Who We Are – SALT Inclusive Methodist Community

SALT is a new church in the Monkey Junction of Wilmington NC. We are committed to caring for each other and all of God’s creation.

SALT is a cooperative ministry with St Paul’s UMC in Carolina Beach. We cooperate in ministry areas of Children and Youth Ministry, with AXIOS Youth Group and Lego Club (for Elementary age children), Common Tables (a Wednesday Night Gathering), and Senior Ministry with JOY Club. Additionally, we are in cooperative ministry with Church at the Boardwalk, a summer church service on the Boardwalk in Carolina Beach that Pastor Gayle has hosted for the past 6 years.

Rev Gayle Tabor

Reverend Gayle Tabor is a pastor with a heart as expansive as their love for Legos and Dalmatians. Balancing spirituality with a passion for creativity, Gayle finds divine inspiration in building connections, much like constructing intricate Lego structures. A devoted Chicago Cubs fan, Gayle sees parallels between teamwork on the field and fostering a supportive congregation.

Pastor Gayle specializes in creating a welcoming space for people from diverse backgrounds. Their ministry is a patchwork of acceptance, echoing the Cubs’ motto that every fan is part of the same team.

With a spirit guided by both faith and a love of play, Pastor Gayle brings a unique blend of warmth, creativity, and devotion to their role within the church community.

Gayle completed a Masters of Divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary in 2021. After a career spanning may interests and industries, but always focused on service to others.

Gayle was commissioned as a Provisional Elder in the UMC in June 2022 (the last step toward full ordination in the United Methodist Church) in the Pacific Northwest Conference. Gayle has a passion for church outside the walls of a church building, having started Church at the Boardwalk in the summer of 2016 and Church on Tap in 2019. Gayle is an AFOL (Adult Fan Of Lego) and began a Lego Club for elementary aged children in 2013.

Outside of church you’ll find Gayle at local farmers’ markets, baseball games, and cheering for the beloved Cubs! Gayle enjoys kayaking, cycling, golf, travel and adventures.

Gayle’s office is located at St Paul’s UMC 300 Harper Ave in Carolina Beach. Hours are usually Tuesday through Thursday 9:30-1 there and Thursday 3-5pm at the Port City Java in Monkey Junction. Friday’s are Gayle’s Sabbath.

If you’d like to make an appointment with Gayle you can do so via this link https://calendly.com/gayletabor

Gayle doesn’t use pronouns (just Gayle)

Brennan Simmons, Music

Brennan Simmons has been playing music his whole life. His blues style adds a fun feel to old hymns as well as contemporary music.

We believe in the one true, holy, and living God, Eternal Spirit, who is Creator, Sovereign and Preserver of all things visible and invisible. We believe the one God reveals themselves as the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power.

We believe in Jesus Christ, truly God and truly human, in whom the divine and human natures are perfectly and inseparably united. Jesus is the eternal Word made flesh, the only begotten of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. As ministering Servant Jesus lived, suffered, and died on the cross. Was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to be with the Father, from whence he shall return. Jesus is the eternal Savior and Mediator, who intercedes for us, and by him all will be judged.

We believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from and is one in being with the Father and the Son. She convinces the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy Spirit leads us through faithful response to the gospel into the fellowship of the Church. The Spirit comforts, sustains, and empowers the faithful and guides them into truth.

We believe the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, reveals the Word of God. It is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice.

We believe the Christian Church is the community of all true believers under Christ. We believe it is one, holy, apostolic and catholic. It is the redemptive fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by those divinely called, and the sacraments are duly administered according to Christ’s own appointment. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit the Church exists for the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers, and the redemption of the world.

We believe the Sacraments, ordained by Christ, are symbols and pledges of the Christian’s profession and of God’s love toward us. They are means of grace by which God works invisibly in us, quickening, strengthening, and confirming our faith in God. Two Sacraments are ordained by Christ our Lord, namely Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

We believe Baptism signifies entrance into the household of faith, and is a symbol of repentance and inner cleansing from sin, a representation of the new birth in Christ Jesus and a mark of Christian discipleship.

We believe children are under the atonement of Christ and as heirs of the Kingdom of God are acceptable subjects for Christian Baptism. Children of believing parents through Baptism become the special responsibility of the Church. They should be nurtured and led to personal acceptance of Christ, and by profession of faith confirm their Baptism.

We believe the Lord’s Supper is a representation of our redemption, a memorial of the sufferings and death of Christ, and a token of love and union which Christians have with Christ and with one another. Those who rightly, worthily and in faith eat the broken bread and drink the blessed cup partake of the body and blood of Christ in a spiritual manner until Jesus comes.

We believe humanity is fallen from righteousness and, apart from the grace Jesus Christ, is destitute of holiness and inclined to evil. Except we be born again, we cannot see the Kingdom of God. In our own strength, without divine grace, we cannot do good works pleasing and acceptable to God. We believe, however, humanity influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit is responsible in freedom to exercise our will for good.

Pastor Gayle Preaching at SALT We believe divine worship is the duty and privilege of humans who, in the presence of God, bows in adoration, humility and dedication. We believe divine worship is essential to the life of the Church, and that the assembling of the people of God for such worship is necessary to Christian fellowship and spiritual growth.

We believe the order of public worship need not be the same in all places but may be modified by the church according to circumstances and the needs of those in attendance. It should be in a language and form understood by the people, consistent with the Holy Scriptures to the edification of all, and in accordance with the order and Discipline of the Church.

Taking an active stance in society is nothing new for followers of John Wesley. He set the example for us to combine personal and social piety. Ever since predecessor churches to United Methodism flourished in the United States, we have been known as a denomination involved with people’s lives, with political and social struggles, having local to international mission implications. Such involvement is an expression of the personal change we experience in our baptism and conversion.

We are a community that centers our work around caring for creation, which for us means caring for the smallest organism, to humanity, to the earth, and beyond. God declared all of creation good, and we believe as people of faith we are called to keep the earth green, clean, and sustainable.

Like early Methodists who worked toward a hoped-for view by addressing environmental concerns, such as open sewers, impure water, unplanned cities, and smoke-filled air. Who in response to squalor and filth in the mines and mills advocated for a wider knowledge of concepts of basic health. We too are committed in working toward a hoped-for view for clean water, global climate, and equality.

We recognize our call to be good stewards of all God’s good creation which includes caring for each other, those oppressed, and the forgotten. We are working to meet our stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect. Economic, political, social, and technological developments have increased our human numbers, and lengthened and enriched our lives. However, these developments have led to regional defoliation, dramatic extinction of species, massive human suffering, overpopulation, and misuse and overconsumption of natural and nonrenewable resources, particularly by our industrialized societies.