Our Mission

Our mission is to be a worshiping community, walking in the way of Jesus, believing in place.

Over the years First UMC has partnered with many people and organizations, both locally and globally to live out our mission. At this time, we feel called to live out our shared mission by serving our neighbors in downtown Burlington in four major ways:

  • Being intentional in welcoming and hosting 12-step programs
  • Collaborating with local social service agencies to respond to needs of the community, such as we have done with providing showers
  • Supporting the Every Monday Thrift Shop
  • Providing meals and hospitality, particularly on Sunday evenings.

As the community changes, our collective mission may change. Individual members are engaged in mission and ministries which are meaningful to them. These four points represent our collective and shared mission and ministry together.

Our Theology

WESLEYAN
John Wesley is Methodism’s founder; he was “a practical theologian whose theological thrust, being geared to his own needs and to the needs of his people, seems to shift as needs shift.” So writes John G. Tuttle, Jr. in his book: John Wesley: His Life and Theology.

PRACTICAL
Perhaps the key word from that quote is practical. Methodists (and now, United Methodists) have always had a preference for theology that worked in the market place, that assisted the poor, that challenged the well-off, and that never let religious people get too comfortable.

JESUS-CENTERED
The heart and soul of our theology at First UMC is derived from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. With Jesus as our anchor, we look to be sensitive to the needs of our time and place. Theology is more than acquiescence to a set of propositions; it has to translate into a joyful, abundant life lived in community with others and marked by service to our neighbors. Like John Wesley, our center is unchanging. It is Jesus. And like Wesley and those early Methodists, our practice is always shifting, looking to be responsive to the community around us.

Our Philosophy

  • Life is an adventure, and it’s meant to be experienced abundantly.
  • “Knowing” and “Believing” (Reason and Faith) are two prongs of the same process, the goal of which is growing in our experience of truth – spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical.
  • Without always being conscious of it, we employ a Hegelian dialectical process of Thesis; Antithesis; Synthesis combined with a Socratic use of dialogue tempered by the “If it works, do it” approach – that’s how we get things done. Or … put another way …
  • Jesus teaches us. We explore his teachings and try to put them into practice. Then, we evaluate our beliefs and our practice. Did we hear correctly? Did we respond faithfully? Are we living fruitfully?

We would be pleased if you would come help us hear what the Spirit is saying to our church, expand our faith and our knowledge, walk with us as we practice what we claim to know and believe, and share with us the adventure of life lived abundantly.