All About Grace

United Methodists are big on grace. We have several ways we experience grace throughout our lives.

• Prevenient Grace: Before we even know the word “God” or have any concept of who God or Jesus is, God has already been seeking us and at work in our lives. This is one of the reasons we say, “God loves you and there’s nothing you can do about it!” Because God has already started to love a person before they even know it.

  Justifying Grace: It may be a specific moment in time or it may be a realization we come to over time. Regardless, justifying grace is about the decision each person makes to walk through the door of God’s invitation for the adventure of a lifetime in following Jesus. Justifying grace recognizes we have received forgiveness for our sins (how we have missed the mark) in our lives and that Jesus has been waiting to embrace us this whole time. This is all a gift of God’s grace, and we just have to respond with a commitment to follow the Grace that has come before us.

• Sanctifying Grace: United Methodists do not stop at just believing. We believe God’s grace continues to call us to go deeper into our faith and that we can be free from the power of sin. That doesn’t mean we become perfect people, but that we are perfected in love. That means that God’s grace can always point us toward love of God and neighbor. This is not something we can accomplish on our own, and is only through God’s grace.

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ was born, died, resurrected and will come again. All of these acts have been and will be done out of love. Jesus has come to invite all of humanity to follow Him and partner with Him in transforming the world. Jesus is our Lord, and He invites all people to a life of transformation to love God and neighbor.

Sacraments

A sacrament is a church-y term for an outward sign of an inward grace. It is when God takes something tangible or external and nourishes our soul as a means of grace. In the United Methodist Church we have two sacraments: baptism and communion. Here is a brief breakdown of how we view each sacrament.

Baptism: Baptism is our response to God’s prevenient grace in our lives. We baptize infants because we recognize God’s grace is at work in a person’s life before they can even have an awareness about God. Baptism is not something that has to happen multiple times. Even as our faith journey takes us up and down, the grace imparted to us at our baptism is always present.

Communion: All people are welcomed to take communion. You don’t have to be a church member. You don’t have to have all of life figured out (spoiler alert: none of us do). You just have to be hungry for God, and if you are participating in worship when we take communion, you are hungry for God more than you may even be aware. Our table does not belong to our pastor, our church or our denomination. It belongs to Jesus, and all are welcome.

The Bible

The Bible is our primary authority for our faith and practice. United Methodists use our personal experience, traditions and reason to help us interpret the Bible, but Scripture is at the base of all we do. As United Methodists are a big tent and a global denomination, we do not agree on everything. But we make room for a diversity of voices, just like the Bible has. We recognize that the God’s Spirit worked through ancient writers in putting together this sacred book and inspired their words which still speak to us today. You can learn more about what United Methodists believe by clicking here.

Social Principles

United Methodists have always sought to live our faith out in just ways in the world. Our Social Principles help guide us in this. Our Social Principles are reviewed and voted upon every four years at General Conference when representatives from all over the world gather. Click here to learn more about the Social Principles.