans 6:4). Holy Communion, a meal of bread and wine (juice) is the sacrament of continuation, through which we remember Christ's meritorious death and resurrection and look forward to his return. All persons who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord are welcome to receive communion in our worship services.

WE BELIEVE UNIQUELY AS INDEPENDENT METHODISTS...

...that God seeks us out (prevenient grace) when we are lost in sin and awakens (convicts) our hearts to our spiritual need. Then, we are reconciled to God through forgiveness and adoption (justifying grace), when we confess our belief in Jesus. Then, as we respond to God's Spirit, God perfects us (sanctifying grace) over time to reflect the image of Jesus Christ. God's gracious work in our lives is a free and unmerited gift, and by grace God renews the image of God in all who respond. The image of God being renewed in us ultimately manifests in our love for God and our neighbor.

...That God desires us to model our lives after Jesus, who practiced a vibrant personal faith (holiness) AND worked to meet the physical needs of people (justice). Holiness is the gift of God's Spirit at work in our lives that calls us to full devotion to Christ in every area of life. Justice is the work of God to make creation and human flourishing reflect the Kingdom of Heaven, here on earth. The church is called to the ministries of spiritual transformation (holiness) and working to relieve both the causes and the effects of human suffering (justice).

...That in the essentials of Christian faith we should find unity (first order doctrines), in the non-essentials we should grant liberty (second order doctrines), and in all things we should exercise charity (love applied regardless of agreement). Christians find unity, across doctrinal and denominational categories, in our common desire to submit our lives to Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. The Christian life aims to mirror the life of Jesus, who lived full of grace and full of truth (John 1:14).

…God is making all things new, not all new things. The Biblical vision is that the redemption Jesus accomplished on the cross will be fully implemented in a future new heavens and new earth together, as God descends to dwell among us forever. The calling of the Church is to participate in God's redemptive work, as guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We believe that for those who place their faith in Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God is both a present reality on earth in the Church and the eternal hope in the New Heavens and New Earth. However, God gives us freedom to accept or reject God's grace in our lives. Those who reject God separate themselves from God, both in life and in death.

...Ordinances are special acts or ceremonies in congregational life. These gifts of God help us receive mercy, grow in knowledge and order our lives toward the goal of Christ-likeness.

· We offer anointing by oil for prayers for the sick or prayers of intercession for others (James 5:14-15)

· We offer confirmation, a program of instruction in basic Christian beliefs, for students who desire to confirm the faith they were baptized into at an age of innocence or prior to their believer’s baptism (Acts 2:38, 2 Timothy 3:14-17)

· We offer sacred marriage ceremonies according to the New Testament definition of a lifelong exclusive covenant between one man and one woman (Matthew 19:1-12)

· We offer ordination, a setting apart of male and female Christian leaders to administer word, sacrament, mission and order in the congregation, after they complete educational (graduate level), ministerial and personal growth requirements (Ephesians 4:11-13, 1 Timothy 3)

Please click here for a Full Methodist Doctrinal Statement of Faith