United Methodists and the Sacraments

Designed for use with any group of adults interested in learning more about how United Methodists understand and practice the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.


United Methodists and the Sacraments is designed for use with any group of adults interested in learning more about how United Methodists understand and practice the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

Writer, Gayle Felton, guides us through the rituals and practices of both these sacraments in order to help us understand their life-enriching value. She reminds us that our lives in Christ are grounded in baptism and sustained by holy communion. In baptism God claims us and makes us members of Christ’s body, the church. In Holy Communion God offers grace and strength for our spiritual journey. We are truly called to live the sacraments of baptism and holy communion, as well as to receive them.

Each chapter offers a comprehensive look at what United Methodists believe and how United Methodists practice the sacraments.

Chapters and contents:

• Chapter one “The Sacraments,” gives an overview of the meaning of the sacraments in Christian faith and in the United Methodist Church.
• Chapters two through five, “Holy Baptism,” “Questions About Baptism,” “Holy Communion,” and “Questions About Holy Communion,” review United Methodist beliefs about these sacraments and questions people have about them.
• Chapter six “Living as Baptized and Communing Christians” helps the reader to explore what it means to live out the sacraments in daily Christian life.

Questions for discussion and reflection with helps for how to use the book in small group settings are provided.

GAYLE CARLTON FELTON is an elder in the North Carolina Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. She has served on the faculties of Meredith College and Duke Divinity School. She was the principal writer for the committees that developed “By Water and the Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism” and “This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion.” These documents were approved by the 1996 and 2004 General Conferences as the denomination’s official interpretive positions on the sacraments.

Gayle is the author of This Gift of Water: The Practice and Theology of Baptism Among Methodists in America (1992), By Water and the Spirit: Making Connections for Identity and Ministry (1997,1998), The Coming of Jesus (2000), This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion, and a variety of articles on Methodism, sacraments, and the teaching ministry of the church. She is the editor of How United Methodists Study Scripture (1999) and a regular contributor to The New International Lesson Annual.