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Religion Forum Index » Christian Methodist Forum » United Methodist Beliefs
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 Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 5:46 am |
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UNITED METHODIST BELIEFS
John Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was
revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal
experience, and confirmed by reason.
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"THE WESLEYAN QUADRILATERAL"
These are the sources and norms for all our Christian beliefs.
1.) Scripture
United Methodists share with other Christians the conviction that
Scripture is the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine.
Through Scripture the living Christ meets us in the experience of
redeeming grace. We are convinced that Jesus Christ is the living Word
of God in our midst whom we trust in life and death.
2.) Tradition
The story of the church reflects the most basic sense of tradition, the
continuing activity of God's Spirit transforming human life. Tradition
is the history of that continuing environment of grace in and by which
all Christians live, God's self-giving love in Jesus Christ. As such,
tradition transcends the story of particular traditions.
3.) Experience
Some facets of human experience tax our theological understanding. Many
of God's people live in terror, hunger, loneliness, and degradation.
Everyday experiences of birth and death, of growth and life in the
created world, and an awareness of wider social relations also belong to
serious theological reflection.
A new awareness of such experiences can inform our appropriation of
scriptural truths and sharpen our appreciation of the good news of the
kingdom of God.
4.) Reason
Although we recognize that God's revelation and our experiences of God's
grace continually surpass the scope of human language and reason, we
also believe that any disciplined theological work calls for the careful
use of reason. By reason we read and interpret Scripture. By reason we
determine whether our Christian witness is clear. By reason we ask
questions of faith and seek to understand God's action and will.
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We Believe in:
A Triune God.
There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or
parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver
of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead
there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity--the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
God's Grace.
Grace pervades our understanding of Christian faith and life. By grace
we mean the undeserved, unmerited, and loving action of God in human
existence through the ever-present Holy Spirit. While the grace of God
is undivided, it precedes salvation as "prevenient grace," continues in
"justifying grace," and is brought to fruition in "sanctifying grace."
Justification and New Birth.
We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works
or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous
before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sanctification and Perfection.
We believe sanctification is the work of God's grace through the Word
and the Spirit, by which those who have been born again are cleansed
from sin in their thoughts, words and acts, and are enabled to live in
accordance with God's will, and to strive for holiness without which no
one will see the Lord.
Faith and Good Works.
We believe good works are the necessary fruits of faith and follow
regeneration but they do not have the virtue to remove our sins or to
avert divine judgment. We believe good works, pleasing and acceptable to
God in Christ, spring from a true and living faith, for through and by
them faith is made evident.
One Universal Church.
United Methodists respond to the theological, biblical, and practical
mandates for Christian unity by firmly committing ourselves to the cause
of Christian unity at local, national, and world levels. We invest
ourselves in many ways by which mutual recognition of churches, of
members, and of ministries may lead us to sharing in Holy Communion with
all of God's people.
Service to the World.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, said there was no
religion except for social religion. In his name and in his spirit The
United Methodist Church reaches out to establish peace and justice in
the world.
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The Sacraments.
We believe the Sacraments, ordained by Christ, are symbols and pledges
of the Christian's profession and of God's love toward us. They are the
means of grace by which God works invisibly in us, quickening,
strengthening and confirming our faith in him. Two Sacraments are
ordained by Christ our Lord, namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Baptism.
The baptismal covenant is God's initiating word to us, proclaiming our
adoption by grace, and our word to God, promising our response of faith
and love.
Baptism brings us into union with Christ, with each other, and with the
Church in every time and place. (Romans 6:3-11, 1 Corinthians 12:13;
Galatians 3:27-2 . Because baptism initiates us into Christ's whole
Church and not only into a denomination, United Methodists recognize all
Christian baptisms and look upon baptism as something that should unite,
rather than divide. Holy baptism is administered once, but may be
reaffirmed each time we partake of the Sacrament of Holy Communion or in
services of "Reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant."
Communion.
Holy Communion is a sacred meal in which the community of faith, the
Church, thankfully proclaims and enacts all that God has done, is doing,
and will continue to do for us in Christ. In communion we remember, with
thanksgiving, the grace given to us in our baptism and partake of the
spiritual food necessary for sustaining and fulfilling the promises of
salvation. The Thanksgiving and communion, commonly called the Lord's
Supper, is a Christian adaptation of Jewish worship at family meal
tables--as Jesus and his disciples ate together during his preaching and
teaching ministry, as Jesus transformed it when he instituted the Lord's
Supper on the night before his death, and as his disciples experienced
it in the breaking of bread with their risen Lord. (Luke 24:30-35; John
21:13).
Early Methodism continued the New Testament church's emphasis on Word
and Table, taking the gospel into the world by preaching and singing and
by celebrating of the holy meal. Today the United Methodist Church is
reclaiming our biblical and historical heritage, as we seek to worship
God "in spirit and in truth."
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-- This statement is composed of excerpts from the 1996 Book of
Discipline of the United Methodist Church. For more information go to:
<http://www.umc.org/abouttheumc/beliefs/>.
--
Craig L. Adams
adamsfmmac@earthlink.net
Weidman United Methodist Church
<http://www.methodist.net/weidman> or <http://www.gbgm-umc.org/weidman> |
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