What We Believe

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The First Methodist Church of Moore Haven exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship God passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. We believe God is searching the whole earth for such persons so He can strengthen them, to anoint and fill them with the Holy Spirit to accomplish that which far exceeds their human capacity. 

We believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We have repented of our sins, received God’s forgiveness, and been blessed with new life. In the words of John Wesley, the founder of The Methodist Church, disciples are called to "spread scriptural holiness across the land."

If you are to love extravagantly and witness boldly, the journey begins with your worship life which places you at the feet of Jesus. We believe we cannot consistently love extravagantly or witness boldly until we worship passionately. Worship is the fuel that ushers us into the presence of God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – where we are embraced by the One who created us and sustains our lives.

As Global Methodists we are called to worship God in Spirit and in Truth in every moment. Worship is the core orientation of our lives. Worship is how we engage every moment of every day. We were made to worship, which means: to dwell in the presence of our Living Lord Jesus, have intimacy with Him, and be continually renewed by the Holy Spirit. 

We believe passionate worship leads us to love extravagantly as Christ first loved us with the perfect "Agape" love of God. If people have an Agape love deficit, the solution is to engage in more worship and to do so with all of who we are – to do so with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

God's perfect Agape love leads us to witness boldly to our neighbors.  Humans are constitutionally incapable of keeping love to themselves. If they try to do so, it leads to mental illness, stagnation, or breakdown, and ultimately to death. We believe we are called to share God's perfect love if we are to be fully alive. Loving extravagantly leads to witness boldly as we tell others the Good News of Jesus Christ who has loved us in spite of our rebellion and forgiven us, restoring us to His Kingdom. We will not keep such Agape love to ourselves – we must share Christ in word and deed.  

The First Methodist Church of Moore Haven is here to introduce others to the source of God's perfect love in Jesus, and to invite others to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit in their daily lives. 

The above article has been adapted from the original by Pastor, Jonathan from, "Embracing Our God-Sized Mission," by The Rev. Keith Boyette, at  https://globalmethodist.org/embracing-our-god-sized-mission/ and should be attributed to him.

1. The gift of grace is available to all persons. Our Father in Heaven is not willing that any should be lost (Matthew 18:14), but that all may come to “the knowledge of truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). With St. Paul, we affirm the proclamation found in Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

2. Grace is the manifestation of God’s love toward fallen creation, to be freely received and freely given. This undeserved gift works to liberate humanity from both the guilt and power of sin, and live as children of God, freed for joyful obedience. In the classic Wesleyan expression, grace works in numerous ways throughout our lives, beginning with the general providence of God toward all.

3. God’s prevenient or preventing grace refers to “the first dawning of grace in the soul,” mitigating the effects of original sin, even before we are aware of our need for God. It prevents the full consequences of humanity’s alienation from God and awakens conscience, giving an initial sense of God and the first inclinations toward life. Received prior to our ability to respond, preventing grace enables genuine response to the continuing work of God’s grace.

4. God’s convincing grace leads us to what the Bible terms “repentance,” awakening in us a desire to “flee the wrath to come” and enabling us to begin to “fear God and work righteousness.”

5. God’s justifying grace works by faith to bring reconciliation to God through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what God does for us. It is pardon for sin and ordinarily results in assurance, “God’s Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are children of God.”

6. God’s sanctifying grace begins with God’s work of regeneration, sometimes referred to as “being born again.” It is God’s work in us as we continually turn to Him and seek to be perfected in His love. Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit works to replace sin with the fruit of the Spirit. With John Wesley, we believe that a life of holiness and ultimately “entire sanctification” should be the goal of each individual’s journey with God.

7. Our ultimate hope and promise in Christ is glorification, where our souls and bodies are perfectly restored through this grace.