What is a United Methodist?

A United Methodist is someone who does mission by putting faith and love into action. We believe that God loves all people, and we share in expressing that love. So the United Methodist tradition emphasizes God's grace and serving others. 

"United Methodists profess the historic Christian faith in God, incarnate in Jesus Christ for our salvation and ever at work in human history in the Holy Spirit. Living in a covenant of grace under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we participate in the first fruits of God's coming reign and pray in hope for its full realization on earth as in heaven." (2024 Discipline ¶102.1)

The Methodist movement was started by John Wesley in the 18th century. In his Larger Minutes,  Mr. Wesley described the mission of the Methodists to "reform the nation and, in particular, the Church; to spread scriptural holiness over the land." His socieities and their diligent use of pious, lay-led small groups played a major role in transAtlantic Revival.

In 1771 Francis Asbury was sent by Wesley to minister to the Lost Sheep in British North America. About a decade later (c. 1784) Mr. Asbury became the first Bishop of the newly formed Methodist Episcopal Church. Lesser known, yet important, figures include Jacob Albright and Philip Otterbein who meanwhile built up German evangelicals in America.

The teachings of German and English Methodists both emphasized practical divinity, ultimately paving the symbolic basis for the United Methodist Church. Our inherited theology & advices are held forth in the UMC's Articles of Religion, Confesion of Faith, Wesley's Sermon Notes, and General Rules. Other principles and opinions are earnestly explored and studied through the fourfold guidline of "scripture, tradition, expierence, and reason". 

 For a further explanation, see Our- Theological Task.

United Methodist Church
Uniting Conference 1968

Below is footage from the 1968 founding conference between the United Brethren (EUB) & the Methodist Church (MC).  The Union was created upon the memorial handshake of Bps. Wicke & Mueller with the words, “Lord of the Church, we are united in Thee, in Thy Church and now in The United Methodist Church.”

It provides a certain happy perspective about the same decade when our local Church moved from the downtown to the other side of El Camino Real, on Lincoln St., near the new Civic Center. The UMC's making was a remarkable event in American history, carrying great promises at a time of noteable post-war optimism.