“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…
“With other Christians we recognize that the reign of God is both a present and future reality…
We share with many Christian communions a recognition of the authority of Scripture in matters of faith, the confession that our justification as sinners is by grace through faith, and the sober realization that the church is in need of continual reformation and renewal…” (THE BOOK OF DISICPLINE OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 2012, pp 47-48)
In addition, we Methodist Christians have a very distinct emphasis on God’s grace. Our understanding of grace is this:
God loves us and there is nothing we can do about it!
We believe that God’s grace permeates all of creation whether we are looking for it or not. We call this prevenient grace.
We believe that through grace God is always reaching out to those whose hearts are ready to believe offering love, forgiveness and acceptance, now and forever in heaven. We call this justifying grace.
We believe that becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is an experience of a new birth into a new kind of life. This new birth is only the beginning of our ongoing learning, forming, and becoming more and more like Jesus. We call this sanctifying grace.
We believe that we are called to be people who are growing in a very particular kind of perfection – perfection in our ability and willingness to love – to love God with all our heart and soul and strength and mind. We believe that our love for God is revealed in the way we treat ourselves and the people around us. (Luke 10:27)
We believe that we are called to a life of HOLY LIVING – seeking first to DO NO HARM, second to DO ALL THE GOOD WE CAN, and third to STAY IN LOVE WITH GOD by participating in worship, prayer and Bible study-on our own and with others, listening to the proclamation of God’s Word, sharing in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, intentionally fellowshipping with like-minded people, and going out into the world to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in everything we think, and say and do.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/affirmations-of-faith-garnaas-holmes
For more details on what we United Methodist Christians believe:
https://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/basics-of-our-faith
