We love first and then find ways to help others discover their gifts and talents. We example compassionate care and share ministry to others by, in turn, allow disciples of the teachings of Jesus exercise their relational ministries. We see ourselves as one single vessel of God's grace that pours healing oil and gladness into our community. If you wish to contact us please fill in the contact information form on Home Page.
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History of Methodists Episcopal Church Fundemental Teachings
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 desire to have a relationship with our Creator, our first understanding of God's will in our life, and our "first conviction" of breaking God's Law. God's grace awakens in us desire for deliverance from sin and death and gives us the power to repent and do the will of God.
Grace pervades our understanding of Christian faith and life.
Grace is the undeserved love of God placed in our "innermost being" through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
God's grace is manifest in all creation even though suffering, violence, and evil are everywhere. The goodness of God becomes a reality in human beings, who are called into a covenant relationship with Jesus in our repentance, water Baptism, and infilling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "You must be born again or you cannot see the Kingdom of God. However, it is your choice. You decide if you desire to be transferred from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. God has revealed his will to us through his Son, Jesus Christ. It is in Him that we see the splendor of our true creation. Even our sin, with its destructive consequences for all creation, does not alter God's intention for us to be saved and adopted into His family. In our Holy Baptism, we are baptized into Jesus and take on the Name, Jesus, by which his family in heaven and earth are called. Despite our brokenness, we remain creatures brought into being by a just and merciful God. The restoration of God's image in our lives requires divine grace to renew our fallen nature.
With other Christians, we declare the essential oneness of God and his single purpose of restoring all His creation in Christ Jesus. This rich heritage of shared Christian belief finds expression in our worship, preaching, community, and family life. Our unity is affirmed in the written and living Word of God. We confess one holy, universal, and apostolic church. It is also experienced in joint ventures of ministry and in various forms of fellowship with the Church, His redeemed fleshly body on earth. We confess that Jesus Christ, the Messiah is the only true head of the Church and that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him. The Singularity of God's, Mind, Will, Emotions, and Body shares common roots of Christian faith and heritage with all Christians around the world. We confess that Jesus is building His Church and that the doors of "sheol" cannot draw it in. We confess that Jesus is the Vine and Christ's churches are his branches. We confess there is only One LORD, One FAITH, and One BAPTISM. We gather our teachings only from Jesus Christ and emphasize the importance of keeping the unity of the Holy Spirit. We confess that all of the work of the Holy Spirit in this world is a "Sacramental Work of His Grace" and that we are only His fellow servants in ministry. We confess that it is Christian unity that enables the unchurched to recognize that we are His disciples.
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Christian Communion
With Christians of other communions we confess belief in One God, manifested as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This confession embraces the biblical witness to God's activity in creation, encompasses God's gracious self-involvement in the dramas of history, and anticipates the consummation of God's reign.
The created order is designed for the well-being of all creatures and as the place of human dwelling in covenant with God. As sinful creatures, however, we have broken that covenant, become estranged from God, wounded ourselves and one another, and wreaked havoc throughout the natural order. We stand in need of redemption.
We hold in common with all Christians a faith in the mystery of salvation in and through Jesus Christ. At the heart of the gospel of salvation is God's incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth. Scripture witnesses to the redeeming love of God in Jesus' life and teachings, his atoning death, his resurrection, his sovereign presence in history, his triumph over the powers of evil and death, and his promised return. Because God truly loves us in spite of our willful sin, God judges us, summons us to repentance, pardons us, receives us by that grace given to us in Jesus Christ, and gives us hope of life eternal.
Justification and Assurance—We believe God reaches out to the repentant believer in justifying grace with accepting and pardoning love. We stress that a decisive change in the human heart can and does occur under the prompting of grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
In justification we are, through faith, forgiven our sin and restored to God's favor. This righting of relationships by God through Christ calls forth our faith and trust as we experience regeneration, by which we are made new creatures in Christ.
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We profess the historic Christian faith in One God, incarnate in Jesus Christ for our salvation and ever at work in human history in the power of the Holy Spirit. Living in a covenant of grace under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we participate in the first fruits of God's coming reign and pray in hope for its full realization on earth as in heaven.
Our heritage in doctrine and our present theological task focus upon a renewed grasp of the sovereignty of God and of God's love in Christ amid the continuing crises of human existence.
Our forebears in the faith reaffirmed the ancient Christian message as found in the apostolic witness even as they applied it anew in their own circumstances.
Our preaching and teaching is grounded in Scripture, disciplined by Christian tradition, made flesh in experience, and examined and administered by reason.
Our labors inspire and inform our attempts to convey the saving gospel to our world with its needs and aspirations.
We understand ourselves to be part of Christ's universal church when by adoration, proclamation, and service we become conformed to Christ. We are initiated and incorporated into this community of faith by Baptism, receiving the promise of the Spirit that re-creates and transforms us. Through the regular celebration of Holy Communion, we participate in the risen presence of Jesus Christ and are thereby nourished for faithful discipleship.
We pray and work for the coming of God's realm and reign to the world and rejoice in the promise of everlasting life that overcomes death and the forces of evil.
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