Some of the core beliefs that focus and energize us are as follows:
- THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST is a free gift from God by which we are given salvation and peace with God.
- THE LOVE OF GOD is constantly recreating, redeeming, and restoring life in the midst of brokenness.
- THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT dwells within every believer and empowers us to live grace-filled and faithful lives and sets us free from legalistic attitudes.
- THE WORSHIP OF GOD is enhanced by songs, praises, and prayers that involve us personally and actively in service.
- THE WORD OF GOD is spoken through the Scriptures, proclaimed in the Gospel, and revealed through Jesus Christ.
- BAPTISM IS God’s action, claiming us as beloved children and it is our entrance into the family of faith.
- HOLY COMMUNION is a sacred encounter with the living Christ who is present in, under, and through the bread and wine and who grants us forgiveness and new life.
- WE COME TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY each week to celebrate and grow in the grace and unity of Jesus Christ, and
- WE ARE SENT OUT to bring Justice, Peace, and Love to the world in the name of Jesus Christ.
In more detail, below is the Confession of Faith from the constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, to which we subscribe.
What we believe in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- This church confesses the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- This church confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe
- Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation.
- The proclamation of God’s message to us as both Law and Gospel is the Word of God, revealing judgment and mercy through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
- The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.
- This church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.
- This church accepts the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith of this church.
- This church accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, acknowledging as one with it In faith and doctrine all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
- This church accepts the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid interpretations of the faith of the Church.
- This church confesses the Gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the Church for God’s mission in the world.
The Confession of Faith is published in the Constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
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