What I believe – Part 1

I was asked a few months ago, by my pastor, if I would teach the confirmation class for church.  I considered it and accepted it tentatively, but am wondering due to time constraints, if I can do it.  However, I couldn’t sleep early this morning so here I am in front of the computer posting some thoughts on a blog.  I guess the main reason for this series is to get what I believe down on “paper,” so that I can help the kids find faith and become good followers of Christ that happen to be of one of the several Wesleyan traditions; in this case the Untied Methodist Church.

I guess this starts with kind of an affirmation of faith. The one that I usually hearken back to is the Apostle’s Creed (traditional).  That’s probably because of all of the creeds and affirmations that our church recites, and there’s a fair number of them, I have recited this one since I was a kid, sitting in a pew of the Fennville United Methodist Church.  

Our pastor, at First Church in Gaylord, did a series on the Apostle’s Creed last year.  It was pretty good with the meaning of why we say what we say.  As I have continued this year with some of the wonderings, I see how I have been shaped by my affirmation in Christ and how it has affected my decisions.  

I also listen to the likes of Rob Bell at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, MI and he did a series on what their church believes.  For him, it came down to the Nicene Creed.  Of course, we who are Methodists also use that creed as an affirmation of faith.

So what do I believe?  These two creeds should help form a basis, since as I have read them, they say the same thing.  These both sum up what the Bible is about.