318 East Oak Street
 Oakland, Maryland 21550
 Phone (301) 334-2391

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Mission

Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the
Transformation of the World

Vision

"We are a mission-oriented family on a journey of following Jesus in the Wesleyan tradition."

Core Values

Mission-Focused Outreach -We are to be witnesses to the whole world of Christ's coming, his death for our sins, his resurrection, his ascension, and his promise to return. Sharing this good news in the power of the Holy Spirit is the responsibility and privilege of every believer in Jesus Christ. Jesus demonstrated that the most influential life is a life of sacrificial service. Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.  We believe we will influence the world for Christ, when we extend that love through our own hands and feet in acts of service to others.

Christ-Centered Worship - We seek to worship God through Bible-centered, Spirit-anointed preaching; inspirational singing; participation in the sacraments; congregational and personal prayer; personal and public reading of the scriptures; and the giving of our offerings to God's work. Worship celebrates the mystery of Jesus' self-giving sacrifice on the cross and his victory over sin and death in the Resurrection.

Abundant Generosity - In response to God's lavish generosity towards us, we are led by the Holy Spirit to joyfully and sacrificially serve others with our time, our prayers, our presence, our talents, and our material resources.  God gave us all we have and we give back extravagantly without reservation.

Authentic Fellowship - As God has first loved us, we are called to love one another, and so, bound together by the Holy Spirit, we come together to celebrate God's love as a family of all ages that welcomes all people, treats each other as full participants in the body of Christ, and builds lasting relationships founded upon trust, respect for differences, and forgiveness. We nurture one another's faith with true love and grace.

Intergenerational Faith Development - The family of St. Paul's is composed of faith seekers of all ages with varied talents and gifts, all striving together in their journey of faith and service.


Discipleship

St. Paul's Disciples are grace-filled followers of Jesus Christ who put our faith into action as we learn to love God with all our hearts, minds, and strength and to love others the way we have been loved by God. In following Jesus, we are devoted to an ongoing process of transformation into the likeness of Christ. To help us in this process, the cornerstone of our journey as disciples begins with an active prayer life and the Holy Spirit guides us as we draw on our Wesleyan tradition to live as an intergenerational family engaged in fellowship, faith development, worship, generous giving, and mission outreach to the world.
ST. PAUL'S UMC DISCIPLESHIP DEFINITION


        Grounded in God's promise of salvation and in fulfillment of His covenant, we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, embrace the responsibility to engage, invite, initiate and instruct those seeking Jesus in order to make known all the benefits of His life, death, and resurrection.

        We listen to God's word through studying, sharing and doing His work. To become disciples of Christ, we need to study The Word first and be a student of Jesus. We then endeavor to "walk in His footsteps" in preparing to be one of His disciples Then, we reach out and love one another where we are in our daily and spiritual lives. We view His actions as very personal in our lives and discipleship comes from studying His Word.

        We put Jesus Christ, first and foremost in all that we plan to do, all that we hope to do and all that we can do. We move from What Would Jesus Do (WWJD) to What Would Jesus Have Me Do (WWJHMD).
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