What We Believe

Worship at First UMC Hershey

Each week we seek to enter God's presence, hear from God's Word and worship him in spirit and in truth. We hope that you'll make worshiping with us part of your Sunday!

Vision

We believe God intends for the world and our lives to be transformed by His love and grace through His Son, Jesus Christ. At First Church this is our highest priority, allowing the Kingdom of God to break into the lives of people here and now as we fulfill the Great Commission to make new disciples of Jesus (Matt. 28) and equip those in the Church for the task of ministry (Ephesians 4:12). This vision is the driving force behind all we do at First Church as we strive to teach, preach, serve ,engage and equip individuals to go out into the world and live as Christ's disciples.

Beliefs

At First Church we believe in the historical tenets of the Christian faith. This means that we emphasize the goodness, grace and love of God, the fallenness of humanity and humanity's need for a savior. We talk about Jesus a lot at First Church, and we believe that salvation is only found in the grace that God has offered through him. We believe the Church is the community of believers who have made Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior, and church is the place where we gather to learn how to live in God's will and God's way, to grow in God's grace and are equipped to reach out to a hurting and broken world.

Hershey First is a Connectional Congregation

We have longstanding physical and spiritual ties with 640 churches in the central part of the state and new physical and spiritual ties with another 650 churches in New York. Héctor A. Burgos-Núñez is the episcopal leader of the Susquehanna and Upper New York conferences as of September 2024.

UMC regional map of Central PA

Bishop Héctor has five district superintendents (DSs) in his cabinet for the Susquehanna Conference. The superintendent for the River Valley District (formerly Harrisburg) is Hershey First’s former pastor, Gary Weaver. His assistant is another of Hershey First’s former pastors, Karen Atanasoff.