Mission – Discover what God can do through YOU
   We are an inclusive community of faith and celebrate our Christian beliefs through worship, fellowship, and service in a safe, welcoming, and supportive environment. We create vital, relevant ministries for diverse generations, families, and individuals. We enrich spiritual life and encourage witness and action for a more just, loving, and peaceful world.

Vision – Seek to know, love, and serve GOD
   To be an all-embracing Christian community seeking to connect individuals and families of all generations with God’s unconditional love and to one another.

Values – Celebrate, embrace, and welcome ALL to God’s house

• Faith Exploration: Our values include learning to become more authentic followers of Jesus by sharing and exploring beliefs from our own traditions and the traditions of others whose insight into the divine is seen through different lenses.
• Connecting over Gathering: We value connecting our lives through fellowship, worship, and Christian ritual as part of our spiritual journey.
• Active Faith: We value action that is based upon Jesus’ teachings and our belief in the importance of social action to help bring justice, harmony, and equality to the world, locally and globally.
• Radically inclusive: We value radical inclusivity and affirm all persons without regard to sexual orientation, age, gender, ethnicity, education, ability, or socioeconomic class.
• Healing and Wholeness: We support health, healing, stewardship, and peace for our world.  We partner with organizations that participate in building and sustaining healthy persons, healthy communities, and a healthy environment.

Beliefs

• We believe that God is love and that God loves all people unconditionally.
• We believe, as Christians, that Jesus is the decisive revelation of God embodied in human life.
• We believe that God intends for people to be whole and fully alive and that Christianity offers a way to fulfill this intention.
• We believe that Humanity is inherently diverse and that differences are to be honored and affirmed.
• We believe that Christians are called to respect all persons and other faiths and spiritualities.
• We believe that Holy Communion and Baptism are gifts offered to all without restrictions or requirements.
• We believe that our faith calls us to serve others, work for social justice, and to care for the environment.
• We believe that our faith is grounded in Scripture, which is inspired by God. It is also grounded in tradition, reason, and experience, and because of that, Scripture is filtered through a chorus of voices that may sometimes disagree.
• We believe that all persons are graced by God to serve in all aspects of Christian ministry regardless of age, race, class, ability, family composition, sexual orientation, or any other barrier to a sense of belonging.

Open and Affirming - A Reconciling Congregation
   The First United Methodist Church of Elgin celebrates the diversity of the human community and affirms the sacred worth of each person.  We seek to follow the Way of Jesus, extending love to others as we would want to be loved.  We welcome into full inclusion in the life and ministries of the church people of all sexual orientations (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) and gender identities (transgender), ages, races and national origins, physical or mental abilities, and economic conditions.  We especially proclaim this statement of welcome to all who have known the pain of exclusion or discrimination in the church.  As a Reconciling Congregation, we believe that we are being reconciled to God and to one another.