Who We Are

We are members of Mountainside which is a United Methodist Church. The United Methodists trace their roots back to John Wesley and the Church of England. John Wesley was a clergyman in the Church of England back in the 1700's who felt that church on Sunday was not enough to fill his spiritual needs. To be fair, Mr. Wesley wasn't the only one in those days who wasn't satisfied. Many groups all over the world were hungry for God. The German speaking Moravians were one of those groups trying to find a faith practice that was authentic and personal. They were instrumental in John Wesley's spiritual development.

Today Mr. Wesley's Methodists, the Moravians and other groups in the Holiness movement have come together to form the United Methodist Church. The document that controls how we organize and run our church is called the Book of Discipline. Preserved in this book is the heritage of some of the groups that formed the United Methodist Church. The Book of Discipline is guided by the Bible, and subservient to it.

While a title like "Methodists" and a book called the Book of Discipline sound like we are control freaks, Methodists actually have great latitude in beliefs and practices. This is both a blessing and a curse. The curse is that for those looking for a rigid orthodoxy of any persuasion (whether liberal or conservative), Methodism just does not provide it. The blessing is that Methodism still contains all the unmerited favor with God that Jesus purchased for us and that we need in these complicated days of the 21st century.

The people of Mountainside United Methodist Church are multi-generational. We have many young families and many people who were there when the original trailer was setup as a church in 1967. Most of our people have a connection to Sandia and the labs, yet there are plenty of mountain folk still around. We are a racially diverse congregation, but it is not yet fair to say that we are mixed.

We are not in debt, and we intend to stay that way. The faithfulness of our people giving has allowed us to recently hire a full time youth pastor, without any drive to raise additional funds. Taking care of the church's youth and reaching out to the youth in the east mountains was felt to be the church's most immediate need.

Like any church, we would like to grow. This is not because we think bigger is better. It is because we believe that God has entrusted us, and the other churches in the East Mountains, with a life-changing message. He has also sent the power to accomplish it. We also would rather see an increase in the church's influence in the lives of the people of our community than just more people warming our chairs. We know if we trust God, and reflect His life living in us, growth of all sorts will take care of itself.

We hope that this very quick note will answer some of your questions about us. Of course the best way to find out who we are is to visit us on Sunday. See you here. God bless.