Nope. We believe that God’s Grace is freely available to all of God’s children, no matter where they are in their faith journey, or if they have yet to begin one. Neither membership nor baptism is required to attend or fully participate, including receiving Communion.

It is our hope that those who participate will encounter Christ in the gathered community and in the outreach work that we do together, even if they’ve never encountered Christ before.

We believe scripture is a gift from God. We do not consider the Bible to be inerrant, or literally true, but we do believe that if we apply the collected wisdom (tradition) of the church together with our own lived experience and reason in our interpretation of scripture, those ancient texts will help point us to God’s λόγος (logos – biblical Greek term meaning: word, reason, or truth) in Christ Jesus. (John 1:1 – “Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος” – “In the beginning was the Word”) “The Word of God is Jesus Christ, and the words of the Bible tell us about that Word.” (from Principles for Bible Study)

The Bible is composed of a wide variety of writings from many different storytellers and authors over the course of millennia. It has two primary sections: the Hebrew scriptures, often referred to as “The Old Testament” – which are sacred texts that we receive and honor from our Jewish heritage; and the Christian scriptures, generally referred to as “The New Testament” – composed of collected writings from the years following Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. With thoughtful study and passionate faith, we find that God is still speaking to us and working in us through our scriptural tradition.

Jesus broke bread and ate with everyone and, therefore, so do we! YOU are welcome at the communion table – for it belongs, not to us, but to our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we receive the bread and [cup]* so “we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood,” we are remembering. At the same time, we are also re-membered, put back together again. We pray that we may be “one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world.” God’s work of making us one and uniting us with Christ and with each other is the ordinary way by which God feeds us, sustains us and empowers us to live as Christians in the world.

As we remember the body and blood of Christ and partake of the bread and cup at the table, we believe that we become the Body of Christ in the world. We ask God to pour out the Holy Spirit upon those of us gathered, and on the gifts of wheat and vine. We believe that as they are for us the body and blood of Christ so that we may be for the world Christ’s hands and feet, co-creating the kin*dom of God.

*Note: United Methodists use grape juice instead of wine. This comes out of a place of deep respect for those in recovery from many forms of addiction.

United Methodists are glad to baptize people at whatever age or stage they come for baptism. There is no time too soon, and no time too late, to begin one’s journey with Christ and life in the community of faith. Baptism marks the beginning of all of that, whenever it may come in our lives.

Because baptism is an act of God, initiating us into the universal church, “the sacrament is to be received by an individual only once.” (from By Water and the Spirit) We do not require anyone to be baptized in order to fully participate in the life of the church and we recognize baptism no matter from what other denomination it was received.

We do occasionally reaffirm our baptismal vows, particularly when young people are ready to confirm their faith and when people officially become members in our congregation. We take these vows in much the same way that we take our marriage vows, it is a public act of commitment in the midst of the community of faith.