We believe there is one divine being who has existed eternally. He exists and reveals Himself to man in three distinct, equally divine persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At the beginning of time, God created the entire universe and all its creatures. He continues to exercise His supreme power to sustain His creation. Throughout history, He has expressed His desire to be our God and to have a personal, eternal relationship with us.
We believe that Jesus is the eternal divine Son of God. He chose voluntarily to be made in human likeness and was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. Although He lived a sinless life, He allowed Himself to be executed by crucifixion. However, as prophesied, He rose from the dead three days after His execution.
The Holy Spirit is God’s present activity in our midst. When we sense God’s leading, God’s challenge, or God’s support or comfort, it’s the Holy Spirit at work. We believe that every work and gifting of the Holy Spirit written throughout the Old and New Testament are still active and available to Jesus-followers today.
God created humanity to live in relationship with Him. However, the first man and woman were deceived by Satan. They rebelled and chose to be wrongfully independent from God. We all fail to please God and are open to Satan’s deception. Our failure to please God, unless a relationship is re-established with Him, results in condemnation under God’s judgment and would cause us to spend eternity in hell. Furthermore, there is nothing we can do on our own to re-establish our relationship with God.
Our inability to re-establish our relationship with God leaves us dependent on God’s mercy. God graciously provided the means to reconcile this relationship through faith in Jesus Christ. Our relationship is re-established when we make a commitment to accept Jesus as God’s son and our Savior and Lord. We demonstrate our commitment privately by faith (acting upon our belief that God has the power to save us) and repentance (turning back to God and depending on Him to control our lives). At the same time, we publicly express our commitment by confessing our acceptance of God’s salvation.
The Bible speaks of the church as Christ’s body. It compares it to a living organism, where Jesus is the head. He gives each Christ-follower special functions to perform for the good of the body. To remain healthy, the body’s members must work together. Each part contributes to the growth and maturity of the body. For this reason, it is important for Christ-followers to regularly gather together for the purpose of celebration. Celebration in this way enables believers to serve one another and the unchurched people in their sphere of influence.
Once our relationship is re-established with God, we naturally want to spend time with Him and know Him better. The Holy Spirit enlightens us as we read God’s Word (the Bible), as we communicate with Him in prayer, and as we enter into loving relationships (Biblical community) with other Christ-followers. In this way, we begin to know God more intimately. The process of spiritual development motivates us to seek ways to serve God and prepares us to spend eternity in fellowship with Him.
We believe that the Bible is God’s inspired Word and is the ultimate authority for our faith and practice. We believe the Bible is entirely accurate, complete, and reliable.
We believe the Sacraments are a sign of God’s love and grace for us and of our profession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In the practice of the sacraments, by the mystery of faith, we experience the grace of God in our lives and are strengthened in our faith. We observe two sacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion (or “The Lord’s Supper”).
For more information on the beliefs of the Global Methodist Church, click the link below.