The Basics of our Faith

As United Methodists, we have an obligation to bear a faithful witness to Jesus Christ, the living reality at the center of the Church's life and witness.  To fulfill this obligation, we reflect on our biblical and theological inheritance, striving to express faithfully the witness we make in our own time.

Our Christians Roots

United Methodists share a common heritage with all Christians. According to our foundational statement of beliefs in The Book of Discipline, we share the following basic affirmations in common with all Christian communities:

• God, who is one, is revealed in three distinct persons.
• ​We believe in the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ. God became human in Jesus of Nazareth; and his life, death and resurrection demonstrates God's redeeming love.
• 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, it's the Holy Spirit at work.
• Genesis 1:27 asserts that we've been made in the image of the Creator. Like God we have the capacity to love and care, to communicate, and to create. 
• The church is the body of Christ, an extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world today.
• We believe that the Bible is God’s Word and is the primary authority for our faith and practice.
• The kingdom or reign of God is both a present reality and future hope.

Our Wesleyan Heritage

Distinctive Emphases:     Wesley and the early Methodists were particularly concerned about inviting people to experience God’s grace and to grow in their knowledge and love of God through disciplined Christian living. They placed primary emphasis on Christian living, on putting faith and love into action. This emphasis on what Wesley referred to as “practical divinity” has continued to be a hallmark of United Methodism today.
The distinctive shape of our theological heritage can be seen not only in this emphasis on Christian living, but also in Wesley’s distinctive understanding of God’s saving grace. Although Wesley shared with many other Christians a belief in salvation by grace, he combined them in a powerful way to create distinctive emphases for living the full Christian life.

United Methodist Foundational Documents

Just as creeds such as the Apostles' Creed summarize the belief of all Christians, the Articles of Religion of The Methodist Church and the Confessions of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church form a foundation of doctrine for United Methodists. They, along with Wesley's Sermons on Several Occasions and Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, are "standards" of doctrine for United Methodists.

• The Articles of Religion
• The Confession of Faith
• The General Rules of the Methodist Church
• Wesley's Sermons and Notes on the New Testament

Reflecting On Our Faith

Our Faith Journey:   Faith is the basic orientation and commitment of our whole being—a matter of heart and soul. Christian faith is grounding our lives in the living God as revealed especially in Jesus Christ. It’s both a gift we receive within the Christian community and a choice we make. It’s trusting in God and relying on God as the source and destiny of our lives. Faith is believing in God, giving God our devoted loyalty and allegiance. Faith is following Jesus, answering the call to be his disciples in the world. Faith is hoping for God’s future, leaning into the coming kingdom that God has promised. Faith-as-belief is active; it involves trusting, believing, following, hoping.

Sacraments

The United Methodist Church recognizes two sacraments in which Christ himself participated: baptism and the Lord's Supper.

​Baptism

• Baptism marks the beginning of our lifelong journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.
• Through baptism, we are joined with the Triune God, the whole of Christ’s church, and our local congregation.
• The water and the work of the Holy Spirit in baptism convey God’s saving grace, the forgiveness of our sins, and new life in Jesus Christ.
• Persons of any age may be baptized—infants, children, youth, and adults.
• United Methodists baptize in a variety of ways—immersion, pouring, or sprinkling.
• A person receives the sacrament of baptism only once in his or her life.

​The Lord's Supper (also called Holy Communion, Eucharist)

• The Lord’s Supper is another name for the Eucharist, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving the church offers to God for all God has done, is doing, and will do to save us and renew all things in Christ.
• Through offering ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, and through receiving the bread and cup—which the Spirit makes for us the body and blood of Christ—celebrating the Lord’s Supper together nourishes and sustains us in our journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.
• As we pray together and receive the body and blood of Christ together, we are united with Christ, with one another, and in ministry to all the world.
• All who love Christ, earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another are invited to join us in offering our prayer of thanksgiving and receive the body and blood of Christ—regardless of age or church membership.
• Congregations serve the elements of the Lord’s Supper several ways, but always include both bread and cup.
• The Lord's Supper is to be celebrated and received regularly--John Wesley said, “as often as [one] can.”

Social Principles & Creed

Taking an active stance in society is nothing new for followers of John Wesley. He set the example for us to combine personal and social piety. Ever since predecessor churches to United Methodism flourished in the United States, we have been known as a denomination involved with people's lives, with political and social struggles, having local to international mission implications. Such involvement is an expression of the personal change we experience in our baptism and conversion.

​The United Methodist Church believes God's love for the world is an active and engaged love, a love seeking justice and liberty. We cannot just be observers. So we care enough about people's lives to risk interpreting God's love, to take a stand, to call each of us into a response, no matter how controversial or complex. The church helps us think and act out a faith perspective, not just responding to all the other 'mind-makers-up' that exist in our society.

Excerpt from The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church 2016. Copyright © 2016 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.

​To help guide our thinking and acting about how we live in, and are in engaged in ministry in the world, The United Methodist Church has created statements to guide the church in its efforts to create a world of justice.
"Our Social Creed" is a basic statement of our convictions about the fundamental relationships between God, God's creation and humanity. This basic statement is expanded in a more lengthy statement called the "Social Principles." This statement explains more fully how United Methodists are called to live in the world. Part of our Book of Discipline, the "Social Principles" serve as a guide to official church action and our individual witness.

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All of the text on this page is an excerpt from The United Methodist Church's website "www.UMC.org", it was copied from THIS PAGE and its sub-pages and is used for informational purposes only.