Our overarching beliefs are used to guide us in our faith. But we are welcoming of all into our church community, and you do not have to believe all the statements below to be a part of our community.
1. We believe in one God, who created the world and all that is in it. We affirm that God is known and experienced as the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. We believe that Jesus is the incarnation, the very embodiment of God’s loving presence and power. We maintain that Christ is both fully human and fully divine. We affirm Christ’s saving work on the cross and that through his life, death and resurrection “God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
3. We believe the Holy Spirit works within personal experience and in the life of the Christian community to make God’s redeeming love a reality in our lives and in the world.
4. We believe the Bible is God’s written Word that reveals the story and character of God. We believe that it contains the truth about God, about life, and about the relationship between God and all of creation.
5. We believe that Grace is the undeserved, unearned gift of the God who loves us enough to meet us where we are but loves us too much to leave us there. Grace is the love of God at work within us to transform each of our lives into a unique expression of the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ so that we become participants in God’s transformation of the world.
6. We believe that the Church is called to make and nurture disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. It is the Body of Christ which worships, serves, and lives the life of faith together. The Church is the community that is called to live now as if God’s future has already come.
7. We believe that the Kingdom of God is both a present reality and a future hope. God’s kingdom is breaking in upon the world, bringing peace and justice, compassion and hope, and the fulfillment of all God’s purposes.
8. We believe that Baptism and Holy Communion are sacraments, activities where God chooses to meet us. Baptism is like initiation into the Church and the journey of faith. We baptize by sprinkling, pouring, and immersing because we believe that what God is doing in baptism is more important than the amount of water used. We accept and honor the baptism of all other Christian denominations. We believe that God meets us at the Communion Table, and we feast on God’s grace in the bread and juice so that we can be the hands and feet of Christ to the world.
Your financial gifts allow Gray Court UMC to share the good news of Jesus Christ as we set out to accomplish our mission of making and nurturing disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Your financial gift will fortify plans for fostering personal spiritual growth and expanding our ability as a congregation to make a kingdom impact in our community, region and all the world.
