Guidelines For United Methodists

The pioneers in the traditions that flowed together into The United Methodist Church understood themselves as standing in the central stream of Christian spirituality and doctrine, loyal heirs of the authentic Christian tradition.

They believed no single doctrine could every completely express God's eternal Word. They affirmed the ancient creeds and confessions as valid summaries of Christian truth. Yet they did not regard them as the final authority or as ultimate standards for testing the truth or error of Christian doctrine. They insisted, however, that there are fundamental truths at the heart of the gospel that can be identified and which must be preserved. How do we as United Methodists go about discovering these truths?

As United Methodists, we have an obligation to bear a faithful Christian witness to Jesus Christ, the living reality at the center of the Church's life and witness. To fulfill this obligation, we reflect critically on our biblical and theological inheritance, striving to express faithfully the witness we make in our own time.

Two considerations are central to this endeavor: the sources from which we derive our theological affirmations and the criteria by which we assess the adequacy of our understanding and witness. Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illuminated by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.

Scripture. The Bible is the primary source for what we believe. Our doctrines are grounded in the biblical story of God's self-disclosure--in creation; in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; in the activity of the Holy Spirit; and in the coming of God's promised kingdom. We believe that God's Word and will are revealed to us when Scripture is interpreted in light of its original message, as well as in terms of its meaning for us today. As we open our hearts and minds to the Word of God through the words of human beings inspired by the Holy Spirit, faith is born and nourished, our understanding is deepened, and the possibilities for transforming the world become apparent to us.

Tradition. Our Christian tradition is rooted in the lives and within the works and testimony of those who have gone before us. Church ritual, creeds, and hymns are all part of our heritage. The devotional classics and theological writings of Christian men and women over the centuries form an important part of our tradition. Christian art illuminates the sacred story. The lives of the saints--the people we read about in books as well as those we have known personally--bear testimony to the faith. Our tradition gives us an insight into how earlier Christians and communities of faith understood God's will, how they interpreted the gospel, and how they applied the Scripture to their own situations.

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