Our Beliefs
The United Methodist Church holds to the great teachings of the church throughout the centuries. We affirm the historical creeds of the church, with a particular emphasis on our beliefs that:
God is good
God will comfort, guide, and forgive every person, no matter who they are and what they’ve done.
God’s love and grace is for all people.
United Methodists are big believers in God’s grace – love available to all God’s people.
Christ is our Teacher and our Savior.
In the life and teachings of Christ, we are offered a way of living life that centers on compassion, mercy and love for all people.
Faith is a verb.
Serving others and the Christian faith go hand-in-hand. Faith and compassion are completely interconnected.
The Christian life is best lived in community.
The church as a community of disciples provides us with a place of worship, support, friendship and prayer as we seek to be faithful disciples.
We’re Everyday Christians.
We seek to make our private and our public actions congruent with our faith.
The heart of our Christian faith is Christ’s ministry of outreaching love.
Each person is called to be a witness to God’s love. We don’t always have to preach with words, the way that we love one another and live our lives is a witness to God’s love.
We believe that God created all persons as people of sacred worth, dignity and moral responsibility. As disciples of Christ, we seek to be persons of love, compassion, justice and peace.
Our Mission
The Mission of the United Methodist Church is quite simply to nurture disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Our History
The United Methodist Church springs from a rich tradition of studying and sharing the Gospel. The Methodist movement began 1729 in England and was led by John and Charles Wesley. The United Methodist Church is the result of the 1939 merger of three Methodist bodies (Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South, and Methodist Protestant churches) and a 1968 union of the Evangelical United Brethren and The Methodist churches. The United Methodist Church now has over 10 million members worldwide.
Sometimes people call the United Methodist Church “the church of the warm heart” because we have a history of caring about and working to create justice for all people. It all started with our founder, John Wesley, who felt his own heart “strangely warmed” by God’s love nearly three centuries ago. After experiencing God’s loving grace for himself, John Wesley felt called to reach out to England’s poorest citizens, preaching the Gospel of God’s unconditional love in the coal mines, factories and prisons of eighteenth century England. John Wesley was a very devout man who taught a methodical way of living out the Christian faith. Wesley’s methods for the Christian life included an emphasis on both inward spiritual practices (daily Bible Study, prayer and regular worship) as well as outward action (feeding the poor, visiting the sick and imprisoned). Colleagues and detractors alike teased Wesley for his methodical ways, calling Wesley and his followers “Methodists.” The name stuck and became a badge of honor, reflecting our commitment to a devoted faith that is both deeply spiritual and actively engaged in the world. The passionate work of John Wesley and his “Methodists” launched a movement that spread to the American colonies and took hold with a fervor that still exists almost 300 years later.
Today, United Methodists comprise the second largest Protestant denomination in the United States. We have started thousands of colleges and universities, hospitals and clinics, churches and outreach centers in the United States and around the world. Our churches are connected by a system that guides our work and governs our policies. We continue to take the lead in social, spiritual, political, and moral concerns. In the tradition of John and Charles Wesley, our members study Scripture, encourage thoughtful debate, and confront the tough issues of the day. We still lead with our hearts, keep our minds open, and welcome everyone through our doors.
The United Methodist Church is one part of the church universal. We do not claim to be superior or “more right” than other churches. We hold the belief that within our broad Christian community, there is ultimately one faith, one baptism, and one Lord.
You are welcomed and encouraged to learn more about being a Methodist by visiting other areas of this website and to visit the following websites: