What We Believe

UNITED METHODIST CONNECTION

Chatham United Methodist Church is a United Methodist community of faith.

Ours is a global connection of churches that cooperates together to be in ministry and mission around the globe but is focused on disciple making in local congregations. We believe the primary location for making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world happens in the local church.

We desire for our local community of faith to be a meaningful place for the growth and transformation of disciples. We desire to reach new generations of people. We desire to help nominal Christians grow into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ and we desire to make an impact in our local community and around the world through mission and service.

GRACE

Our beliefs are enhanced by our Wesleyan tradition. God’s free and generous grace is at the core of everything we hold to.

Grace is what brings freedom to our lives. Grace is what forms us into the people we are created to be. Grace is the foundation

of our community life together. Grace is the basis for our response in service to the world around us.

THE BIBLE

The Bible is vital to our faith and life. It is a collection of 66 books and yet it is the story of the one God that stands in covenant relationship with the people of God. The Bible is our sacred book. It is our rule for faith and practice. We believe God speaks to us through the Bible. We understand it to be the inspired word of God for the inspiration of the people of God.

We believe in the Bible’s authority; that its writers were inspired by God and that hundreds of years later the Holy Spirit still works through our thoughtful study and proclamation of the Scriptures. We particularly believe the Bible is to be studied and reflected upon in community.

Its story, its power and its inspiration are for our life and our life together today.

We United Methodists put the Bible to work. In congregational worship we read from the Bible. Through preaching, we interpret its message for our lives. It forms the background of most of our hymns and liturgy. It's the foundation of our church school curriculum. Many of us use it in our individual devotional lives, praying through its implications day by day.

PRACTICES

We believe that what we do has the power to form us into the disciples we are called to be. This is why we commit ourselves to practices that help to love God and to love our neighbors more fully. This isn’t an exhaustive list of the practices we commit ourselves to, but these are some of them, including:

Prayer and Meditation

In a world where we are all addicted to being busy, regular prayer and meditation can help us break habits of selfishness and open us up to listen for what God is saying to us.

Community Worship

Worship is one of the big ways we express our love for God and give thanks to God. Through regular worship, God teaches us through the Scriptures, draws us closer to one another and transforms our lives.

Service

Service helps us build relationships with those in our community. Scripture teaches that if we want to experience God, if we want to serve him, if we want to commune with him, then we need to be in relationship with those less fortunate than us.

Learning in Community

Learning enables us to grow in our faith. Studying together opens us to the lives of others — others who are struggling with the same questions and issues — and builds the body of Christ by connecting people.

Giving

Giving opens up our hearts and hands to serve Christ and our community in new ways. Regular giving of our money, our resources and our time helps us to recognize that our love is meant to be a gift to others and not a treasure that we hoard for ourselves.