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What We Believe |
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Our beliefs as United Methodists are summarized in our
Articles of Religion and
our Confession of Faith. Some of our key beliefs are as follows:
With other Christian churches, we worship one God as the three divine Persons of
the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
With other churches, we confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is truly
God and truly human, and we praise God's goodness shown in Christ's self
offering, which involved His life, His crucifixion, and death, and His
resurrection from the dead.
It has been the distinctive gift of the Methodist tradition to emphasize the
work of God in bringing men and women to conviction (knowledge of our need for
God's grace), to conversion (pardon from sin that comes by faith in Christ as a
gift from God), and to Christian holiness (growing in the likeness of God, as we
are empowered by God's grace, both as individuals and as communities).
Our church also insists that the grace of God is available to all persons.
Christ is "the true light, which enlightens everyone." (John 1:9).
With other churches, we practice baptism (of infants as well as adults) as
Christ's appointed means of bringing persons into the fellowship of the church,
and we practice holy communion as Christ's appointed means of celebrating
Christ's offering for us and the fellowship we have with Christ's appointed
means of celebrating Christ's offering for us and the fellowship we have with
Christ and with each other.
For more information about Methodism, please refer to the
United Methodist
Church's Book of Discipline. |
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Expectations As You Consider Joining
First United Methodist Church |
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As members of First United Methodist Church we encourage each other:
If you are considering joining First UMC as a member, there are three ways to unite
with this church family:
If you have not been baptized, our ministers will be happy to baptize you at the
time of your decision to join or privately before joining First United
Methodist Church.
Although classes are not required to join, we encourage you to attend one or all
of our orientation classes to better equip you as you consider making a
decision to join. Please click here for information on our orientation
classes. Reservations are not necessary to attend.
For additional information about the church and what we believe as United
Methodists, or, if you would like to join First United Methodist Church,
please contact Darlene Orth at 815-756-6301 or email at
office@firstumc.net. |
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