Sonrise Church
Fort Wayne IN

At Sonrise we are passionate about living for Jesus! Our mission is to boldly proclaim the timeless Good news of Jesus Christ. We unashamedly hold to the timeless truths of historic Christianity, while actively working to live that truth out in daily life. We believe…

…in one God, who eternally exists in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, we believe Jesus is central to God’s plan for the world…He is the unique Son of God and our only hope for salvation.

…God desires a relationship with human beings. We were created “to know God and enjoy His presence forever.” That means having a relationship with God. All we do here at Sonrise is geared to helping you develop and deepen that relationship.

…human beings are made in the image of God and are the object of His affection. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection make it possible for us to know God and receive forgiveness of sins. Salvation means being restored to a right relationship with God and it is His gift to us…there is nothing we can do to earn it. We receive that gift through faith in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for us.

…in the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts for the purpose of serving others and building God’s Kingdom here on earth. The power of the Holy Spirit is available to believers to live the life God calls each of us to.

…the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments were written by human authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit. God’s Word is alive and powerful. God’s Word is also relevant to our lives even today.

…the gospel of Jesus Christ, proclaimed through the local church, is the hope of the world. The church is Jesus’ idea and God’s new community. It is a human institution marked by all the frailties of humanity, and yet it is the visible presence of the Kingdom of God on earth and the Body of Christ.

 

https://www.sonrisefw.com/  

 

United Methodist Church

Sonrise Church is part of the larger church. We are a part of the United Methodist Church in the Northeast District of the Indiana Conference. As part of “the people called Methodists,” Sonrise stands in a great stream of Christian tradition. We were built on the shoulders of giants in the faith that transformed Europe, America, and the world.

The Methodist movement began in England in the late 1600’s, and later gained the structure as we know it today on the campus of Oxford University in England. There brothers Charles and John Wesley led a student group that lived out their faith in a disciplined and methodical approach that other students sarcastically referred to them as “Methodists.” The name “Methodist” was used in a derogatory manner in regard to their doctrine and practice of faith. The name “Methodist” never left them.

What began with human effort and religious devotion turned into a movement aflame with the Holy Spirit’s power when Charles had a profound experience of the Holy Spirit on (Pentecost), and John Wesley’s heart was “strangely warmed” three nights later at a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. They were both freed from their incessant drive to be approved by God and others, The Wesley brothers experienced grace and an assurance of God’s love, through experiential grace. John Wesley said, “An assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins and freed me from the law of sin and death.”

With this newfound faith, the Wesley brothers took to the open air, preaching the gospel to those who were outside the church, and Charles penned over 5,000 hymns adding song that would guide the movement giving words to their faith and experience. The process of “going to the hedges and highways” and meeting people where they were, and guiding them into gatherings of small groups called “classes” transformed the lives of the people, and the communities in which they lived. Before his ministry was over, John and Charles Wesley would travel a quarter of a million miles, crisscrossing England and overseeing one of history’s great revivals.

That revival came to America and, in 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church was born. Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury were the leaders of the Methodist revival in the young America. Young preachers known as circuit riders went wherever people went, taking the gospel to the far reaches of the frontier. By 1850 there were one a half million Methodists in America. By 1900 there more Methodist churches than US Post Offices.

The United Methodist Church was born in 1968 when two streams in the piety movement came together in merger: the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren. Today, there are nearly 8 million United Methodists in America and over 11 million worldwide.