United Methodists share a common heritage with other Christians by conviction in a triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; faith in the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ; and celebration of the sacraments.   We also share four main guidelines for belief; scripture, tradition, experience and reason.  They are interdependent and allow for variety in theology.

We believe Grace is God’s loving action in human existence through the Holy Spirit. It is the spiritual climate and environment surrounding all human life.  We believe God endows each person with dignity and moral responsibility and that change in the human heart can and does occur through grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and may be expressed in many different thought forms and life styles.

We believe in Prevenient Grace - - the divine love that ‘runs ahead’ of our conscious impulses and leads our hearts toward faith.   Also, we believe personal salvation leads to involvement in Christian mission in the world.  Personal religion and Christian social actions are mutually reinforcing.  We believe in tolerance.  While United Methodism retains much from its several heritage’s, it allows a variety of special-interest theologies.  It acknowledges the virtues of different points of view even within the same community of believers.  

THE SACRAMENTS

Like most other Protestants, United Methodists recognize only those sacraments in which Jesus Christ Himself participated - - Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

For United Methodists, baptism is the sacrament of Initiation that joins us with the church and with Christians everywhere.  It is a symbol of new life, a promise of God’s saving love and a sign of God’s forgiveness for our sins. 

Both infants and adults can be baptized.  A person receives the sacrament only once in his life, since we believe this is something God does for us, not that we do.  Water is the symbol of baptism and United Methodists baptize by sprinkling, immersion or pouring.  

THE LORD’S SUPPER

This is a holy meal of bread and wine that symbolizes the body and blood of Christ.  By sharing this meal, United Methodists give thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.  The Lord’s supper recalls the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and celebrates the unity of all the members of God’s family.  

United Methodists embrace liturgical services, preaching, prayer, confirmation, marriage, funerals and family devotions. We share a vision for all humanity. The role of the family is to nurture people in mutual love, respect and fidelity.  We believe we are stewards of everything we have and that social consciousness goes hand-in-hand with faith.  Therefore we are opposed to slavery, liquor traffic, gambling, industrial exploitation and war.

 For more information check your church library for “Meet The Methodists,”  by Charles Allen.

John Wesley was born in  England in 1703.  He was one of nineteen children born to a father who was a preacher with a rigid nature and a volatile temper.  His mother was rational, religious, and a very business like, competent person.  Her children were not allowed to cry.  They began lessons early and studied all day without play. At the age of six John was rescued from the second story of their home as it was being destroyed by fire.  His mother decided he was spared for a special purpose.

John went to Oxford University in 1720, in 1725 he was ordained a deacon.  He then taught Greek, Logic and Philosophy at Oxford.  In 1728 he became an ordained Anglican priest.  At an Aldersgate prayer meeting in London on May 24, 1738, he received the new inspiration which led him to become the first teacher of “Methodism.”  “I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation, and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

After his experience in 1738, Wesley set out with his brother Charles to form societies of “Methodists,” so called because the members followed a daily routine of religious observance and social work.  

He traveled to America and met the Moravians aboard ship.  John was terrified by a storm at sea, but they were not.  The Moravians had broken away from the Catholic church and focused on personal salvation.  Wesley accepted this assurance and strength, incorporating it into his teachings. He made his way to Georgia in America and began preaching in a formal, intellectual style and organized small groups called Methodists. Wesley never intended to break from the Church of England, and died in 1791 an Anglican priest.

In America, itinerant preachers spread the gospel and Wesley’s teachings to the settlers.  After the American revolution a separate church was formed, the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Other Wesleyan denominations also formed.   Some of the names were Quaker Methodists, Methodist Episcopal Church South, Methodist Protestant Church, the Methodist Church, United Brethren in Christ, and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.  In 1968 the Evangelical United Brethren Church and Methodist Church joined to form the United Methodist Church - - this country’s second largest Protestant denomination.