What We Believe How We Serve Ways We Grow Who We Are News and More New to the UMC? Donate Share Read more Have questions?  We have answers! Follow

Read more

[](#)[All Saints Day: A holy day John Wesley loved](/en/content/all-saints-day-a-holy-day-john-wesley-loved)[](#)
[](#)[Ways to remember the lives and work of church saints](https://www.resourceumc.org/en/content/ways-to-remember-the-lives-and-work-of-church-saints)[](#)

United Methodists believe in saints, but not in the same manner as the Catholic Church.

We recognize Matthew, Paul, John, Luke and other early followers of Jesus as saints, and countless numbers of United Methodist churches are named after these saints.

We also recognize and celebrate All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) and "all the saints who from their labors rest. "All Saints' Day is a time to remember Christians of every time and place, honoring those who lived faithfully and shared their faith with us. On All Saints' Day, many churches read the names of their members who died in the past year.

However, our denomination does not have any system whereby people are elected to sainthood. We do not pray to saints, nor do we believe they serve as mediators to God. United Methodist believe "... there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human who gave himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5-6a).

United Methodists call people "saints" because they exemplified the Christian life. In this sense, every Christian can be considered a saint.

Have questions?  We have answers!

Ask your questions and check out more FAQS.

ASK [FAQS](https://www.umc.org/en/what-we-believe/ask-the-umc-faqs)

John Wesley believed we have much to learn from the saints, but he did not encourage anyone to worship them. He expressed concern about the Church of England's focus on saints' days and said that "most of the holy days were at present answering no valuable end."

Wesley's focus was entirely on the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

*

This content was produced by Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications.

Updated on: 02/10/2024