What We Believe
As a congregation of the Global Methodist Church, we profess a Christian faith, established on the confession that Jesus is the Messiah. We believe the Holy Scriptures to be our ultimate and final authority for doctrine and faith. We also confess and believe the following ancient creeds, which were formulated by Scripture: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Definition of Chalcedon. In addition to this, we believe the “Twenty-Five Articles of Religion” and the “Confession of Faith” to be an accurate representation of the doctrinal boundaries for our church. You can learn more about our doctrines and polity in “The Book of Doctrines and Discipline of the Global Methodist Church" or online with this link Book of Doctrines & Discipline
We believe there is only one living and true God. He is the creator and preserver of all things both seen and unseen. We believe He alone has no beginning and that He will never cease to be God. We believe Him to be of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. We also believe this one God has eternally existed in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). We believe these persons are one in substance, essence, power, and eternity. We believe these persons are inseparable and yet also distinct. We also believe God alone is to be worshiped and that He will someday judge both the living and the dead.
God
Mission
Scripture
We believe the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments contained in the Holy Bible to be the only inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. By inspired, we mean that the writers of these books were moved and guided by the Holy Spirit in all that was written and therefore are God breathed. By inerrant, we mean that the Bible is entirely truthful in all it reveals about God, mankind, creation, and salvation. We also believe it to be free from any errors in all that it affirms, as it was given in the original manuscripts. By infallible, we mean that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary for salvation and that it is the final authority in all matters that pertain to doctrine, faith, and practice. We believe that God has preserved His Word and will continue to do so even to the end of the age. We also believe that the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary for correctly interpreting the Scriptures.
Vision
Salvation
We believe all of mankind was created in the image of God and that we were created to be in relationship and union with Him. We believe that relationship was broken and our union with God was lost through sin. We believe that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and therefore all people are in need of a Savior. We believe that Jesus Christ is that Savior. We believe Jesus is the only begotten Son of God and that He became a man in order to redeem us from our bondage to sin and to restore our relationship and union with God. We believe He lived a completely obedient life and never sinned. We believe that He died, was buried, and that God raised Him from the dead. We believe the penalty of our sin was satisfied in the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf and that our sins are atoned for by the shedding of His blood. We believe that those who put their faith in Him are freely justified and made right before God. We believe we are only saved by grace through faith in Christ and not according to our own works or merits. We believe that there is no salvation outside of Christ and that apart from God’s grace, we cannot be saved. We believe that God’s grace is available for all of mankind and that God desires all to be saved and to repent from their sin. We also believe that God has granted mankind the freedom to reject this grace and to refuse His mercy. We believe Jesus died not just to forgive us of our sin, but also to make us new creations and to destroy the power sin had over us. We believe God calls all those who follow Him to a life of holiness and that this is only done by the power of God. We also believe that while we experience salvation in this life, our ultimate salvation will be realized when we are glorified and made new when Christ returns.
Holy Spirit
We believe no one can come to saving faith apart from God first drawing them by His Holy Spirit. We believe that the promise of the Holy Spirit is for all who call upon the name of Christ, and therefore, all who are saved will receive Him. We believe that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in believers and that our union with God is restored through this reality. We believe that since the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we are now temples of the living God. We believe that it is through the Holy Spirit that believers are empowered to live holy lives and to truly repent from wicked works and sin. We believe that through the Holy Spirit we are enabled to live obediently to God and to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to Him. We believe the Holy Spirit is the One who guides us into all truth and that apart from the Spirit, we cannot comprehend the things of God nor rightly interpret the Scriptures. We believe that anyone who comes to saving faith in Christ will ultimately bear the fruits of the Spirit and that good works will always follow true faith. These works do not save us in any way but rather give witness to the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. We believe that God gives Spiritual gifts to his church for the work of ministry and the building up of the body of Christ. We believe these gifts are distributed to each one individually as God wills and that these gifts are still given to believers today. We believe that not everyone receives the same gifts and that these gifts are only to be practiced according to how the Scriptures instruct us. We do not believe speaking in tongues is the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. While we believe Spiritual gifts follow the baptism of the Spirit, we believe the fruits of the Spirit and a transformed life are the initial evidence that one has received a baptism of the Spirit.
Church
We believe the Church is the community of all true believers under the Lordship of Christ. We believe there is only one universal (catholic) church and that it was established by Christ and the apostles on the day of Pentecost. We believe there has never been a time since Pentecost that the church ceased to exist. We believe that there are many different expressions (denominations) of the one true church and that we (Global Methodist) are just one of those expressions. We believe that for a church to be considered a part of the church universal, its beliefs about God, faith, and practice must be in line with biblical teaching and historical Christianity. We believe a church is the redemptive fellowship where the Word of God is preached by men divinely called and the sacraments are duly administered according to Christ’s own appointment. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, the church exists for the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers, and the redemption of the world. The purpose of the church is to help people accept and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to live their daily lives in light of their relationship with God. As an Evangelical Protestant denomination, we believe in the priesthood of all believers and the importance of spreading the gospel through evangelism and missionary work. We also stand in the tradition of the Protestant Reformers by professing the “Five Solas” as a biblically accurate understanding of salvation. We believe that Christians are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed by Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone. We also believe that Christ alone is the head of the church universal.
Sacraments
The two sacraments ordained by Christ are Holy Baptism and Holy Communion (The Lord’s Supper). We believe a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. The sacraments communicate in physical form the Gospel promise that all who come to Christ in repentance and faith receive new life in Him.
We believe that through baptism we are united in Christ’s death, that our old self is buried with Christ, and that we are now raised to new life by the Holy Spirit. We believe baptism is a symbol of repentance, the new birth, and that it is a washing away of our sins. We believe baptism signifies the entrance into the household of faith and that it is the sign of the new covenant, much like circumcision was the sign of the old covenant. We believe Children are under the atonement of Christ and, as heirs of the Kingdom of God, are acceptable subjects for Christian baptism. We do not believe baptism apart from faith saves us. We believe in the Spiritual presence of Christ in Holy Communion. We believe the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of His sufferings and death, a communion of the saints with the church universal, and is a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb. We believe that those who rightly, worthily, and in faith participate in the Lord’s Supper are partaking of the body and blood of Christ in a spiritual manner until he comes. We believe taking communion is a renewing of our covenant with God and that it is the duty of every Christian to receive communion as often as possible. We believe this sacrament may be offered to all who repent of their sin and desire to draw near to God and lead a life of obedience to Christ.