Who We Are and What We Believe

Who We Are

The United Methodist Church of Ludington is a warm, friendly community of believers, committed to the worship of God, the study of God's Word, service to others, and mission at home and abroad.

What We Believe

United Methodist preaching and teaching is grounded in Scripture, informed by Christian tradition, enlivened in personal experience, and tested by reason. With Christians of other communions, we believe in a triune God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God summons us to repentance, pardons us, receives us by grace given in Jesus Christ and gives us hope of eternal life. Faith is the only response essential for salvation.  However, salvation evidences itself in good works. We believe there are two sacraments, Baptism and Communion, ordained by Christ as symbols and pledges of God's love for us. With other Christians, we declare the essential oneness of the church in Christ Jesus. The heart of Christian ministry is Christ's ministry of outreaching love.  The United Methodist Church reaches out to establish peace and justice in the world.  The mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

News From 2011 Annual Conference

Al Bouda reports:

This year marked the Forty-third Annual Conference for the West Michigan Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. The Conference was titled "Take My Hand, Engaging the Poor in Ministry".

In attendance for the main conference were approximately 1,000 pastors and lay members. An additional 1,000 guests joined the conference on the final day to hear special speakers, enjoy a box lunch, attend mini workshop groups, and an ice cream social at the end of the day. It is my understanding that our UMC-L Saturday attendees found their trip to Grand Rapids worth while, fun and interesting.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) announced that the West Michigan Conference is ranked #1 in the world for financial support to UMCOR. The people of West Michigan gave over $800,000.00 toward relief toward the "spring storms" that ravaged the world this year.  That figure amounts to almost $25.00 per person! As a measure of significance, there are more than 34,000 United Methodist churches consisting of over 8 million members' world wide. Quite an achievement for west Michigan!!

Delegates to the 2012 General Conference were elected, and numerous Legislative actions were enacted. Those actions covered issues such as Conference Finance, Organization, Staff/Clergy compensation and numerous Social Issues.

Among the Social issues debated were:

Should the U. M. Church continue to support the concept of the covenant of marriage being defined as "the union of a man and a woman", or should the definition be changed to "the union of two people who love

and are committed to each other" (same sex marriage). This debate took place with the utmost of civility, and when the vote was finished, it was defeated.

The Keynote address on Saturday was made by Pastor Rudy Rasmus of St. John's Church in Houston Texas. Rev. Rasmus, is not ordained, but serves as a Local Pastor. Working as a co-pastor with his wife, pastor Rasmus has grown his church from fewer than a dozen persons in 1992 to a current membership of 9,000! Rev. Rasmus focused his sermon on "Love our neighbors as we love ourselves" and "Love is as love does". His point was, we should not marginalize anyone, but should stretch out of our own comfort zone to include others. He summed up his sermon stating that we can be certain that Jesus loves us, and there is nothing we can do about it, so why not simply accept his gift.