What We Believe
United Methodism is a branch of the Christian family that is descended from the Christianity of the Church of England in the middle third of the 1700's under the leadership of John Wesley and his prolific hymn writer brother, Charles. As the Methodists began emigrating to the North American colonies, there arose a need to establish Methodism as its own denomination, with its own ministry. The denomination was "born" on Christmas Eve in 1784 in Baltimore as the Methodist Episcopal Church. At the heart of the new denomination was an affirmation of the core theological principles of the Church of England (called the Articles of Religion) along with the General Rules of the Methodist Societies, summarized as, Do no harm, do good, observe the means of grace (Communion, prayer, fasting, bible study, Christian conference).
An excellent resource for understanding Methodism and our unique contribution to the Christian faith is to visit the website umc.org. The following are links to helpful articles on Methodist beliefs.
