We are Scripture-centered, Tradition-loving, Reason-believing, Experience-inspired Christians

As United Methodists, we hold that the Christian faith is revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, made alive through personal experience, and confirmed by reason.

What We Believe as Christians

When we say the Apostles' Creed, we join with millions of Christians through the ages in an understanding of God as a Trinity—three persons in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God, Who is one, is revealed in three distinct persons. "God in three persons, blessed Trinity" is one way of speaking about the several ways we experience God.

We believe in the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ. God became human in Jesus of Nazareth; and His life, death and resurrection demonstrate 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 the Bible is our primary authority for faith and practice. As 2 Timothy 3:16–17 reminds us, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." We remember that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures is alive and well to bring the written Word alive for the present.

We believe the Kingdom of God is both a present reality and a future hope. Christian faith leans into the future God has promised, trusting the Lord who goes before us and calls us into the ongoing work of shaping God’s new creation. Though personal hardships and the world’s brokenness can make hope feel unrealistic, our hope is not in trends or circumstances. Our hope is in the Lord of all creation and history—a God who is still at work transforming the world.

What We Believe as United Methodists

Being part of over 13 million United Methodists worldwide connects us to a community centered on God and holy living. Our Wesleyan roots shape who we are while connecting us with Christians across traditions.

We believe that salvation is the act of God's grace entirely, from invitation, to pardon, to growth in holiness. This also means that God's prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace interacts dynamically in the lives of Christians from birth to death.

Good works (or doing good) are the fruit (or result) of one's salvation, not the other way around where salvation is earned through doing good. Faith and good works go hand in hand in United Methodist theology: a living tree naturally and inevitably bears fruit.

United Methodists reject the idea of eternal security, believing that salvation can be turned away from. Following Wesley, we emphasize ongoing growth in Christ through sanctification. We embrace both the Evangelical Gospel—personal repentance and relationship with God—and the Social Gospel—a commitment to justice, including abolition, women’s suffrage, labor rights, civil rights, and ministry with the poor.

The key emphasis of John Wesley's theology is on how the grace of God works with us as individuals. Wesley defined salvation as the working of grace in at least three parts: Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace, and Sanctifying Grace.

Prevenient grace, or the grace that "goes before" us, is given to all people. It enables us to love and motivates us to seek a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is God working to turn us from our sin-corrupted human will to the loving will of the Father. God wants us to be able to sense both our sinfulness before God and His offer of salvation. Prevenient grace allows us to make a truly free choice to accept or reject God's salvation in Christ.

Justifying Grace, or “Accepting Grace,” is God’s gift to all, received when we recognize our sin and trust Jesus for salvation. Through this grace, we are forgiven, freed from guilt, and empowered to love God and others. John Wesley called this the New Birth—a life-changing experience that can happen in a single moment or gradually over time.

Sanctifying Grace is what sustains believers in the journey toward Christian Perfection: a genuine love of God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and a genuine love of our neighbors as ourselves. Sanctifying grace makes us able to respond to God by leading a Spirit-filled and Christ-like life aimed toward love. Wesley never claimed this state of perfection for himself but instead insisted the attainment of perfection was possible for all Christians.