The mission of Salem United Methodist Church is winning and developing disciples of Jesus Christ.
As these disciples mature, they are then sent into the world to make new disciples.
The mission of the church has not changed since Jesus Christ first charged His disciples with this mission (Matthew 28: 18-20).

In order to fulfill the mission, the church's congregation must be involved in reaching out and receiving all peoples, just as Jesus Christ did when he walked on the earth. The church's congregation is thus required to look within and beyond its walls, physical and mental, to love people just like they are, no matter where or how they live.

The church's congregation should also help all persons to relate to God by providing opportunities through which they can experience the presence of God. This experience can be accomplished through Sunday school, worship service, choir, Bible studies, prayer, prayer groups, Baptism, Communion and all other church related activities, especially in personal or Biblical faith stories.

Experiencing the presence of God in these church activities will create new disciples of Jesus Christ. The church, as the body of Christ, thus becomes a living organism that is in the process of developing, supporting and nurturing persons to grow in Christian discipleship. The church should, also, affirm and send these disciples back into the community to create a more just and loving society and to make more disciples.

"For as in the body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them," Romans 12:4-6.

The Apostles' Creed 
#881 in the United Methodist Hymnal

I believe in God the Father Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried;

the third day he rose from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic church,^*

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.


*Catholic means the universal church.