Vision Statement

First Church: An inclusive, deeply relational community inviting all people to experience God’s presence today.

FUMC Annual Mission Plan – If you would like to view the full Annual Mission Plan, please click here.

FUMC Long Range Plan – If you would like to view the full Long Range Plan, please click here.

Mission Statement

Discover God’s Love

Inspire Hope • Grow in Faith • Serve with Joy

Reconciling Ministries Statement

In the Spirit of Jesus Christ, First United Methodist Church, Fort Collins, commits to offering a community in which persons of diverse age, color, culture, sexual orientation and gender identity, economic status, and physical or mental ability are all welcomed and affirmed. To all who have known the pain of exclusion or discrimination from church or in society, we ask forgiveness and offer a place of respite and welcome. We welcome ALL people to our community with Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.

The United Methodist Church

Welcome to First United Methodist Church! We are a very active and alive church with a vibrant Christian ministry here in Fort Collins dating back to 1867. We are a Christian church where we celebrate “faith in its diversity,” where everyone has a place to share their stories. All are welcome here.

We hold up as our vision the desire to be a community of faith as loving and considerate of persons as Jesus; as devoted to justice as the Old Testament prophets; as responsive to the truth as a science; as beautiful as art; as intimate as the home; and as indispensable as the air we breathe. (adapted from the FUMC Long Range Planning document)

On Sunday mornings, please visit our Welcome Center just outside the sanctuary. You will find someone to answer your questions about programs and ministries of Fort Collins First United Methodist Church.

United Methodist History in Brief

The Methodist movement began in England with John Wesley, a clergyman in the Church of England, and his brother, Charles, who would provide some of the movement’s most beloved hymns. They formed small groups to nurture people in the Christian faith. The Methodist Episcopal Church was born in the newly formed United States of America in December of 1784. Experiencing some unfortunate divisions in the 1800s, the Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South and Methodist Protestant churches merged in 1939 to form The Methodist Church. The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 with the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

For more information on our history and beliefs, please click here.

Our Beliefs

As United Methodists, we have an obligation to bear a faithful Christian witness to Jesus Christ, the living reality at the center of the Church’s life and witness. To fulfill this obligation, we reflect critically on our biblical and theological inheritance, striving to express faithfully the witness we make in our own time.

God

God, who is one, is revealed in three distinct persons. Read More

Jesus

We believe in the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ. God became human in Jesus of Nazareth, and his life, death, and resurrection demonstrates God's redeeming love. Read More

Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is God's present activity in our midst. When we sense God's leading, God's challenge, or God's support or comfort, it's the Holy Spirit at work. Read More

Human Beings

Genesis 1:27 asserts that we've been made in the image of the Creator. Like God, we have the capacity to love and care, to communicate, and to create. Read More

The Church

The church is the body of Christ, an extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world today. Read More

The Bible

We believe that the Bible is God’s Word and is the primary authority for our faith and practice. Read More

God's Reign

The kingdom or reign of God is both a present reality and future hope. Read More

Sacraments

The United Methodist Church recognizes two sacraments in which Christ himself participated: baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Baptism

Baptism marks the beginning of our lifelong journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Through baptism, we are joined with the Triune God, the whole of Christ’s church, and our local congregation.
The water and the work of the Holy Spirit in baptism convey God’s saving grace, the forgiveness of our sins, and new life in Jesus Christ.
Persons of any age may be baptized—infants, children, youth, and adults.
United Methodists baptize in a variety of ways—immersion, pouring, or sprinkling.
A person receives the sacrament of baptism only once in his or her life.

For further study:

By Water and Spirit, the church's official statement on baptism. (Download as PDF)
Renewing waters: How United Methodists understand baptism
This Is Your Baptismal Liturgy, a guide to the baptism ritual
A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism

The Lord's Supper (also called Holy Communion, Eucharist)

The Lord’s Supper is another name for the Eucharist, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving the church offers to God for all God has done, is doing, and will do to save us and renew all things in Christ.
Through offering ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, and through receiving the bread and cup—which the Spirit makes for us the body and blood of Christ—celebrating the Lord’s Supper together nourishes and sustains us in our journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.
As we pray together and receive the body and blood of Christ together, we are united with Christ, with one another, and in ministry to all the world.
All who love Christ, earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another are invited to join us in offering our prayer of thanksgiving and receive the body and blood of Christ—regardless of age or church membership.
Congregations serve the elements of the Lord’s Supper several ways, but always include both bread and cup.
The Lord's Supper is to be celebrated and received regularly—John Wesley said, “as often as [one] can.”

Membership

Everyone is invited into membership at Fort Collins FUMC. Those who wish to join will make sacred commitments to God and the church and receive the welcome of the congregation and its commitment to help you grow in your faith. You will have the opportunity to pledge to “Faithfully participate in the ministries of the church by your prayers, presence gifts, service, and witness.”*

*From Membership and United Methodists, Cokesbury, 2010.

For those interested in Membership at First United Methodist Church, please contact Rev. Cynthia Paquette ( or 970-482-2436 ext. 122. There are no required classes but there are regularly scheduled information lunches and “What Does it Mean to be United Methodist?” classes available for those interested.