What We Believe
Orthodox in conviction, Wesleyan in inheritance — rooted in Scripture, formed by the Creeds, and shaped by worship.
Monticello United Methodist Church holds the historic Christian faith as it has been received, taught, and lived by the Church across the centuries. We are a congregation of The United Methodist Church, and we stand gladly within the great tradition that Methodism has always claimed as its own: the faith of the Scriptures, the Creeds, and the whole company of the saints.
The Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God written, given by God for our salvation, and the final authority for faith and life. In worship we read the Bible aloud and preach from it plainly, trusting that God still speaks through his Word to shape a people who love him and love their neighbors.
The Creeds
With the whole Church we confess the faith of the ancient Creeds — the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. We believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, raised from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven, and coming again in glory; and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who calls, gathers, and sanctifies the whole Church.
The Sacraments
We celebrate the two sacraments given by Christ to his Church: Holy Baptism, by which we are joined to Christ and made members of his body; and the Lord’s Supper, in which the risen Christ feeds his people with his own life. We come to the Lord’s Table on the first Sunday of each month, and all who seek Christ are welcome to receive.
The Wesleyan Inheritance
As Methodists we treasure the inheritance of John and Charles Wesley: a faith of head and heart together, personal and social holiness, and the assurance of God’s grace at work in ordinary lives. We believe grace comes first — God seeking us before we seek him — and that the Christian life is a lifelong growth in love, nurtured by the ordinary means of grace: worship, prayer, the sacraments, the Scriptures, and life together in the body of Christ.
How We Worship
Our worship is biblical, traditional, and liturgical — offered to the glory of God and ordered to form disciples. We follow the historic shape of Christian worship (the gathering, the Word, the Table, and the sending), sing the great hymns of the Church, keep the seasons of the Christian year, and pray the daily office through the week. It is worship meant not to entertain but to shape a people over a lifetime.