What We Believe

As Christians and United Methodists, we share core beliefs which are an integral part of our faith; in living out our faith, we celebrate shared values, a shared vision, and a shared mission.

Our Core Beliefs:

About God:

There is one living and true God, everlasting, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. God is our Creator and God is our Sustainer. God exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God loves all and God's grace is available to all. No exceptions!

About Jesus Christ:

Jesus Christ is the unique, beloved Son of God. Jesus is wholly divine, yet was born on earth as a human where he lived a sinless life and died on the cross to atone for our sins. He rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and will return again to earth.

About the Holy Spirit:

The Holy Spirit is a present and active force in the world, working to make people aware of their need for Jesus Christ. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, our sins are forgiven and the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. The Spirit provides us with power for living, enables us to understand spiritual truths, and guides us in living in accordance with God’s will.

About the Bible:

The Bible is God’s word written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is the source of authority for all things necessary to our salvation and provides guidance in determining our Christian beliefs and how we are to live.

About Human Beings:

People are made in the spiritual image of God – we are created as rational and moral human beings and have been gifted with free will. Every person is a person of sacred worth. Despite our potential for good, we know that we are all imperfect and that our attitudes and our actions separate us from God and the life God desires for us. This is called “sin.” Becoming right with God and having our relationship restored with God is what the Bible calls salvation. Salvation is not something we on our own can achieve but God, in love and grace, offers us freely the gift of salvation. We accept God’s gift when we turn from our desire to live our lives our own way and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and our Lord. The new life that God gives us is an abundant (complete and fulfilled) life in this world and eternal life in the world to come.

Our Shared Values:

These are the beliefs and attitudes that uniquely guide and energize us in our thoughts and actions. At IUMC, we have three:

1. God loves us unconditionally;
2. We live as God's children; and
3. We share God's love.

God’s Love for All is Unconditional

God loves each of us unconditionally, allowing us the opportunity for a new life in Christ. When we accept God’s healing and liberating grace, freely given to all through Christ’s sacrificial death, we experience God's love and are transformed. As our lives are transformed, we choose to enter into a relationship with God and to become faithful disciples of Christ. Once we experience the love God has for us, our love of God shapes how we treat others and how we think and act in both good and difficult times. It defines where and how we focus our time, money, and energy.

We Live as God’s Children

As God’s children, we are called to transform our faith into action. As a community of believers (a church family), we strive to live a Christ-centered lifestyle of compassion, unconditional love, humility, forgiveness, peace, sacrifice, and justice. While we are not perfect and often fail to live into our calling, we support one another in our shared journey. We do this by worshipping God together - with celebration, music, praise, prayer, thanks, Scripture, and the Holy Spirit - to feed our spirits, restore our souls, strengthen our personal relationship with God and each other, and prepare us to serve others. This transformation into becoming disciples of Christ is a life-long journey of spiritual growth, learning and understanding of our Christian tradition and scripture, questioning and reasoning, and raising our consciousness of social needs and injustices.

We welcome all to God's fellowship with radical hospitality regardless of race, culture, age, gender, sexual orientation, ability, experience, perspective, or understanding.

We Share God’s Love

We are committed to sharing God's love through our relationships with one another. We share God's love in our personal relationships by being genuine and honest, and openly sharing and acknowledging our strengths and weaknesses while still loving unconditionally. We actively invite those who are seeking a life of faith to experience God's love.

Our Shared Vision:

A vision is when you have a vivid image of your future. At IUMC, our vision is one of serving God in all that we do. It is a vision is of a loving and caring community sharing new life in Christ.

Our Shared Mission:

A mission represents the thoughts and actions that move us toward our vision. As United Methodists, our shared mission is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Our mission is demonstrating God's love by sharing our faith and living our faith ... and transforming our faith into action.

A Final Shared Thought:

In living as a community of believers, we accept that we will disagree on many issues and yet we also know that we are called to love one another. What guides us and unites us can be summed up as follows: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love."