What time is worship service?

Worship service is 11:00 a.m. each Sunday. 

Do you have a Sunday School?

Yes!  We offer Sunday School classes for both adults and children.  Sunday School begins each Sunday at 10:00 a.m.  We also offer a Children's Time during the worship service when the pastor offers a special lesson for any children in attendance.

How often do you offer Holy Communion?

We celebrate the Sacament of Holy Communion once a month, on the first Sunday of each month.  We also celebrate Holy Communion during special services for Lent, Easter, Advent, and other times during the year.  In the United Methodist Church, Holy Communion is a means of grace and we offer an open table, meaning you do not have to be a member of the church to receive God's gift of Holy Communion.  Christ invites all who believe to his table to enjoy this feast.

Is this church formal or informal?  Do I have to "dress up" to attend?

Salem UMC is a loving community of Christians that welcomes everyone to worship God in His church.  As such, you are welcome to dress in a manner in which you are comfortable to attend church.  Some of our members and attendees dress up for church and others are very casual.  All are welcome at Salem.  

What style of worship is done at Salem?

God is worshipped at Salem with the joyful noise of singing, with the prophetic word of preaching, and with a spirit of meaningful prayer.  While labels don't really cover everything about worship at Salem, most would describe our worship as "traditional."  We sing generally from the United Methodist Hymnal or the Cokesbury Hymnal, although our choir often offers special selections not found in either one.  The preaching is scripturally based and biblically sound and is strongly shaped by United Methodist theology.  Our liturgies come from a variety of sources including the UMC's Book of Worship and the new Worship and Song resource book published in 2011.  Salem is a place where you can start or continue your walk with God and be supported by the love and friendship of our Christian community.    

What's so special about the United Methodist Church?  How is it any different than other churches?

Good question!  The United Methodist Church was created in 1968 when The Evangelical United Brethen Church and The Methodist Church joined together to form the United Methodist Church.  Similarities in the structure, beliefs and relationships going back many years between the Evangelical Church, the United Brethren, and the Methodists made this combination possible. 

The United Methodist Church has a common history with other Methodist and Wesleyan groups and all are linked back to the life and ministry of John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley and the societies and bands they formed to advance personal and social holiness.  John Wesley was a priest in the Anglican Church for his entire life and only reluctantly ordained Methodist ministers apart from the Anglican Church.  He did so mainly so that Methodists in America could receive the Sacraments following the Revolutionary War when most Anglican priests had returned to England.  Methodism in America started mainly as a lay movement.  In 1784, the Christmas Conference in Baltimore formed The Methodist Episcopal Church. The most influential forces in American Methodism were Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke.

The United Methodist Church is first and foremost a Christ centered church. We believe in a Triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone.  We believe that God's love is realized in our lives by the presence of the Holy Spirit.  God's kingdom is a present and future reality.  The Holy Scriptures (The Holy Bible) is authoritative on matters of faith and is the inspired Word of God. 

What makes the United Methodist Church different than other denominations is some of the emphases we hold to be important.  We place great attention on the means of grace--the means of God's presence.  These means of grace are public worship, prayer, searching the Scriptures, The Sacraments (The Lord's Supper and Baptism), fasting, and Christian conference. 

In public worship we focus on the real presence of God, not our human needs and desires

In prayer we focus on communing with God.  We focus on both private and corporate (public) prayer.

In searching the Scriptures we believe that the Bible is a means of the divine presence.  John Wesley referred to himself as "a man of one book."  We believe the Bible is to be read both in the privacy of our time with God and in open, public settings of worship.

In partaking of the Lord's Supper we share our community with Christ and with each other.  This Sacrament helps us to remember Jesus and his sacrifice for us as well as helping us anticipate the final victory that will come with Christ's return!  In terms of baptism, we believe that through this Sacrament God claims us.  We believe in infant baptism.  We baptize by sprinking, pouring, or immersion. 

We participate in fasting as an act of obedience to God and as a reminder of the emptiness we have when we are away from God.  Fasting was a personal discipline of John Wesley and helped remind him to always rely on God to fill our needs.

We participate in Christian conference because we are a connectional body, linked together by our church structure.  Early Methodists gathered in groups to discuss theology and other important church matters.  In the modern day, United Methodists meet in the charge conference at the local level and the annual conference at the conference level. There are also jurisdictional conferences and general conferences.    

United Methodist also participarte in an system of itineracy.  Methodist clergy are assigned to their local churches by the bishop of the Annual Conference.  Itineracy, in the practical sense, means United Methodist pastors move every so often to other churches and assignments to which they may be appointed.  However, to look at itineracy as simply a means of moving pastors around would not do the concept justice.  Itineracy is about obedience and fullfilling God's call for us wherever He may have need.

United Methodists do not believe we hold a monopoly on God's truth.  Therefore we strongly believe in the concept of the universal, or catholic, church.  We are tolerant of other beliefs, but we also hold to sound doctrine. 

I hear about three types of grace.  What is that all about?

United Methodists believe God can be restored to our lives through prevenient grace, justification, and santification.

Prevenient grace surrounds us all and woos us into a relationship with God.  We may not even be aware of that this type of grace surrounds us, but we can be awakened to its presence.

Justification is how God reaches out to us with a spirit of forgiveness.  Justification is how we are forgiven for our sin and reconciled with God.  This is described by some as "new birth" or being "born again." 

Sanctification is how we mature as God's children.  God's work in our lives does not end with justification.  John Wesley believed all followers of God needed to pursue Christian perfection through works of piety and works of mercy.  Therefore, United Methodist also place a great deal of emphasis on both social and personal holiness.      

Who do I call if I need more information about attending Salem UMC?

Call Alan Felton at 919-603-5844 for more information or with any questions you may have.