Asbury United Methodist Church
Tulsa OK

What We Believe

We Believe in the Trinity

God the Father has always existed. He was not made, but all things were made by Him and for His glory. God is eternal and infinite, all-knowing, everywhere present, all-powerful and unchanging. God is holy, righteous, perfect and full of grace. God’s mercies are new every morning and His love endures forever.

Jesus the Son has always existed. He was not made, but was present at creation—all things were made through Him and by Him all things hold together. Jesus is the Son of God and He is the perfect likeness of the Father. He was incarnated (became a man) and lived a sinless life. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin and death for all people. He physically ascended into heaven and will return to earth one day. He will judge all people and His kingdom will never end.

The Holy Spirit has always existed. He was not made, but was active in the creation of the world. The Holy Spirit teaches, encourages, counsels. He convicts people of sins and points them toward their need for salvation. He dwells in the lives of believers: praying for them, empowering them, giving them spiritual gifts and new life in Jesus Christ.

The word “trinity” comes from “tri” meaning three and “unity” meaning one. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct "persons", meaning who they are is different, but they share one nature, so what they are is the same. The Bible tells us there is only one God because the three persons of the Trinity share the same divine essence.

We Believe in the Authority of Scripture

The Bible was written by humans but all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, correcting and training believers to live in God’s ways (right ways) so that we may be thoroughly equipped to serve Him by doing good works. Jesus tells us God’s word is truth and He came to give evidence of that truth.

Coming from the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament books were settled before the birth of Jesus. The New Testament, which is made of letters and other documents written after Jesus’ ascension, were in circulation among churches for about 300 years before being settled on as the authoritative word of God by several councils of Bishops. Christians recognize God guided the early church in determining what books/letters were truly inspired by Him and should be acknowledged as “canon,” meaning accepted as genuine.

We Believe in Eternal Life

God created humans in His image and for His glory. We are spiritual beings with mortal bodies and immortal souls. However, humans are sinful and, therefore, unable to spend eternity with God except through faith in Jesus Christ. The traditional Christian view is those who believe will share eternal joy with God in heaven, while those who refuse God's love suffer endless separation from Him. Those who believe will be resurrected into imperishable bodies suitable for eternal life with God, and will be judged/rewarded according to how they lived their lives.

 

https://asburytulsa.org/  

 

Our History

1962

Asbury United Methodist Church was founded in 1962 as a Tulsa District church plant in (at the time) far-south Tulsa. First meeting at Francis Scott Key Elementary School, Asbury’s growth first came from the suburban neighborhoods that encompassed the area.

1964

In 1964 and straight out of seminary, Rev. William C. Mason was appointed to Asbury and would remain Asbury’s senior pastor for 29 years until his retirement in 1993. Bill’s entire ministry focused on pastoral care through hospital visitation, door-to-door home visits and strong personal relationships that continue to define fellowship at Asbury. Soon after Bill’s arrival, Asbury built its first buildings at 5838 S. Sheridan Road. Beginning with a sanctuary/fellowship hall, offices and a few classrooms, Asbury has always been a growing church, resulting in many building and capital campaigns in order to expand its facility and ministries. A thousand seat sanctuary and the multi-use Mason Center were the capstones of Asbury’s Sheridan site. At the same time, Asbury has never defined itself by its facilities. Rather, being strongly missional in its identity, Asbury consistently committed itself to effective ministries to children, youth, adults (including single adults), worship and outreach.

1993

Upon Rev. Mason’s 1993 retirement, Dr. Tom Harrison took the role of senior pastor. Tom succeeded in carrying Bill Mason’s emphasis on pastoral care and introduced a number of his own initiatives as well. The Perceptions radio spots reach thousands of northeastern Oklahomans each day and have been a significant source of our growth. (You can listen to the daily Perceptions right here on our website.) Continuing in its effectiveness at all age levels, Asbury grew strong in the ministries of Worship, Marriage & Family and, in recent years, Celebrate Recovery.

1999

With consistent growth into the new millennium, Asbury found its Sheridan campus inadequate in size. Committed to continued growth, Asbury commissioned a long-term planning fask force in 1997 to begin studying its options. At the end of 1999, God opened the door for Asbury to purchase 35 acres on south Mingo Rd. A number of “God stories” became the confirmation needed to move forward with the relocation.

2004

Groundbreaking was held on January 13, 2002 and Asbury had it first worship services at 6767 S. Mingo (see inside) on Feb. 29, 2004.

2008

In 2008, Asbury opened Venue in order to house its growing modern worship service and an exploding student ministry. In addition, the 4-year-old children’s ministry building almost doubled in size.

Almost 8000 people call Asbury their church home today with an average of 2,600 people in worship and more than 2,000 people in discipleship groups. In 2012, Asbury United Methodist Church celebrated its 50th anniversary! While remembering the amazing work of God in our history, we are all-the-more looking forward to the exciting future!