Beliefs of the United Methodist Church
With Christians of other communions we confess belief in the triune
God—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.
" ... 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."
The Sacraments
(Note: This text is excerpted from The Articles of Religion of
The Methodist Church (¶103) and uses the original wording from the Discipline of
1808.)
Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s
profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God’s good will
toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but
also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him. There are two Sacraments ordained
of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the
Lord.
Those five commonly called sacraments, that is to say, confirmation, penance,
orders, matrimony, and extreme unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of
the Gospel; being such as have partly grown out of the corrupt following of the
apostles, and partly are states of life allowed in the Scriptures, but yet have
not the like nature of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, because they have not any
visible sign or ceremony ordained of God.
The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried
about; but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive
the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation; but they that receive them
unworthily, purchase to themselves condemnation, as St. Paul saith.
(From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2000. Copyright 2000 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.)