What We Believe

“All need to be saved. All may be saved. All may know themselves saved. All may be saved to the uttermost.”

Traditional summary of Methodist teaching

We believe in:

  • God as Trinity: This term simply means that we believe in one God but a God who is in three persons, each as important as the other.
     

  • God the Father: We believe in God the Father, who made heaven and earth. He is the one who made us and the world around us.
     

  • Jesus Christ: We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was the truth of God expressed in human ways that human beings could understand, born by the power of the Holy Spirit to a young woman, Mary. At about the age of 30 he began proclaiming in word and deed that God was at hand, transforming the world into what God intended it to be.
     

  • We can read all about this in the Bible, in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In response most people tried to get rid of him, seeing him not as God but as the enemy of God and executing him on a cross as if he were a curse on the land.  When they had ascertained that he was really dead, they buried him. But three days later he was raised to new life, affirmed by God as God and as having lived and loved in God’s way. During his life he taught us many things about how to live our lives. In dying and rising he enabled us to be reunited with God and to able to be closer to God.
     

  • The Holy Spirit: We believe in the Holy Spirit, who has always been present since the creation of the world and who empowered Jesus. We also believe that because we are now reunited with God, through Jesus, this Spirit is with us now. The Holy Spirit helps us communicate and pray to God, encouraging us to grow in our faith and as people of God as well as empowering us and guiding us as we live our lives.

What does that mean for us?

We believe that as human beings we do things wrong, things which hurt other people and which go against what God would want. This means that we separate ourselves from God, turning our backs on God. This is where what some people call ‘The Good News of Jesus’ comes into it. We believe that when Jesus died on the cross he took all of the things which stop us from being close to God, both now and forever, and disposed of them. After his resurrection he ascended into heaven, proving his authority and power. This immediately bridges the gap between us and God and, if we will allow Jesus the Son to turn us round and lead us to God the Father, enables us to be with God, and God with us. We become what the Bible calls ‘Children of God’, because God adopts us into God’s family and sends the Holy Spirit to be with us, to support us and to encourage us. The Holy Spirit is with us today.