Over two hundred years ago, Methodism began somewhat by accident. Our founder, John Wesley, who was an Anglican Priest (Church of England), sparked a movement to renew and inspire faithful believers to a more active, committed life of Christian practice. That movement quickly grew into its own “brand” of followers of Jesus.

Methodists, since the days of John Wesley, have been concerned with personal and social holiness. We believe in a God who speaks in scripture, tradition, experience and reason. We believe that living in a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ is a beautiful and powerful way for us to connect God and experience God’s grace in our lives. We believe that all Christian faith has to be practiced. There can be no separation of what we believe (doctrine) from what we do (practice). We also believe that it is our mission to bring God’s grace into the broken systems of this world. Whether it be poverty, famine, violence or injustice, we have the responsibility as God’s people to combat that which ails the world with the power of the Holy Spirit.

As United Methodist Christians, we believe strongly that God wants us to use our heads and our hearts, science and reason, compassion and sensitivity when sorting through the complex issues of the day. One of the “methods” we Methodists rely upon is something we call the “Quadrilateral,” weighing carefully the four (“quad”) sources of divine guidance: Scripture, tradition, reason and experience.

As United Methodists, we see the Bible as the primary resource for our faith. The story of salvation is made available to us through the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.  As Christians, we believe that God’s love comes into clearest focus in the life and ministry, loving service, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We take scripture seriously, but not (usually) literally. As Jesus used parables to describe God’s kin-dom, we know that the deeper truth of a story is often found beyond its literal meaning.

We value the examples of those who have gone before us (tradition), the use of our minds (reason) and hearts (experience) as we seek to understand God’s intention for our lives. As a church, we represent a wide variety of theological positions. We don’t ask anyone to “leave their brains at the door,” but rather we believe that our faith is enhanced as we take in the collective wisdom of the sciences and humanities, other cultures and life experiences. When faith is shared from the breadth of our diversities and identities, the community of believers is enriched and deepened.  We give thanks for the gifts of laughter and love that God uses to help us see ourselves and others more clearly. The United Methodist Church holds to the traditional teachings of the Christianity over the centuries, while also remaining open to God’s on-going revelation in our world, church, and lives.