Our Beliefs
What We believe....
First and foremost, First Church Downtown is a Christian Church. We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world. We are one of many different kinds of Christian Churches; Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, Presbyterian, and many more. All of these churches share a common core faith. That core faith comes to use from the Bible and Church traditions that date back to Jesus Christ himself. They have been distilled into various Creeds, which are summaries that were recited in services of worship. The most famous and ancient is the Apostles Creed, and ecumenical version of which says
I believe in god, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again,
He ascended into heaven,
Is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic (universal) church,
The communion of the saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting. AMEN
This means that we, like other Christian Churches, believe in the Trinity: that God is three in one...Father, Son and Spirit. This means that Jesus is God incarnate, or in the flesh. This is how the Gospel of John describes Jesus; "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of humanity. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it."(John 1:1-5) and the Gospel Continues, "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling with us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of Grace and Truth." (John 1:12)
It is clear that Jesus is Christ, which is not Jesus' last name, but a title. Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah, which means God's anointed savior. Jesus Christ means Jesus Messiah or Savior. Jesus is God come to be among us...The Apostle Paul describes him like this in his letter to the Colossians; "For He (God) has rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. He (Jesus) is the visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the Church: he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth on in heaven, making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1: 13-20)
We believe that we come to know God and experience forgiveness and salvation when we trust ourselves to Jesus...asking him to forgive our sins and become the Lord of our life. Our salvation is by grace...which means that it is based on what Jesus has done, not what we do. We don't earn it or deserve it. This is different than other world religions. In most of them a person is believed to be saved by their extraordinary acts of devotion, service, or sacrifice. Salvation is for the few and the holy.
In Christianity, Salvation is for the many — average people who are willing to ask for it. It is by faith that we are saved; by believing or trusting in God to save us. Here is what it says in the Bible's book of Ephesians: "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions (sins) — for by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:4-9)
First Church Downtown is a Christian Church first and foremost.
The kind or brand of Christian Church is United Methodist Church. That describes what denomination we.
What makes a Methodist Church different?
You can find detailed material about United Methodism on the national web site, www.umc.org. However, here are some of the key beliefs that make Methodist Difference from other denominations.
Acceptance. We believe that we are all children of God and loved by God in Jesus the Christ. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come and are treated with respect and grace. This is especially important in an urban setting. The downtown core has a large concentration of board and care homes as well as many homeless. These people are welcome in our church and at our worship services. They are made to feel a part of the congregation. One of the things I (Pastor Jim) love about First Church Downtown is that it is such a welcoming place; we have university professors seated next to someone who can't tie their own shoes! The theme for the national Church mirrors this openness and acceptance: "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors"
Balance of Faith and Life. The United Methodist church puts an emphasis on balancing personal spiritual life and piety with social engagement and activity. What this means is that while we are very involved in helping people grow in their knowledge of the Bible, in worship and in prayer...we also are very active in helping those in need. We believe that as followers of Jesus we must be engaged in helping others, especially those who are poor. Our church has a long history of caring for others. At present we are without a church building, but the church serves the community by providing low and very low income housing in its Vintage Tower facility on the corner of 6th and Santa Clara. This low income housing project is owned and operated by First Church Downtown as a part of its overall ministry to others. We also offer members a chance to help others through a monthly produce give away program at InnVision, quarterly Habitat For Humanity work days, and working to help children and their families at Horace Mann School. The church does an annual back to school program (this year we provide backpacks to all 550 children!), Christmas "adopt a family" program where members provide Christmas gifts for needy children from the school and groceries for the families, and other outreach opportunities. We seek to live out our faith in the real world, helping make a difference in the lives of others.
Quadrilateral: The United Methodist Church teaches that we should approach a question of faith or life by consulting four pillars of thought. They are Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience.
Scripture: what does the Bible Say about the question. We believe that the Bible is God inspired and contains everything necessary for the life of faith. It is not a scientific text book, but provides guidance, wisdom and inspiration for us as we struggle with questions of life.
Tradition: what do other people say about the issue in question? What have faithful Christians through the ages thought and taught about it? What about traditions in other countries or regions, what do they believe in Africa, Asian, etc., rather than just a Western or American perspective. We learn by considering the wisdom of others.
Reason: what makes logical sense? What can we learn from science, medicine, social sciences, etc. We believe that God has given us intelligence and the ability to reason, and these are good gifts that should not be minimized because a person is a person of faith.
Experience: This is the final leg of the quadrilateral for a reason. It is important for us to consider our personal experience or the experience of others, but this is the least reliable and most often influenced source of knowledge and wisdom. We cannot discount personal experience, but it comes after a through consideration of Scripture, Tradition and Reason.
Polity: how the church is organized. This is probably the way in which most denominations differentiate themselves from one another...how we are organized, how we ordain ministers, etc. The United Methodist Church is organized in a fashion that is similar to American Government. This is not accident; the first "organizing" conference of the Methodist Church met across the street from the Constitutional convention in 1789. Some key similarities; The Methodist Church is a democratic church, where local churches gather to vote on issues and elect their lay leadership. Each of the local churches (like First Church Downtown) elect members who serve on the church's Board. This board sets the priorities of the local church, works with the minister to meet the needs of members and community, and controls the church's property and money. Each local church elects representatives who serve as members to the Annual Conference (similar to, say, the State Assembly). These Annual Conference members gather once a year to set the budget, elect office and establish priorities for ministry on the state wide level. The annual conference elects represenatives to the General Conference, which is a world wide "constitutional" convention of United Methodist. The General Conference speaks for the world wide Methodist movement.
Our church has an executive branch in the Bishops. Bishops are elected by delegates (both lay members and clergy delegates). Bishops serve as the spiritual leader and chief executive for the Annual Conference.
The Pastor of each local church serves as both spiritual leader and chief executive, working with the elected leaders of the local church.
The Church even has a supreme court, which decides on disputes on how the church ought to be run and how things ought to happen. They hold the Bishops to the rule of the Book of Discipline (which comes out of General Conference).