What We Believe
These are the basic Christian affirmations from the book of discipline & the distinctly Wesleyan emphases.
God
We believe in the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus
We have faith in the mystery of salvation in and through Jesus Christ.
Holy Spirit
We believe that God’s redemptive love is realized in human life by the activity of the Holy Spirit, both in personal experience and in the community of believers.
The Church
We understand ourselves to be part of Christ’s universal church when by adoration, proclamation and service we become conformed to Christ.
Scripture
We recognize the authority of Scripture in matters of faith, the confession that our justification as sinners is by grace through faith, and the realization that the Church is in need of continual reformation and renewal.
Prevenient Grace
We acknowledge God’s prevenient grace, the divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses. This Grace prompts our first wish to please God, our first glimmer of understanding concerning God’s will and our first slight transient conviction of having sinned against God.
Justification & Assurance
We believe God reaches out to the repentant believer in justifying grace with accepting and pardoning love. In justification, we are, through faith, forgiven our sin and restored to God’s favor.
Sanctification & Perfection
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to increase in the knowledge and love of God and in love for our neighbor. Sanctifying grace draws us toward the gift of Christian perfection, which John Wesley described as a heart “habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor” and as “having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked.”
Faith & Good Works
We see God’s grace and human activity working together in the relationship of faith and good works. God’s grace calls forth human response and discipline.
Mission and Service
Personal salvation always involves Christian mission and service to the world. By joining heart and hand we assert that personal religion, evangelical witness, and Christian social action are reciprocal and mutually reinforcing.