About Mt. Zion UMC

What Do We Believe?

Basic Christian Beliefs

1. We hold in common with all Christians a faith in the mystery of salvation in and through Jesus Christ.

2. We share the Christian belief that God’s redemptive love is realized in human life by the activity of the Holy Spirit, both in personal experience and in the community of believers.

3. We understand ourselves to be part of Christ’s universal Church when by adoration, proclamation, and service we become conformed to Christ.

4. With other Christians we recognize that the Reign of God is both a present and a future reality.

5. We share with many Christian communions a recognition of the authority of Scripture in matters of faith, the confession that our justification as sinners is by grace through faith, and the sober realization that the church is in need of continual reformation and renewal.

Distinctive Methodist Beliefs

1. Prevenient Grace – We acknowledge God’s divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses. This grace prompts our first wish to please God.

2. Justification and Assurance – We believe God reaches out to the repentant believer in justifying grace with accepting and pardoning love. We are, through faith, forgiven our sin and restored to God’s favor. This process is often referred to as conversion. We can expect to receive assurance of our present salvation from the Holy Spirit.

3. Sanctification – We hold that the wonder of God’s acceptance and pardon does not end God’s saving work, which continues to nurture our growth in grace.

4. Faith and Good Works – We see God’s grace and human activity working together in the relationship of faith and good works. God’s grace calls forth human response and discipline.

5. Mission and Service – We insist that personal salvation always involves Christian mission and service to the world. Scriptural holiness entails more than personal piety; love of God is always linked with love of neighbor, a passion for justice and renewal in the life of the world.

6. The Church – We emphasize the nurturing and serving function of Christian fellowship in the Church. There is no religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness.

Three Simple Rules to Live By

1.Do no harm.

2.Do as much good as possible.

3.Stay in love with God through religious practice.

Our Social Creed

• We believe in God, Creator of the world; and in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of creation. We believe in the Holy Spirit, through whom we acknowledge God’s gifts, and we repent of our sin in misusing these gifts to idolatrous ends.

• We affirm the natural world as God’s handiwork and dedicate ourselves to its preservation, enhancement, and faithful use by humankind.

• We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage, and the family.

• We commit ourselves to the rights of men, women, children, youth, young adults, the aging, and people with disabilities; to improvement of the quality of life; and to the rights and dignity of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities.

• We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others and in the protection of their welfare in so doing; in the rights to property as a trust from God, collective bargaining, and responsible consumption; and in the elimination of economic and social distress.

• We dedicate ourselves to peace throughout the world, to the rule of justice and law among nations, and to individual freedom for all people of the world.

• We believe in the present and final triumph of God’s Word in human affairs and gladly accept our commission to manifest the life of the gospel in the world. Amen.

Church Organization

How are we organized?

The pastor is a spiritual leader, adviser and guide. The local Church is managed by a Leadership Board made up of church members, not clergy, who have agreed to prayerfully manage the general operations of Mt. Zion church. This includes management of the physical properties, financial affairs, personnel matters; as well as oversight of the ministry functions such as Worship, Christian Education, Congregational Care, Outreach and Witness.

The United Methodist Church is a connectional Church, connected to UM churches all over the world and the leaders (lay and clergy) meet in groups called Conferences. General Conference meets every four years and is the official decision-making body of the church. Only General Conference can speak for the UMC. The United States is divided into five Jurisdictional Conferences. Mt. Zion is in the Northeast Jurisdiction. The jurisdictions are divided into Annual Conferences and we are in the Baltimore Washington Annual Conference. Our Conference is divided into eight districts and we are in the Washington East District. The Bishop appointed to our Annual Conference is Bishop Marcus Matthews and our District Superintendent is Rev. Rebecca Iannicelli.

Where does the Pastor​​​​​​​ come from?

The Bishop and Cabinet (made up of the District Superintendents and the Conference Lay Leader) consult annually with the clergy and the Staff/Parish Relations Committee concerning clergy appointments. Hours of prayer and spiritual discernment go into every appointment. Ultimately, the Bishop makes all appointments.

There are two types of ordained clergy: elders and deacons.

Elders preach, order the life of the church, and administer the sacraments. Elders are itinerant, which means they are appointed by the Bishop to a local church. Rev. Darryl Kemp is the appointed elder of Mt. Zion.

Deacons are ordained to preach and serve. Deacons usually have a specialized ministry and do not itinerate but seek their own jobs to which they are then appointed when approved by the Bishop.