What we Believe

It is only by God’s love (aka grace), we exist and we have hope. God’s love sustains the world and is evident all around us. We experience God’s grace in three distinct ways – Prevenient grace, Justifying Grace, and Sanctifying Grace. While it is all God’s love, we’ve named different ways we experience it. Prevenient grace is the part of God’s love at work in our lives before we even know we need God (Luke 15). God comes searching for each of us using varied means, such as friends, family, creation, a nudge, the radio, a podcast, a conversation and more to awaken us to the reality of the love of God. Justifying grace is the love of God experienced through the work of Jesus Christ in the Cross and Resurrection. In this aspect of God’s love, we experience pardon or forgiveness for our sin. Sanctifying grace is transforming grace. Experiencing the pardon of God sets us on a journey of restoration. God gives us varied means that we might recover the image of God in which we’ve been created.

We believe humanity is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). For one, this means every person is of sacred worth. All people are stamped with this image in their lives and thus have inherent worth. Moreover, to be created in this image means we are created to reflect the character of God in the world and to live in full communion with God. The core of God’s character is love. From this love flows the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). As beings created in this image, we are called to reflect God’s character in the world. Like a mirror reflecting an image, we are called to reflect God’s love (and the fruits of that love) both to God and one another. Moreover, we are created fully free to live this life. Love can’t be coerced or forced, thus God instills in us free will.

Humanity is created with the ability to decide to love God or not love God. As mentioned above, we are created to love God and neighbor. In the story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2), we learn we abused this free will. Rather than loving God, we sought to be God. This is where the disease of Sin took hold. And now it prevents us from fully loving God and loving our neighbor as we were originally created. Our relationship with God is broken and we cannot live out the life God intended for us as image bearers. Yet, God comes to us in grace through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, seeking to awaken us to all God has done to repair our brokenness. We do not believe in predestination as some denominations do where God elects some for salvation and the rest are condemned. Rather, all are created with the potential to love God and neighbor and to be awakened by grace and decide to follow Christ.

The main word that defines justification for us is pardon. Because of our free will, the disease of sin resides in us all. It causes us to hurt one another, hurt ourselves, destroy God’s creation, and community. Yet, God does not abandon us. As mentioned, God reaches out to us through prevenient grace to awaken us to the reality of this sin. Yet, rather than telling us to do something about it, God has already done something. In Jesus Christ, God was reconciling the world to God’s self (2 Cor. 5:19). Thus, in the cross, God was forgiving us. Justification is the moment we experience this pardoning love of God. By faith, we trust what God has done in Jesus Christ is enough to forgive us. In that same moment of initial faith, we are born into a new life. A seed of righteousness is planted in our hearts that must grow and mature.

Sanctification is the process of growth and maturation of righteousness. When we experience God’s pardoning love, the recovery of the image of God begins. This process is a cooperative process with the Spirit. We do not sanctify ourselves. Rather it is the Spirit at work within us. We use the means of grace (see below) as opportunities to encounter the Spirit of Christ who transforms us. This process we might say is the unlearning of sin and the learning of righteousness. As we participate more in the means of grace and encounter the Holy Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit become more evident in our lives. Most importantly, the love of God dethrones the vices of this world (like hate, discord, greed, etc) and becomes enthroned in our heart. We might liken the process to that of rehab. After a surgery, one spends time in rehab to regain their strength. In the same way, we rehab with the Spirit to regain our spiritual muscles. While sin may remain, it does not reign.

The means of grace are the tangible, real gifts God gives us to encounter the presence of God which transforms. A means is an avenue or a pathway to something else. Thus, the means of grace are avenues or pathways to God’s presence. They include public and private prayer, the study of Scripture, worship, acts of service, fasting, acts of justice, Christian fellowship, Holy Communion, baptism, and more. Of those means of grace, we hold two as Sacraments. Sacraments are outward and visible signs of grace which Christ commanded and practiced. We find them essential to the faith. Those two Sacraments are Communion and Baptism.

Regarding communion, we practice an “Open Table” meaning you don’t have to be a member of the church to receive the meal. We believe Christ invites all to the table and, at Communion, you meet Christ face to face. We will not deny anyone that opportunity. It is through the means of grace and Sacraments we encounter Christ and are thus transformed into the people God created us to be.

We believe the Bible contains all things necessary for salvation. In other words, the Scripture gives us everything we need to understand and participate in the journey of Salvation. The Bible was never intended to be a book of science, and, in some matters, history, or other subjects. But on other matters, we invite people to think and let think. It still is the center of our lives as it is for within it we encounter the Living Word. The words of Scripture still speak to us, transform us, and guide us to be faithful followers of Christ. The Bible is not stagnant and concrete, but the Living Word meets us in the words on the page.

Probably the most controversial ideas when it comes to Methodism, we believe one can be made perfect in this life. Moreover, in Scripture, Christ commands us to be perfect (Matthew 5:48). What that entails isn’t what it sounds like thought. One who is perfect is not sinless per se. Rather they live out perfect love or the love of God. Sinless perfection is something for eternal life. Yet, the reason we hold fast to Christian Perfection is because we believe God’s power and grace is stronger than the evil and sin in this world. If such were not the case, we have no hope. However, we believe God’s grace can transform us; it is more powerful than sin. And God’s grace is present here and now! Thus, we can be made perfect in love in this life. We do not achieve this goal. In fact, it isn’t even a status to achieve, but a dynamic reality which requires constant reliance on God and God’s grace at work in our lives.

Salvation to us is not simply a moment in our life of faith but a process of the first dawning of grace in the soul and when it is fully completed when in the presence of Christ in the life to come. We hold steadfast that salvation is God’s work in us.  Thus, it begins in God’s initiative, continues in God’s work for us in Jesus Christ, and then God’s work in us. We participate in it by faith.  Faith is more than an intellectual belief, but an active participation in this process as we yield to God through acts of service, worship, Bible reading, prayer, and more.