The Methodist Way

When you join a United Methodist connection – a covenant community dedicated to making disciples for Jesus Christ. Members make a solemn promise to God and the congregation to uphold the church with their prayers and their presence, their gifts and their service.

The United Methodist Church was formed with the merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968. United Methodists trace their spiritual heritage back to 18^th century evangelical leaders John and Charles Wesley, Jacob Albright and Philip William Otterbein. John Wesley and our evangelical forbearers saw our work in the simplest, plainest terms: Do all the good you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can.

For more than 200 years, The United Methodist Church and its predecessors have worked to help the poor, the sick, the orphaned, the aging, the oppressed and the imprisoned. Our church participates in the struggles of women, people with physical and mental challenges, and racial and ethnic minority persons, helping them to attain equity and equality in the church and in society through responsible social action.

According to our United Methodist book of church law, the Book of Discipline, the Social Principles “provide our most recent official summary of stated convictions that seek to apply the Christian vision of righteousness to social, economic, and political issues.” (¶ 101, 2005 Book of Discipline)

Our Social Creed

We believe in God, Creator of the world; and in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of creation.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, through whom we acknowledge God’s gifts, and we repent of our sin in misusing these gifts to idolatrous ends.

We affirm the natural world as God’s handiwork and dedicate ourselves to its preservation, enhancement, and faithful use by humankind.

We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage, and the family.

We commit ourselves to the rights of men, women, children, youth, young adults, the aging, and people with disabilities; to improvement of the quality of life; and to the rights and dignity of all persons.

We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others and in the protection of their welfare in so doing; in the rights to property as a trust from God, collective bargaining, and responsible consumption; and in the elimination of economic and social distress.

We dedicate ourselves to peace throughout the world, to the rule of justice and law among nations, and to individual freedom for all people of the world.

We believe in the present and final triumph of God’s Word in human affairs and gladly accept our commission to manifest the life of the gospel in the world. Amen.

For more information about The United Methodist Church go to www.umc.org