About Us
Bethany Felton is a United Methodist Church in the Central PA Conference. The church has been a part of the town of Felton for over 100 years. We strive to be a vital part of the community and adapt our efforts to the changing times. On this page you will find our principals and beliefs.
Bethany's Mission Statement
Living, Serving, Sharing Christ
As a church, our mission is to live our lives as Jesus has instructed us, serve and care for all persons, and share the Word of God with those outside the community of faith.
Our Beliefs
As United Methodists, we have an obligation to bear a faithful Christian witness to Jesus Christ, the living reality at the center of the Church's life and witness. To fulfill this obligation, we reflect critically on our biblical and theological inheritance, striving to express faithfully the witness we make in our own time.
Two considerations are central to this endeavor: the sources from which we derive our theological affirmations and the criteria by which we assess the adequacy of our understanding and witness.
John Wesley, the father of Methodism, believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, lived out in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.
Social Creed
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 racial, ethnic, and religious minorities.
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 - 2004.
Copyright 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.)
