The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Local Churches provide the most significant area through which disciple-making occurs.

The mission is our grace-filled response to the Reign of God in the world. God’s grace is active everywhere, at all times, carrying out this purpose as revealed in the Bible. It is expressed in God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah, in the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, and in the ministry of the prophets. It is fully embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is experienced in the ongoing creation of a new God’s people by the Holy Spirit.

Whenever United Methodism has had a clear sense of mission, God has used our Church to save persons, heal relationships, transform social structures and spread scriptural holiness, thereby changing the world. In order to be truly alive, we embrace Jesus’ mandate to love God and neighbors and to make disciples of all peoples.

The Process for Carrying Out Our Mission

We make disciples as we

• proclaim the gospel, seek, welcome and gather persons into the body of Christ;
• lead persons to commit their lives to God through baptism and profession of faith in Jesus Christ;
• nurture persons in Christian living through worship, the sacraments, spiritual disciplines, and other means of grace;
• send persons into the world to live lovingly and justly as servants of Christ by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the stranger, freeing the oppressed, and working to develop social structures that are consistent with the gospel.