Core Beliefs and Practices of the Wesleyan Way

BASIC AFFIRMATIONS OF CLASSIC HISTORICAL BELIEFS

• We believe in the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who existed before creation and who remains active in the world. The one God, revealed in three persons, continues to work in creation, redemption, and renewal.  

• We believe in the mystery of salvation accomplished through the person and work of Jesus Christ. At the heart of the Gospel is the incarnation of God in Jesus, God with us, for us, and for our salvation. 

• We believe that God’s redemptive love is made known in humanity through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, both in individual lives and within the community of faith. 

• We believe that through baptism and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, we are incorporated into the Body of Christ—the Church. 

• We affirm that the reign of God is both a present reality and a future hope, already at work in the world and awaiting its fullness. 

DISTINCTIVE WESLEYAN BELIEFS

• We believe that salvation involves a personal response to God’s gracious initiative and is lived out within the life of the Church. 

• We affirm that God’s grace is available to all people and is experienced in three distinct but inseparable ways: 

  • Prevenient grace, which goes before us; 

  • Justifying grace, through which we are forgiven and reconciled to God; 

  • Sanctifying grace, which forms us in holiness of heart and life. 

• We affirm the historic doctrine of original sin and the absolute inability of humanity to save itself through good works. Following the witness of Scripture, especially the writings of the Apostle Paul in Romans and Galatians, we emphasize the distinction between law and gospel, sin and justification, while insisting that God’s saving grace is freely offered to all who repent and believe. 

• A key Wesleyan conviction is the role of human freedom in response to God’s grace, particularly in contrast to Reformed doctrines of election, predestination, and irresistible grace. 

• We believe that through prevenient grace, God graciously calls every person toward repentance and faith, while never coercing or overriding human moral responsibility. 

• We affirm that salvation and justification come through faith in Christ alone, not through our works. 

• We believe that salvation rests upon three essential realities: 

  • The infinite grace of God; 

  • The atoning, sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, which satisfies God’s righteous judgment against sin; 

  • And a living, personal faith in Christ, not mere intellectual assent, but a heartfelt trust in God’s forgiving and saving love. 

THE DOCTRINE OF HOLINESS

• Grounded in the command of Leviticus 19:2 and Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:48, we believe that God calls us to be holy as God is holy. 

• We believe that genuine faith produces both inward and outward holiness, a transformed heart and life, made visible in moral character and faithful love and service lived out in community. 

• Holiness is not the starting point of the Christian life; grace is. Holiness is the work of maturation, as we grow in love for God and neighbor. 

• We believe that all believers are called to continually grow toward Christian maturity. As we reorient our lives around the life and teachings of Jesus and the witness of Scripture, every part of our lives is increasingly shaped by love, humility, and obedience, always dependent upon God’s sustaining grace. 

For a more robust statement of faith follow the button below.