What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of First United Methodist Church Whitesboro. We are a United Methodist Church and our beliefs are found in the "Articles of Religion" and "The Confession of Faith" in the Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church. Often in our worship services, we join together in reciting the Apostle's Creed as a way to affirm what we believe. Here are the doctrine outlined in the "Confession of Faith."
Feel free to explore more about our Wesleyan heritage and our Social Principles.

We believe in the one true, holy and living God, Eternal Spirit, who is Creator, Sovereign and Preserver of all things visible and invisible. God is infinite in power, wisdom, justice, goodness and love, and rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of humanity, to the glory of God's name. We believe in one God revealed in the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.

We believe in Jesus Christ, both fully God and fully human, in whom the divine and human natures are perfectly and inseparably united. Jesus is the eternal Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit. As a ministering Servant he lived, suffered and died on the cross. He was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with the Father, from whence he shall return. Jesus is eternal Savior and Mediator, who intercedes for us, and will judge the living and the dead.

We believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from and is one in being with the Father and the Son. The Spirit convinces the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The Spirit leads men through faithful response to the gospel into the fellowship of the Church. The Spirit comforts, sustains and empowers the faithful and guides them into all truth.

We believe the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, reveals the Word of God in so far as it is necessary for our salvation. It is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice. Whatever is not revealed in or established by the Holy Scriptures is not to be made an article of faith nor is it to be taught as essential to salvation.

We believe the Christian Church is the community of all true believers under the Lordship of Christ. We believe it is one, holy, apostolic and catholic. It is the redemptive fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by persons divinely called, and the sacraments are duly administered according to Christ's own appointment. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit the Church exists for the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers and the redemption of the world.

We believe the Sacraments, ordained by Christ, are symbols and pledges of the Christian's profession and of God's love toward us. They are means of grace by which God works invisibly in us, quickening, strengthening and confirming our faith in him. Two Sacraments are ordained by Christ our Lord, namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

We believe man is fallen from righteousness and, apart from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is destitute of holiness and inclined to evil. Except a person be born again, they cannot see the Kingdom of God. In their own strength, without divine grace, people cannot do good works pleasing and acceptable to God. We believe, however, people influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit are responsible in freedom to exercise their will for good.

We believe God was in Christ reconciling the world to Godself. The offering Christ freely made on the cross is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, redeeming humanity from all sin, so that no other satisfaction is required.