About Asbury United Methodist Church
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What We Believe
We Believe in the Trinity
God the Father has always existed. He was not made, but all things were made by Him and for His glory. God is eternal and infinite, all-knowing, everywhere present, all-powerful and unchanging. God is holy, righteous, perfect and full of grace. God’s mercies are new every morning and His love endures forever.
Jesus the Son has always existed. He was not made, but was present at creation—all things were made through Him and by Him all things hold together. Jesus is the Son of God and He is the perfect likeness of the Father. He was incarnated (became a man) and lived a sinless life. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin and death for all people. He physically ascended into heaven and will return to earth one day. He will judge all people and His kingdom will never end.
The Holy Spirit has always existed. He was not made, but was active in the creation of the world. The Holy Spirit teaches, encourages, counsels. He convicts people of sins and points them toward their need for salvation. He dwells in the lives of believers: praying for them, empowering them, giving them spiritual gifts and new life in Jesus Christ.
The word “trinity” comes from “tri” meaning three and “unity” meaning one. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct "persons", meaning who they are is different, but they share one nature, so what they are is the same. The Bible tells us there is only one God because the three persons of the Trinity share the same divine essence.
We Believe in the Authority of Scripture
The Bible was written by humans but all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, correcting and training believers to live in God’s ways (right ways) so that we may be thoroughly equipped to serve Him by doing good works. Jesus tells us God’s word is truth and He came to give evidence of that truth.
Coming from the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament books were settled before the birth of Jesus. The New Testament, which is made of letters and other documents written after Jesus’ ascension, were in circulation among churches for about 300 years before being settled on as the authoritative word of God by several councils of Bishops. Christians recognize God guided the early church in determining what books/letters were truly inspired by Him and should be acknowledged as “canon,” meaning accepted as genuine.
We Believe in Eternal Life
God created humans in His image and for His glory. We are spiritual beings with mortal bodies and immortal souls. However, humans are sinful and, therefore, unable to spend eternity with God except through faith in Jesus Christ. The traditional Christian view is those who believe will share eternal joy with God in heaven, while those who refuse God's love suffer endless separation from Him. Those who believe will be resurrected into imperishable bodies suitable for eternal life with God, and will be judged/rewarded according to how they lived their lives.
