Belvidere: First UMC is a 185-year-old church that was founded when Belvidere was settled. We moved to our current location in 2004 and are experiencing a new vitality in worship, fellowship and mission. A few years coming out of COVID and we are growing again, with almost half of our in-person congregation being new - and an online family greater in size than our in-house worship!

That life story marks us as a group of different perspectives and life experiences. We ground our belief and ministry in the Bible, believing that God’s Word is the sufficient rule both of faith and of practice. We affirm the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds as describing the Christian faith that we have received, but we do not recite them regularly. At a time when the UMC is experiencing division over LGBTQIA+ inclusion, we are of different opinions and refuse to be divided by our difference. We are united in the central matters of the Christian faith. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, once described this position, “in essentials, unity. In non-essentials diversity. In all things, charity and love.”