Our Faith Journey

Faith is the basic orientation and commitment of our whole being—a matter of heart and soul. Christian faith is grounding our lives in the living God as revealed especially in Jesus Christ. It’s both a gift we receive within the Christian community and a choice we make. It’s trusting in God and relying on God as the source and destiny of our lives. Faith is believing in God, giving God our devoted loyalty and allegiance. Faith is following Jesus, answering the call to be his disciples in the world. Faith is hoping for God’s future, leaning into the coming kingdom that God has promised. Faith-as-belief is active; it involves trusting, believing, following, hoping.

Sacraments

The United Methodist Church recognizes two sacraments in which Christ himself participated: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Baptism

• Baptism marks the beginning of our lifelong journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.
• Through baptism, we are joined with the Triune God, the whole of Christ’s church, and our local congregation.
• The water and the work of the Holy Spirit in baptism convey God’s saving grace, the forgiveness of our sins, and new life in Jesus Christ.
• Persons of any age may be baptized—infants, children, youth, and adults.
• United Methodists baptize in a variety of ways—immersion, pouring, or sprinkling.
• A person receives the sacrament of baptism only once in his or her life.

The Lord’s Supper (also called Holy Communion, Eucharist)

• The Lord’s Supper is another name for the Eucharist, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving the church offers to God for all God has done, is doing, and will do to save us and renew all things in Christ.
• Through offering ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, and through receiving the bread and cup—which the Spirit makes for us the body and blood of Christ—celebrating the Lord’s Supper together nourishes and sustains us in our journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.
• As we pray together and receive the body and blood of Christ together, we are united with Christ, with one another, and in ministry to all the world.
• All who love Christ, earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another are invited to join us in offering our prayer of thanksgiving and receive the body and blood of Christ—regardless of age or church membership.
• Congregations serve the elements of the Lord’s Supper several ways, but always include both bread and cup.
• The Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated and received regularly—John Wesley said, “as often as [one] can.”