METHODIST CHURCH SOCIAL CREED
Important Dates in the History of the Social Creed
1907 Methodist Episcopal Church leaders Herbert Welch, Harry F. Ward, Worth Tippy, Elbert Robb Zaring, and Frank Mason North call a meeting in Washington’s Ebbitt House to found a “Methodist League for Social Service,” patterned after the Wesleyan Methodist Union for Social Service in England. On December 3, 25 people found the Methodist Federation for Social Service (MFSS), electing Herbert Welch as president. The next day the group is received by President Theodore Roosevelt in the White House.
1908 MFSS members author and secure adoption of the first Social Creed by the M.E. General Conference, as well as formal recognition of MFSS itself. Over 1000 persons attend a Federation information meeting during General Conference.
1909 United Brethren in Christ Church adopts a social creed.
1914 The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, adopts a social creed much like that of the Methodist Episcopal Church
1916 The Methodist Protestant Church adopts the social creed of the Methodist Episcopal Church
1972 Following the 1968 union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the General Board of Church and Society is created; General Conference adopts Social Principles.
Our Social Creed
United Methodist Church Social Creed 2008
We believe in God, Creator of the world; and in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of creation. We believe in the Holy Spirit, through whom we acknowledge God’s gifts, and we repent of our sin in misusing these gifts to idolatrous ends.
We affirm the natural world as God’s handiwork and dedicate ourselves to its preservation, enhancement, and faithful use by humankind.
We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage, and the family.
We commit ourselves to the rights of men, women, children, youth, young adults, the aging, and people with disabilities; to improvement of the quality of life; and to the rights and dignity of all persons.
We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others and in the protection of their welfare in so doing; in the rights to property as a trust from God, collective bargaining, and responsible consumption; and in the elimination of economic and social distress.
We dedicate ourselves to peace throughout the world, to the rule of justice and law among nations, and to individual freedom for all people of the world.
We believe in the present and final triumph of God’s Word in human affairs and gladly accept our commission to manifest the life of the gospel in the world. Amen.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2008. Copyright 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.
