Oakley Chapel UMC
Pastor's Welcome
Our Mission |
Oakley Chapel is called to Plant seeds of the gospel, Grow in faith, and Produce faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
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Our Vision |
We seek to build God’s Kingdom one person at a time as we make disciples of Jesus Christ, who make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
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History
Oakley Chapel was established as a Methodist Church in 1872 meeting at the former Drake School House. The first chapel was built in 1896 and pastored by the circuit-rider pastor, Rev. Tom Smith. Previously situated on land donated by Haywood and Eliza Oakley on the corner of Walnut and Promenade Boulevard, the chapel was moved and the facility extended in July 2008 to broaden our outreach ministries.
With the union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church-South, and the Methodist Protestant Church in 1939, we became Oakley Chapel Methodist Church. We took our present name as Oakley Chapel United Methodist Church in 1968 after the General Conference uniting the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Church.
Oakley has always been a church focused on strong biblical teaching and on a strong desire to impact our community for Christ. Throughout our history, we sought to better the lives of those in our community, and we honor that heritage today through our outreach and community engagement ministries. We are a multi-cultural, multi-generational church, where we practice hospitality and welcome our neighbors into our church family. We hope you will come and be part of our family as we plant seeds of the gospel, grow in our faith, and produce faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
With the union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church-South, and the Methodist Protestant Church in 1939, we became Oakley Chapel Methodist Church. We took our present name as Oakley Chapel United Methodist Church in 1968 after the General Conference uniting the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Church.
Oakley has always been a church focused on strong biblical teaching and on a strong desire to impact our community for Christ. Throughout our history, we sought to better the lives of those in our community, and we honor that heritage today through our outreach and community engagement ministries. We are a multi-cultural, multi-generational church, where we practice hospitality and welcome our neighbors into our church family. We hope you will come and be part of our family as we plant seeds of the gospel, grow in our faith, and produce faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
Beliefs
We believe all people are created in God’s image and are, therefore, of sacred worth and value. We are United Methodist followers of Jesus who believe Christian faith is grounding our lives in the living God as revealed especially in Jesus Christ. It’s both a gift we receive within the Christian community and a choice we make. It’s trusting in God and relying on God as the source and destiny of our lives. Faith is believing in God, giving God our devoted loyalty and allegiance. Faith is following Jesus, answering the call to be his disciples in the world. Faith is hoping for God’s future, leaning into the coming kingdom that God has promised. Faith-as-belief is active; it involves trusting, believing, following, and hoping.
We believe in order to know God more fully, we must value each individual as we think together as a community of believers about faith and discipleship. Together we must reflect on the biblical text, and examine the various beliefs we hold as a church. Some may say that the study of God is only for professional theologians. We believe all of us, young and old, lay and clergy, need to work at our understanding of God so that our beliefs guide our actions as we communicate our belief to an unbelieving world.
We believe in order to know God more fully, we must value each individual as we think together as a community of believers about faith and discipleship. Together we must reflect on the biblical text, and examine the various beliefs we hold as a church. Some may say that the study of God is only for professional theologians. We believe all of us, young and old, lay and clergy, need to work at our understanding of God so that our beliefs guide our actions as we communicate our belief to an unbelieving world.
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