United Methodists share with other Christians the conviction that Scripture is the primary source and criterion for Christian Doctrine.  Through Scripture the living Christ meets us in the experience of redeeming grace.  We are convince that Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God in our midst whom we trust in life and death.

The story of the church reflects the most basic sense of tradition, the continuing activity of God's spirit transforming human life.  Tradition is the history of that continuing environment of grace in and by which all Christians live, God's self-giving love of Jesus Christ.  As such, tradition transcends the story of particular traditions.

Some facts of human experience tax our theological understanding.  Many of God's people live in terror, hunger, loneliness and degradation. Everyday experiences of birth and death, of growth and life in the created world and an awareness of wider social relations also belong to serious theological reflection. A new awareness of such experiences can inform our appropriation of scriptual truths and sharpen our appreciation of the good news of the kingdom of God.

Although we recognize that God's revelation and our experiences of God's grace continually surpass the scope of human language and reason, we also believe that any disciplined theological work calls for the careful use of reason.  By reason we read and interpret Scripture.  By reason we determine whether our Christian witness is clear.  By reason we ask questions of faith and seek to understand God's action and will.

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible.  And in unity of this Godhead, there are three persons, of one substance, power and eternity-the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.  

We believe in the one true, holy and living God, Eternal Spirit, who is Creator, Sovereign and Preserver of all things visible and invisible.  He is infinite in power, wisdom, justice, goodness and love and rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of men, to the glory of His name.  We believe the one God reveals himself as the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.

We believe in Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, in whom the divine and human natures are perfectly and inseparable united.  He is the eternal Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.  As ministering Servant He lived, suffered and died on the cross.  He was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with the Father, from whence He shall return.  He is eternal Savior and Mediator, who intercede for us, and by whom all people will be judged.

The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God. 

Grace pervades our understanding of Christian faith and life.  By grace we mean the undeserved, unmerited and loving action of God in human existence through the ever-present Holy Spirit.  While the grace of God is undivided, it precedes salvation as "prevenient grace," continues in "justifying grace," and is brought to fruition in "sanctifying grace."

We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe sanctification is the work of God's grace through the Word and the Spirit, by which those who have been born again are cleansed from sin in their thoughts, words and acts, and are enabled to live in accordance with God's will, and to strive for holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

We believe good works are the necessary fruits of faith and follow regeneration but they do not have the virtue to remove our sins or to avert divine judgment.  We believe good works, pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, spring up from a true and living faith, for through and by them faith is evident.

United Methodists respond to the theological, biblical and practical mandates for Christian unity by firmly committing ourselves to the cause of Christian unity at local, national and world levels.  We invest ourselves in many ways by which mutual recognition of churches, of members and of ministries may lead us to sharing in Holy Communion with all God's people.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, said there was no religion except for social religion.  In his name and in his spirit, The United Methodist Church reaches out to establish peace and justice in the world.

Baptism, a sacrament commanded by our Lord, declares faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and a full purpose of obedience unto holiness.  Because baptism initiates us into Christ's whole Church and not only into a denomination, United Methodists recognize all Christian baptisms and look upon baptism as something that should unite, rather than divide.  Holy baptism is administered once, but may be reaffirmed each time we partake of the sacrament of Holy Communion or in services of "Reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant".

Holy Communion is a sacred meal in which the community of faith, the Church, thankfully proclaims and enacts all that God has done, is doing and will continue to do for us in Christ.  In communion we remember, with thanksgiving, the grace given to us in our baptism and partake of the spiritual food necessary for sustaining and fulfilling the promises of salvation.  The Thanksgiving and communion, commonly called the Lord's Supper, is a Christian adaptation of Jewish worship at family meal tables-as Jesus and his disciples ate together during his preaching and teaching ministry, as Jesus transformed it when he instituted the Lord's Supper on the night before his death, and as his disciples experienced it in the breaking of bread with their risen Lord. (Luke 24:30-35;John 21:13)