What We Believe

With the whole Christian Church, we believe, teach, and proclaim the love of God the Father who created all things; Jesus Christ who suffered died, and rose again from the dead to win for us the ultimate victory over sin, death, and Satan; and the Holy Spirit who calls us to faith through the Word of God and the Sacraments.

GRACE ALONE God loves the people of this world even though they are sin-filled, rebellious, and do not deserve His love.  Through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has reconciled us to Himself.  This is given to us freely as an unearned gift from God.

FAITH ALONE Faith is simply the acceptance of what Jesus Christ has done on our behalf.  Through Him, we find forgiveness of all our sins.  Faith is created by God through His Word and Sacraments.

SCRIPTURE ALONE We believe that the Scriptures are the revelation of God Himself.  Through them, we understand both God’s judgment on evil and the Good News of His grace through Jesus Christ.  The purpose of the Bible is to bring us to faith in Jesus Christ.

THE CHURCH The Church is a gathering of people who believe in Jesus Christ.  We come together to respond to God through our worship, care for each other, and reach out to the community that surrounds us as an expression of the love that God has for all of us.

THE SACRAMENTS The Sacraments are actions of God that were instituted by Christ, have visible elements, and convey the forgiveness of sins.  Through water and the Word of God, in baptism, God embraces His people and makes them His own.  Baptism, as St. Paul pointed out, links the individual to the death and resurrection of the Lord.  Holy Communion is the Lord’s Supper and gives tangible evidence that God forgives our sins.  We believe that it is, in reality, the Body and Blood of Jesus through His own implementation.

WHY MISSOURI SYNOD? “Synod” comes from a Greek word that means “walking together.”  The members of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod share a common faith.  Though diverse in their practice, they work together to share the ministry to which God has called His people.  Missouri simply indicates that this branch of the Christian Church had its humble beginnings in Perry County, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River.

WHY LUTHERAN? Although the Lutheran Church arose out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century, its roots go back to the beginning of the Christian Church.  The beliefs of the Lutheran Church are expressed in the three creeds—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—as well as the Confessional Writings of the Lutheran Church.