WE BELIEVE, TEACH, AND CONFESS...
With the whole Christian Church throughout all ages, we worship the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three distinct persons in one divine being, coequal and coeternal. TheFather created all that exists and continually sustainsHis creation and provides for His creatures. Jesus
Christ, the Son, became a human, was born of a virgin, and suffered and died for the sins of all people. His resurrection to life again on that first Easter Sunday was the sign of His ultimate victory over sin, death, and Satan. TheHoly Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, creates and sustains faith through God’s Word and sacraments. This Trinity is the one and only True God (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, 1 Corinthians 8:4, 2 Corinthians 13:14).
Our teachings can be summed up in one phrase:
Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone.
Grace Alone: God created a perfect world and two people, Adam and Eve, without sin. When they, in pride, disobeyed God’s command, they brought death and corruption to all of mankind and all of creation (Genesis 1—3). Consequently, all people are sinners who are accountable from birth for the sin they are born in and the sins they commit, and the wages of that sin is death (John 3:5-6, Romans 3:9-10, Romans 6:23). None of us is righteous, and none of us deserves God’s kindness, (Romans 3:10—18) but God, in His mercy, sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to save the lost. We are chosen by Him, not out of merit, but solely out of grace.
Faith Alone: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, true God and true man, lived a sinless life in our stead (Galatians 4:4– 5). On the cross He took upon Himself the sins of the world, made full payment for them, and won forgiveness for all (Isaiah 53:4—5, John 1:1—14, R o m a n s 5 : 1 9 , 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24). All those who believe in Him will receive eternal life (John 3:16). This life is a gift of God. We cannot earn it by performing good works or living our lives in a certain way. It comes only through faith in Christ (Romans 5:6-8, Romans 3:23-24, Ephesians 2:8-9).
Scripture Alone: The Bible is the Word of God. By this we mean that God the Holy Spirit gave to His chosen writers the words they were to write, thus making the Bible God’s own Word and the Truth, without error. This applies to everything written in Scriptures. It is thus the sole rule and norm for all our doctrine (2 Peter 1:21, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 2:13). Jesus, the Savior of the world, is the heart and center of the Holy Scriptures. Through this Word, the Holy Spirit brings forth faith (John 5:39, John 20:31, Acts 10:43, Romans 10:17, 2 Timothy 3:15).
Jesus graciously comes to us today through His Word and Sacraments.
In the waters of baptism we are washed clean— our sins are forgiven, and the Holy Spirit bestows on us the gift of faith. This is entirely the work of God and not our own. We baptize infants, for they are also in need of God’s grace and forgiveness and are able to believe through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 29:19—20, Acts 2:38—39, Romans 6:3, 5, Galatians 3:27).
In the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, our Lord invites us to His table. We believe that when Jesus said, “Take, eat, this is my body...” and “Take, drink, this is my blood...” He meant what He said. When the Pastor says the words of institution, as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and in 1 Corinthians, the bread and the wine are no longer just bread and wine but also the body and blood or our Lord Jesus Christ, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:26—28, Mark 14:22—24, Luke 22:19—20, 1 Corinthians 11:17—33).
These sacraments are God’s gift to His people. He gives and we thankfully and passively receive.
As confessional Lutherans, we subscribe to the doctrine taught in the Book of Concord.
You can also learn more about our beliefs from the website of our national church body, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.