Red Ridge United Methodist Church: What we Believe

We Believe there are two Sacraments that were ordained by Christ

Baptism

• Baptism is the rite of entrance into the saving work of God and membership in Christ’s body, the Church. In it, we die with Christ to our old selves and are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life. By the water and the Holy Spirit, the baptized receive cleansing from sin and new birth into the life of God.
• Baptism is offered to all persons of any age or ability. All who are baptized should be nurtured and led to faithful discipleship to Jesus Christ, and, when they are ready, to profess the faith of the Church for themselves.

Holy Communion

• The sacrament of Holy Communion is the instituted means of grace by which God sustains the Church in the redeeming love and work of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. In it, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, with our gifts of bread and wine, and seek the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us and the gifts “that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ, and we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood.”
• The table of the Lord is open to all persons who love Christ, earnestly repent of their sin, and seek to be at peace with one another.

We Believe in the Trinity: that there is one God in three persons

• God the Father and Creator, who brings creation into existence, upholds and reveals the ways of life that make peace and wholeness, and ever works to heal and transform life through the power of love
• God the Son, Jesus Christ, the firstborn of a new creation who through his life, death, and resurrection saves us and all creation from the power of sin and death
• God the Holy Spirit, who comforts, convicts, sustains, challenges, guides, and empowers us to participate in God's life and mission in the world.

We Believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is fully human and fully divine

• The eternal Word made flesh, the only begotten Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit
• He lived as a ministering Servant, suffered, and died on the cross
• He was buried, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven to be with the Father, and shall return
• He is the only Savior and Mediator, who intercedes for us, and by him all people will be judged.

We Believe the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary for salvation

• The Old and New Testaments reveal God’s saving work through the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.
• The Bible is 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

United Methodist Beliefs: What Sets Us Apart?

While United Methodists share core beliefs with other Christians, our tradition is shaped by a distinctive Wesleyan understanding of grace, a commitment to personal and social holiness, and a connectional approach to faith that unites worship, discipleship, and mission around the world. Although Wesley shared with many other Christians a belief in grace, justification, assurance, and sanctification, he combined them in a distinctive way to guide living the full Christian life.

Creation's Goodness

We affirm that God’s grace is present in all creation, despite suffering, violence, and evil. Creation’s goodness finds fulfillment in human beings called into covenant partnership with God, endowed with dignity, freedom, and responsibility for our lives and the world.

Imago Dei

In God’s self‑revelation, Jesus Christ, we see the splendor of our true humanity. Even sin—with its destructive consequences—cannot alter God’s intention for holiness and joy, nor remove our accountability for living faithfully. Despite our brokenness, God’s grace restores the divine image

within us.

Faith and Good Works

Faith is the essential response to God’s grace, yet it naturally produces good works. Wesley taught that repentance should be accompanied by “fruits meet for repentance”—works of piety and mercy. Faith and good works belong together within a theology of grace, flowing from God’s love “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

God's Grace

Grace pervades our understanding of Christian faith and life. By grace we mean the undeserved, loving action of God in human existence through the Holy Spirit. While God’s grace is undivided, it comes to us as prevenient grace (preceding salvation), justifying grace (forgiving and restoring), and sanctifying grace (bringing growth in holiness).

Prevenient Grace

God’s prevenient grace surrounds all humanity and comes before any conscious response. It prompts  our first desire to please God, our first understanding of God’s will, and our first awareness of sin. This grace awakens a longing for deliverance and moves us toward repentance and faith.

Justification and Assurance

Through justifying grace, God forgives the repentant and restores us to favor. This decisive change in the heart—sometimes sudden, sometimes gradual—marks conversion, a new beginning in an ongoing process. God's justifying grace gives us assurance of salvation as the Spirit “bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

Sanctification and Perfection

God’s work is not limited to forgiving our sins or restoring our relationship with God and all creation; it also seeks to free us from the power of sin itself. The justifying grace that begins in us through the new birth continues as sanctifying grace, shaping us to become holy as God is holy—made perfect in love for God and for every neighbor. As we grow in this sanctifying work and allow God’s grace to keep forming our lives, we find ourselves increasingly “habitually filled with the love of God and neighbor.”

Mission and Service

God’s saving work in us and through us is never for us individually alone. It always propels us into mission and service to share God’s love with every neighbor. The General Rules of the Wesleyan tradition, [Do no harm, Do Good and Attend Upon the Ordinances of God] express this connection, making theology a servant of piety, and piety the ground for social conscience and action.

Nurture and Mission of the Church

Christian faith is nurtured in fellowship. Wesley said there is no religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness. United Methodists respond to God’s Spirit in community, nurturing personal growth and equipping for mission. Connectional ties bind us together in faith and service, enabling our global witness and deepening our commitment to peace and justice.

Reprinted from The United Methodist Church Handbook 2025-2028