We believe in the creating God, who in the past called Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the prophets, and still calls people today, to life as a journey in faith. We believe that Jesus was the human face of God and is the Christ who redeems the world. And we believe that the Holy Spirit is the divine presence indwelling the church and inspiring women and men, boys and girls, to lives of goodness, courage, compassion and service.
As a United Methodist congregation we share these beliefs with other Christian groups and distinctively emphasize these:
- We treasure the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as our primary source of revelation and inspiration concerning the ways of God.
- Each Christian’s understanding of God is informed by scripture, tradition reason and experience.
- Grace, the undeserved and unwarranted gift of God’s love, underlies our experience of God and animates the ministry of Jesus Christ. God is love and Christ demonstrates the way of God’s love. We cannot earn this gift of love; we receive and cherish it.
- To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and to follow him in practices of prayer, compassion, justice and service. Faith is made complete by living of the gospel.
- We celebrate the church universal and recognize God’s presence in a variety of expressions and communities of Christians. We seek to be in fellowship and peace with one another.
- Through baptism we are initiated into the community of faith. Infants are baptized into the faith of the church and grow into that faith knowing that they are loved and accepted by God. Youth and adults affirm for themselves that baptism faith and likewise grow in faith and their witness to God’s love.
- The table of communion is open to people of all ages, nations and races. In Holy Communion we experience the true presence of Christ that is healing, forgiving, comforting, challenging, and courage giving. All people are welcome.