Our Beliefs

Our beliefs are based on the Bible (Old and New Testaments) which we believe to be inspired (or "breathed") by God (through human authors) and to be fully trustworthy, having supreme authority in matters of faith and conduct. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness..."                                                              2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16

Over the years, Christians have sought to express our essential beliefs in various ways:
Perhaps the earliest statement of Christian belief is Jesus is Lord

The early Christians used the sign of the fish to declare their faith, as many do to this day. The letters of the Greek word for fish - ICTHUS were used as an acrostic "creed" or statement of belief, summarising the foundational truths about the person of Jesus.		I = Jesus C = Christ TH = Of God Y = The Son S = Saviour

The cross has become the essential symbol of Christianity, because Jesus' death on the cross was the supreme demonstration of God's love for humanity, the place where Jesus Christ, the Son of God took on himself the sin of the world on behalf of humanity, and therefore the only means by which imperfect human beings can enter into an everlasting relationship with God - eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."                                                 John chapter 3 verse 16

The bodily resurrection of Jesus on the third day (Easter) was predicted by the prophets of the Old Testament, and by Jesus himself.
It is well supported by contemporary eyewitness evidence and by the changed lives of people who have encountered Jesus over the past 2000 years, and who still do today.
It is essential to Christian faith, and foundational to our belief in:
   - the divinity of Christ i.e. that Jesus Christ is God, now reigning with the Father
   - the forgiveness of sins
   - the personal visible return of Jesus Christ to judge the world and restore his creation
   - our ultimate resurrection from the dead.

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

The Apostles' Creed is a summary of essential Christian beliefs: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again, he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church*, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. (* "holy catholic Church" refers to the universal or worldwide body of all true Christians, past present and future)

"The Methodist Church claims and cherishes its place in the holy catholic* Church, which is the Body of Christ. It rejoices in the inheritance of the apostolic faith and loyally accepts the fundamental principles of the historic creeds and of the Protestant Reformation. It ever remembers that in the providence of God Methodism was raised up to spread scriptural holiness through the land by the proclamation of the evangelical faith and declares its unfaltering resolve to be true to its divinely appointed mission.
The doctrines of the evangelical faith** which Methodism has held from the beginning and still holds are based upon the divine revelation recorded in the Holy Scriptures."
* "holy catholic Church" refers to the universal or worldwide body of all true Christians, past present and future.
** "evangelical faith" refers to a belief in the supreme authority of the scriptures, salvation by faith, the priesthood of all believers, and the ministry of the whole church.
click for a summary of evangelical belief