Our Beliefs
First UMC Missouri City is a part of the United Methodist Church, a global denomination with more than 11 million members worldwide.
Our Beliefs
First UMC Missouri City is a part of the United Methodist Church, a global denomination with more than 11 million members worldwide.
We believe:
- God is one, revealed in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- God created the world and is sovereign over all the universe.
- God is loving and we can experience God’s love and grace.
- Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to save the world. God became human in Jesus of Nazareth; and his life, death and resurrection demonstrate God’s redeeming love.
- Jesus was fully human and fully God.
- The Holy Spirit is God’s present activity in our midst. When we sense God’s leading, God’s challenge, or God’s support or comfort, it’s the Holy Spirit at work.
- Humans were created in the image of God to love and be loved.
- The Bible is God’s word and is the primary authority for our faith and practice.
- The Church is the body of Christ, an extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world today.
We celebrate two sacraments at First UMC Missouri City: baptism and communion. Sacraments are an outward and visible sign of God’s inward and spiritual grace, where the intangible reality of God’s grace touches our lives in tangible ways. We baptize both infants and adults, and because baptism is a sign of God’s inclusion in the family of God, we only baptize an individual one time. We celebrate communion on the first Sunday of every month and all are welcome at the table.
As a United Methodist Church, we are a part of the Texas Annual Conference, a regional gathering of United Methodist congregations. For more information on the United Methodist Church, click here: https://www.umc.org/en/what-we-believe/basics-of-our-faith and for more information about the Texas Annual Conference, click here: https://www.txcumc.org.
Sacraments – Baptism and Holy Communion
It is the Lord’s Supper, not ours, and it is Christ who invites you. As our ritual puts it: “Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another.”
We do not refuse any who present themselves desiring to receive Holy Communion. Whether you should receive Communion with us is between you and God.
Baptism is a covenant between an individual and God, a visible sign of our acknowledgment of God’s grace, and our word to God, promising our response of faith and love.
In our tradition, we baptize infants, children and adults, believing that from the moment of birth and even before, every individual is surrounded by God’s love and grace, and that parents are in a good position to accept this grace and a place in the community of faith for their children. You or your children can be baptized at First United Methodist Church if you are not members, but we strongly encourage you to find a home in this or another community of faith as soon as possible, so that you can experience the significance of your baptism.
We baptize by sprinkling water that has been blessed. It is our tradition to do baptisms during worship, so that the gathered community can offer its support and blessings. However, we do immerse, if that is the person’s preferred method and other facilities can be made available. The United Methodist Church recognizes baptisms done in other faiths and churches and therefore does not “re-baptize”.
If you would like to talk with a pastor about planning a special baptism day for you or someone in your family, please click HERE.
More About The United Methodist Church
For further explanation and study on United Methodist Wesley theology, click HERE.