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Pastor Daniel Willms 


WORSHIP & PRACTICE
The Elmore United Methodist Church is a traditional, evangelical church in the Wesleyan-Methodist tradition.  Our Sunday Service consists of traditional hymns and prayers, Scripture readings (three or four readings which includes an Old Testament and New Testament reading, a Psalm, and the Gospel), a sermon, congregational prayer, The Lord's Prayer,  The Apostles' Creed, and the offering.

The preaching is biblical, evangelical, and direct,  calling for a response to the Word of God.  We currently read and preach from the New International Version Bible (NIV) which is an English translation published in 2011.

What does it mean to be "evangelical"?  To begin with, the word "evangelical" is derived from the New Testament word evangelion  (Greek)  meaning "good news" or "good message."  A more theologically nuanced definition is this:  "to be evangelical means to believe that we are justified only by grace through faith in Him who suffered and died for our sins." 1

Especially important to a evangelical understanding of Christian salvation is the New Birth in the Holy Spirit.  Here John Wesley introduces his sermon on The New Birth with these words: 

"If any doctrines within the whole compass of Christianity may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two, — the doctrine of justification, and that of the new birth: The former relating to that great work which God does for us, in forgiving our sins; the latter, to the great work which God does in us, in renewing our fallen nature. In order of time, neither of these is before the other: in the moment we are justified by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Jesus, we are also “born of the Spirit..." 2

As United Methodists, we believe The Lord's Supper is a sacrament and means of grace instituted by Jesus himself for the spiritual growth and unity of the Christian church.  We celebrate The Lord's Supper (also called Holy Communion or Eucharist) each month, generally on the first Sunday of the month.

1. Bloesch, Donald G.  The Evangelical Renaissance. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973), pg. 48
2. Outler, Albert C. John Wesley's Sermons:  An Anthology. (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1991), pg. 336