What We Believe as United Methodists
* All quotes from The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church (2016)
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors:
Open Hearts Our founder John Wesley (1703-1791) understood GRACE as having three expressions: Prevenient Grace is “the divine love that surrounds all humanity”; Saving Grace is being born again in Christ, the experience of salvation, the assurance that we are children of God, personal transformation; Perfecting Grace is the ongoing life of discipleship, which Wesley described as “a heart habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor” and as “having the mind of Christ and walking as He walked.” We have Open Hearts because we believe that Prevenient Grace is at work in ALL people, and that people don’t always seek the Lord in ways that are clear to them or the people around them. So, we keep our hearts open, always looking for ways to show everyone we meet that God loves them and wants to save them and wants to make them part of God’s family. We welcome you to Galt United Methodist Church with OPEN HEARTS!
Open Minds reflects our unique Methodist understanding of Christian discipleship. In our Methodist confession of faith, we affirm that the Bible “is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice.” What gives us Methodists our Open Minds is that “we interpret individual texts in light of their place in the Bible as a whole. We are aided by scholarly inquiry and personal insight, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” This means that in most United Methodist Churches there will be Bible Study classes and Adult Sunday school classes that focus on understanding the history and culture of the time in which Scripture was written so that the wheat of God’s holy inspiration might be separated from the chaff of human cultural limitations. It is this open-minded approach to Scripture that had the United Methodist Church be among the first to ordain women. After decades of study, debate, and prayer, the great thinkers of our denomination concluded that Paul’s words against the leadership of women were specific in nature, and a reflection of Paul’s culture and time, and not to be taken as a general universal pronouncement that reflected the will of God. Being a Church with an Open Mind is a great responsibility. It is why you will find many educational opportunities to expand your knowledge of Scripture at Galt United Methodist Church.
Open Doors reflects our unique Wesleyan two-pronged approach to faithful living: an emphasis on personal holiness AND social transformation. Our United Methodist mission statement reflects this: To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Our founder John Wesley famously said, “The world is my parish” reflecting his belief that salvation is both for the benefit of the individual soul and for the world. One who claims Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will have a living faith that will make an impact for good in the world that “the healing and redeeming work of God might be present in our words and deeds.” In practical terms this means that we are always looking outward into our community and the world, asking: What good may we do? Who might we include? Are we proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to the Galt community (and the world) through our thoughts, words, and deeds? Galt UMC has a heart FOR the city as a reflection of our Open Doors!