Conyers First United Methodist Church
Thursday, September 09, 2010

Beliefs

What do we believe?
.....and why does it matter?

 

First of all we need to know who we are ........ and whose we are!

 

  • We need to understand who we are as the Body of Christ and that Jesus Christ is our sovereign Lord and Savior!  As Christians, we hold many beliefs in common with all Christians.
  • We believe in the one true God: 
  • God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We believe that God is alive and active in the world, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in us as our guide and comforter. Many of our churches sing about this holy Trinity every Sunday when they sing the Doxology. Here is one version that appears in The United Methodist Hymnal, 94: “Praise God, the source of all our gifts! Praise Jesus Christ whose power uplifts! Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit!...”
  • We believe that every person is a sinner who needs God’s salvation.
  • We believe that salvation and redemption come to us by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ, not through anything that we do ourselves. We believe that all those who put their trust in Jesus are made new. One of the best known hymns of the Methodist Church, written by Charles Wesley, describes what we think about Jesus: “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise.” Wesley writes about a Jesus whose name is “music for the sinner’s ears,” whose love sets us free, whose blood was shed for each of us. Because of Jesus we can “feel our sins forgiven” (The UM Hymnal, 57).
  • We believe that Christ will come again, and that God’s work in the world will be fulfilled with Christ’s return. 
  • The African American spiritual “My Lord, What a morning” (719) invites us to sing of this hope in Christ’s return: “My Lord, what a morning, when the stars begin to fall. You’ll hear the trumpet sound…you’ll hear the sinner moan…you’ll hear the Christian shout.”
  • We believe in the power of scripture as the rule and guide for our lives. 
  • We believe that the scriptures are informed by our collective experience living in Christian community, our ancient and future traditions, and our God-given ability to reason, but that the holy scriptures are the foundational document to which we refer for ultimate authority.

    Excerpt from "Hearts on Fire: The United Methodist Story", Copyright 1998 by Cokesbury

    If you have any questions about our beliefs, please don’t hesitate to contact the church office to speak with one of our pastors.