About Us

PASTOR

Our pastor is Tom Norrell.  Tom grew up in a small town in South Carolina, and received his bachelor's degree from Furman University, his Master of Divinity degree from Duke University, and Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina.  He has been a Methodist pastor for 38 years.  His hobbies are going to the beach and playing golf.  His wife Vicky is a nurse at Ascension Hospital and is a native of St. Augustine.

INTERESTED IN MEMBERSHIP IN OUR CHURCH?

Are you interested in professing your faith through membership in CUMC?  We would love to be a part of your Christian journey!  Please speak to the Pastor to discuss baptisms, confirmations and/or transfers from other churches.

MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to "make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."  Making disciples is not an end in itself, but has a purpose, transforming the world.  Jesus put it more poetically when He taught us to pray saying "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."  Plainly put, we are about building the Kingdom of God on earth.

More telling than any vision or mission statement are our core principles.  We believe these make us different from many other churches in our area.

Our core principles are:

1. God is our loving parent and our creator.
2. God made all people in His image and thus all people are equal.
3. Fundamental to God's nature is love.
4. We believe we are called to fight for human rights and human dignity.
5. We believe that science and faith are not in conflict.
6. Our sources of authority for finding God's Word for us today are:  Scripture, Church Tradition, Reason (which includes science), and Experience (which includes the witness of the Holy Spirit).
7. Rather than focusing on abstract theological ideas, we are "Red Letter Christians."  At the core of who we are are the teachings of Jesus found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, which are summarized by Jesus in His words:  "Love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself."