What We Believe

As part of the United Methodist Church (UMC) we have fairly traditional beliefs familiar to classic (protestant) Christianity.

You can read about it on the UMC website: https://www.umc.org/en/who-we-are/what-we-believe

The UMC is probably best known for its ‘Social Principles’. Methodist are people of action and service. We live out our faith in real life. It is not some abstract concept or idea – it has to have an impact in the real world. You can read the ‘Social Principles’ here [link]

Perhaps the most important things to understand about Methodist beliefs is that we have a 4-part authority for our sources of knowledge.

·      Scripture

·      Tradition

·      Reason

·      Experience

This gets called the ‘Wesleyan Quadrilateral’ and it helps inform our beliefs as a community.

Scripture always comes first. We say ‘prima scriptura’ which is important because some churches try to say ‘sola scriptura’ as if nothing outside the Bible informs their faith. We start with scripture first.

Then we look to the tradition. Faith has a long history and so we listen to those who have come before us.

Next comes reason. We don’t want to be unreasonable about what we believe and so we reason together about scripture and tradition.

Finally is experience. We want not just to think about faith but to experience it deeply – and for our experience to then impact our faith.

This Quadrilateral becomes really important in order to understand that within Methodist churches there are a wide-variety of beliefs and opinions across the spectrum. We are not a dogmatic people or doctrinally rigid. We are not heavy-handed or controlling. We are open-minded and live open-handed in generosity and service toward our neighbors.

The result is that in any Methodist church, you are likely to have at least three opinions about nearly everything. Somebody will be passionate about some conservative issue, while somebody else has deep conviction about some progressive position, and somebody else is convinced that it isn’t that important – so patient learning and gracious listening and loving each other are really the most important thing. It is more important to be in right relationship that it is to be right.

 Unity within difference and diversity is very important to Methodists. We get it from our Anglican ancestors.

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Having said all that – here are some of the questions that we get asked most frequently here at Twin First UMC:

 Do you believe in life after death?

We believe in life after death. The details are yet to be fully revealed to humanity but the essence or spirit that is the spark of life which animates us on this side of the veil and lives on when we pass from this life into the next chapter or phase of existence.

Having said that, we are much more concerned about life before death. Everyone dies – but not everyone truly lives. Our mission to help people on every step of their spiritual journey to live in the hope that comes by receiving the good news of God’s love and then living out that faith in community.

 What do you believe about God?

When humans talk about God, it is, by nature, clumsy. We believe deeply in God and God’s message that came through Christ. Jesus was the image of the invisible God – a radical message of hope to a hurting world.

So, when we talk about God, we are measured and do so with humility. We choose to use words and phrases such as:

·     The Divine

·     The Eternal

·     The Transcendent

·     The Unknowable

We understand that ‘God’ is a word-blanket that humans lay over The Mystery to give it shape. Whatever God is, we know that it is bigger than any of our words or concepts can accurately express or contain or explain.

We experience God’s work in our lives and in the world through the presence of God’s Spirit – the Spirit of Christ. In this sense, we are classic Trinitarians who believe in the threefold mystery.

This is why we give each other lots of space when it comes to concepts of the divine. Different people experience God differently and this changes in different phases of life and stages of faith.

 Do you believe in the Bible?

100% we do. We read the scriptures every week together.

We also understand that not everything in the Bible is a ‘how-to’ or prescription. Some things in the Bible are an example of what not to do.

The Bible is a series of case-studies about humans’ search for God and God’s gracious offer of covenantal love. Each part of the Bible needs to be read within its genre of scripture and according to its context. Law, Psalms, Proverbs, Gospel, Letters, and Apocalypse (to name a few) each ask to be handled appropriately to bring about their original message.

When we do this well, the Word of God speaks again in our modern times.

 Are you ‘open and affirming’ ?

 Yes. Unapologetically and confidently ‘yes’.
We believe that all people are children of God and inherently of worth, dignity, and value. God’s love is for all and in all. This is especially true of those in the LGBTQIA+ community who have often been made to feel less-than, marginalized, or even persecuted by religious communities. We seek to be a place of healing from religious trauma with a message of hope and acceptance in Christ’s name.

Email Pastor Bo with any questions you want to add: bo@twin.church