We are a “Lutheran” church.
Nearly 500 years ago, the Christian church was corrupted by many false teachings. A man named Martin Luther led people back to the teachings of the Bible. His work, and that of his friends, is called the Reformation. Through Luther God restored the church to purity of doctrine and a new life of faith in Christ.The doctrines of the Lutheran Church are not new. They are the teachings of the Bible. Thus the Lutheran Church is not a new church. It is not a sect or cult.It is a church whose teaching is based on the words written by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament. The Bible tells us about Jesus Christ.
The teachings of the Lutheran Church are those of the original, ancient church of the apostles and early Christians.
We emphasize the three great truths of the Reformation. . .
BY GRACE ALONE. We are forgiven and saved solely as a result of God’s undeserved love, for the sake of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for us. There is nothing human beings can or must do to contribute to their salvation.THROUGH FAITH ALONE. All that Jesus did to restore us to a right relationship with God is ours personally through faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit creates and confirms in us this faith or trust in Jesus solely through the Gospel, in Scripture and in the Sacraments.
ON THE BASIS OF SCRIPTURE ALONE. Christian truth and life are established solely by the 66 books of the Bible, God’s word-for-word revelation, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error.
We are a “conservative” church.
We continue to hold that the entire Bible is the inerrant and infallible revelation from God to His people. This revelation has been communicated to us as the Holy Spirit inspired the writers, giving them each and every word. For this reason we put our full trust and confidence in God’s Word, the Bible, and draw all church beliefs and practices from it.
We are a “Christian” church.
We believe and teach the three historic statements of the Christian faith – the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds, which clarify that God is Triune: three equal yet distinct persons that are one deity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe and teach that Jesus Christ is God the Son from all eternity who took on human nature in his birth at Bethlehem, and that human beings are saved solely by faith in him and his perfect life and atoning death for sin.
We are an “evangelical” church.
The word “evangelical” means that we are all about the Gospel – the “good news” that God’s love, forgiveness, and everlasting life are his free gift to sinners for the sake of Jesus Christ. The Gospel shapes our message, our mission, and the character of our life together in Christ’s Church.
We are a “confessional” church.
Because they are a correct presentation of God’s Word, we consistently and without compromise teach the doctrines set forth in the catechism and confessions of the Lutheran Church – the Book of Concord. Among those doctrines are that. . .
- God created a perfect world in six days. He created human beings in his image, that is, perfect as he is.
- The first human beings, Adam and Eve, followed Satan in rebellion against God’s will, thereby forfeiting the image of God and the right to enjoy God’s presence forever. Ever since this fall into sin, human beings are by birth and nature sinners, who cannot make their own way back to God. Death is a consequence of sin. Everlasting separation from God in hell is the greater consequence of sin from which God must rescue us.
- God the Father promised and then sent his Son to live the perfect life required of us in our place, and to suffer the condemnation for sin God’s holy justice required, as our Substitute. Jesus rose from death to assure and model the resurrection of those who believe in him when he returns. Jesus ascended to assume his role as Lord of the universe and Head of the Church.
- The ascended Lord Jesus sent and sends the Holy Spirit to bring people to faith in Jesus, to shape and direct their Christian lives, and to lead the Christian Church with the Holy Scriptures he inspired.
- God’s moral will, summarized in the Ten Commandments, is absolute and unchanging. Not culture, nor church, nor personal opinion can limit or alter the right and wrong God has revealed in Scripture. The failure to obey even one commandment of God condemns us as sinners.
- Jesus established two sacraments. Holy Baptism, the application of water in the name of the Triune God, washes away sin and creates the new life of faith that Jesus described as “born again.” As has the Christian Church from the beginning, we baptize infants. The Lord’s Supper is Christ’s true body and blood, given to us with bread and wine, to assure us of forgiveness and salvation.
- The Holy Christian Church is comprised of all those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is, therefore, “invisible” and cannot be equated with any human organization. Churches are gatherings of Christians around God’s Word and Sacraments to carry out the Savior’s mission and provide mutual encouragement and correction. The Church has a distinct purpose (saving souls) and distinct means (the Gospel) that distinguish it from the State, which God established with its purpose (maintaining peace and justice) and means (law and order). God has not prescribed forms or methods for the church to carry out its mission, enabling the church to adopt approaches and tools relevant to the culture it seeks to reach with the Gospel.
- At death the soul separates from the body. The souls of those who trust in Jesus experience joy in his presence, while those who do not believe in Jesus experience torment in separation from him. Jesus will return, at any time, to resurrect the dead, to reunite souls and bodies, to gather believers for eternal life with him, and to restore a perfect creation that the Bible calls “the new heaven and the new earth.”