Our Core Beliefs
God is the creator, the genius behind everything, the giver of life, and one who always loves us and invites us into love with God and others.
The Bible is “inspired” as the book God uses for us to understand broken humanity and hope in God. We are not fundamentalists. We welcome science, history and human experience as we wrestle with what God is about in the world. So the Bible isn’t a weapon of judgment, but a story that gives life.
Jesus is the tangible manifestation of the heart and mind of God. God didn’t remain aloof in heaven as invisible or ineffable. God became one of us, one with us, so we might love God. Jesus taught to open our eyes to God’s vision, touched the untouchables, and was God’s compassion in the flesh. He died so we would know the depth of that love, and understand God’s intention to redeem our mortality from the inside out.
We all are wonderful, broken, beautiful, fearful people who are the beneficiaries of God’s mercy. And so we have good cause to be merciful to others. God welcomes us into a life of welcoming others, all who are broken and yet dream of goodness and joy.
Reconciliation and justice matter to us. We will never rest until all God’s children, regardless of race, background, economic status, sexual orientation, or nationality are blessed with the goodness God has given us all. We are advocates, resisting evil and oppression wherever they manifest themselves.
The Church is an institution. We are part of The United Methodist Church, great and so very fallible, like all churches; we treasure our connections across the globe. We organize to benefit from one another’s company in the journey of faith, and to do more of God’s work together in the world than anyone could do alone.
Other denominations and faiths bring us profound and lovely connections. God isn’t stingy. God is more eager to be known and loved than we are to make sense of our lives.
Hope is here. For us, this isn’t just a slogan, but our mission, our identity. With God, there is hope. Ours is to live into that hope, for ourselves, in our neighborhoods and city, and for the world.
