First United Methodist Church of Rutherfordton is a United Methodist community. The following expresses our beliefs concerning…

God

We believe God is the One revealed in the salvation history of the Jews and most fully in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe, in accordance with the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, that God is Trinitarian, eternally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, three persons, a Mystery that exceeds the limits and capacity of human reason.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the love of God the Father and God the Son personalized, in, with, and through whom our communion with the Father and the Son consists. The Holy Spirit inspired Israel’s prophets, and anointed Jesus’s ministry, raising him from the dead. The Holy Spirit is the active agent of the church, guiding its mission into the world, and is worthy of our worship. The Holy Spirit enables our profession of faith and works within all disciples of Jesus Christ, shaping us into the persons God created us to be.

Jesus

Jesus is the living embodiment (or incarnation) of God the eternal Son, the Messiah prophesied by Israel’s prophets, and the person in whom and through whom God disclosed and still discloses his true purposes for the world. He is God’s Word made flesh, the Kingdom of God in human form, the visible image of the invisible God, and the One who has communicated in his person and work the true nature and character of God. Raised bodily from the dead, Jesus Christ inaugurated a whole new creation, and the church, living between the passing of the old creation and the coming of the new earth, anticipates the time when Jesus shall return and reign as the world’s rightful Lord.

The Bible

The Bible is the church’s primary witness to the activity of God in Christ. Written by human beings under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it reveals to us all that is necessary for our salvation. The Bible serves a thoroughly theological purpose: to reveal the identity of God. The Scriptures are therefore the church’s rule of faith and the standard by which we measure our Christian witness and living.